Cheap Meal Prep Ideas: 15 Budget Meals That Reheat Well

Cheap meal prep isn’t about eating plain rice and beans forever. It’s about building meals from a handful of low-cost ingredients that reheat well, then using sauces and spices so they don’t taste like a budget. Here are 15 ideas, plus the building blocks that make them work.

The cheap meal prep building blocks

Prices vary by store and region, but these ingredients are reliably among the better values in most grocery stores, and they all hold up in the fridge or freezer.

Cheap breakfast meal prep

1. Overnight oats

Oats, milk (any kind), a spoon of yogurt or chia, and fruit. Mix five jars at once. Frozen berries work perfectly and thaw overnight. Rotate toppings: peanut butter + banana, cinnamon + apple, cocoa + raspberry.

2. Egg muffins

Whisk eggs with chopped leftover vegetables and a little cheese, pour into a muffin tin and bake until set. Grab two in the morning and reheat. A great way to use up the last of the peppers and spinach.

3. Freezer breakfast burritos

Scrambled eggs, potatoes or beans, salsa and cheese rolled in tortillas. Wrap each one individually and freeze. Reheat straight from frozen on busy mornings.

Cheap lunch meal prep

4. Burrito bowls

Rice, seasoned black beans, roasted peppers and onions, salsa, and a sprinkle of cheese. Add lettuce and a squeeze of lime the day you eat it.

5. Lentil soup

Lentils, carrots, onions, garlic, canned tomatoes and broth simmered in one pot. It freezes well, gets better on day two, and is one of the cheapest meals you can make.

6. Teriyaki chicken and broccoli

Roast chicken thighs and broccoli on one sheet pan, then toss with a quick sauce of soy sauce, a little sugar or honey, garlic and ginger. Serve over rice.

7. Tuna or chickpea salad packs

Mash canned tuna or chickpeas with a little mayo or yogurt, mustard, chopped celery or pickles. Pack with crackers, bread or lettuce cups and some carrot sticks.

8. Pasta salad

Short pasta, chopped vegetables, beans or chicken, and an oil-and-vinegar dressing. Unlike leafy salads, it holds up for days.

Cheap dinner meal prep

9. Big-batch chili

Beans, canned tomatoes, onions, spices, and ground meat if you want it. Half meat, half beans or lentils stretches every pound. Portion half for the week and freeze the rest.

10. Sheet-pan sausage and vegetables

Sliced smoked sausage with potatoes, cabbage or peppers, roasted on one pan. Few ingredients, few dishes, lots of flavor.

11. Veggie fried rice

Day-old rice is ideal here. Stir-fry it with frozen mixed vegetables, scrambled eggs and soy sauce. Add leftover chicken or tofu if you have it.

12. Baked potato bar

Bake a tray of potatoes or sweet potatoes, then top them through the week: chili one night, broccoli and cheese the next, beans and salsa after that.

13. Chickpea curry

Onions, garlic, curry powder, canned tomatoes, chickpeas and a splash of coconut milk or yogurt. Serve over rice. It freezes beautifully.

14. Peanut noodles

Noodles or spaghetti tossed with a sauce of peanut butter, soy sauce, lime and a little chili, plus shredded cabbage and carrots. Good cold or warm. (Swap in sunflower seed butter for a nut-free version.)

15. Chicken and rice casserole

Chicken, rice, broth and frozen vegetables baked in one dish. It’s comfort food, it portions neatly, and it reheats well.

A sample cheap prep week

Here’s how a few of these ideas fit together into one prep session with lots of overlap, so nothing goes to waste:

• Breakfasts: overnight oats (5 jars) with frozen berries
• Lunches: burrito bowls Monday–Wednesday, lentil soup Thursday–Friday (from the freezer)
• Dinners: big-batch chili twice, baked potatoes topped with leftover chili once, veggie fried rice with the leftover rice, and one use-it-up night

Notice the overlap: the rice from the burrito bowls becomes fried rice, the beans and onions show up in both the bowls and the chili, and the chili does double duty on potatoes. That’s the real secret of cheap meal prep. Fewer ingredients, used more than once.

Shopping for that week means one bag of rice, one bag of oats, a few cans of beans and tomatoes, lentils, onions, peppers, potatoes, frozen berries and vegetables, eggs, and your spices and sauces. That’s a short list for a full week of meals.

How to make cheap meal prep go further

• Cook once, eat twice. Roast a whole tray of chicken and use it in bowls, wraps and fried rice.
• Lean on the freezer. Soups, chili, curries and burritos freeze well. Bread, bananas and cooked rice can be frozen before they go bad.
• Plan a “use-it-up” meal at the end of the week for leftover vegetables and odds and ends.
• Buy store brands of staples like oats, rice, canned beans and frozen vegetables.
• Season boldly. A few spices and sauces are what make budget ingredients exciting.

Keep it fresh and safe

Budget meal prep only saves money if you actually eat it. The USDA recommends eating most cooked leftovers within 3 to 4 days in the fridge; frozen leftovers are best within 3 to 4 months for quality.^[1] Refrigerate cooked food within 2 hours, and reheat leftovers to 165°F.^[2]

New to all this? Start with our beginner’s guide to meal prep, which covers the prep-day order of operations.