Do you have a weekly food budget? Are you good about sticking to it if you do? Sometimes it’s hard to come up with a meal plan that matches your budget, and to avoid getting stuck in the rut of preparing the same meals time and time again.

Perhaps you are looking to reduce your food bill – planning in some of the cheap dinner recipes each week will really help.

This easy to make recipe for peanut butter chicken uses chicken thighs instead of chicken breast meat which helps keep the cost down but doesn’t sacrifice on flavour.

Image credit: TI Media Limited

This recipe for sausage and potato casserole takes approximately 35 minutes to prepare and cook, and uses just six ingredients.

Save money by making your own tomato sauce – even cheaper and better than buying jars as it’s freshly made too.

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Try this leek, pea and smoked ham pasta for a quick but delicious dinner. Using Pecorino or Grana Padano cheese instead of Parmesan can help keep the cost down too.

Image credit: Oxmoor House

This recipe for Simple Sloppy Joes uses budget-friendly minced beef and a selection of store cupboard ingredients. You could also serve them with sweet potato fries for a healthier alternative to normal fries.

This cheesy chicken, broccoli and rice dinner from The Girl Who Ate Everything is perfect for a busy weeknight when things are hectic. And it’s all cooked in the one pot, so less washing up too!

This recipe for crispy baked breaded pork chops uses just four ingredients, and the chops turn out crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside! You can make it and have it on the table in 30 minutes.

The nice thing about this Chow Mein noodles with chicken recipe from Dinners, Dishes and Desserts is that it uses instant noodles, speeding up the cooking time, and it also has shredded cabbage in it, a great way to get veggies into the kids.

This recipe for sausage, green beans and potatoes casserole is really simple to put together. You can make it in a slow cooker/crock pot or even in a casserole dish in a regular oven.

This recipe for Teriyaki chicken rice bowls delivers sweet, garlicky chicken served with rice and steamed broccoli in just 20 minutes.

And finally, this is my standby cheap AND super quick meal. You can make it without the bacon too if you want to lower the cost even more, or have a break from meat for one meal.

Just fry up some bacon bits, either bacon offcuts or bacon lardons, then add to a simple tomato and basil sauce and simmer while you cook your pasta.