Bon Appetit’s Ultimate Guide to Cooking Well While Spending Less

Find recipes, techniques, and guides to help you cook all-star meals—without blowing your budget.
A bowl of brothy beans garnished with a charred slice of lemon parsley and sardines.
Photography by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Adriana Paschen, Prop Styling by Elizabeth Jamie

Talk to anybody about food these days and the same sentiment comes up over and over again: Everything is getting more expensive because of inflation and it’s impacting what meals end up on the table.

But reaching for lower-cost ingredients doesn’t mean that we have to sacrifice on eating joyful, satisfying food. At Bon Appétit, we have a plethora of technique guides, recipes, and explainers to help you still cook a delicious meal—even when you may need to limit what you buy now.

This guide has ideas for flexible recipes, including dishes that work well as leftovers or use shelf-stable options like canned beans or tomatoes, all designed to take some of the stress out of shopping and cooking: There’s a way to zhuzh up a can of tinned fish to make it a full meal, inspiration for using up the bags of veg in your freezer (and why to buy frozen if you’re not already), advice from a butcher on which cheaper cuts of meat are well worth buying, and more.

Come back to this page later to see fresh ideas—we’ll be updating it as we publish more recipes and techniques to help you cook well while spending less. —Serena Dai, editorial director

Tips & Techniques

Steaming Eggs Is the Fast-Track to a Cozy Dinner

Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Spencer Richards

Why Frozen Produce Will Always Be the Real MVP of Weeknight Cooking

Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Spencer Richards

You Can Absolutely Make $5-or-Less Tinned Fish Feel Like a Fancy Meal

Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Spencer Richards

How to Get the Most Flavor Out of Canned Tomatoes

Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Micah Morton, prop styling by Stephanie Yeh

The 6 Most Delicious Ways to Bulk Up Instant Noodles

Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Sarah Jampel

The Cheaper Cuts of Meat Your Butcher Wants You to Order

Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Kendra Vaculin

The Fastest, Freshest Way to Transform Canned Beans

Photograph by Julian Cousins, food styling by Adriana Paschen

7 Tips for Making Your Best Pot of Dried Beans, Even If It's Your First

Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Taneka Morris, prop styling by Dayna Seman

Recipes & Ideas

13 Recipes That Prove That Where There's a Bean, There's Dinner

Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Yekatarina Boytsova

71 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Do the Most With the Least

Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Pearl Jones

73 5-Ingredient Meals for Minimalists With Big Appetites

Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Bowl from Heath Ceramics

46 Best Sweet Potato Recipes to Cook This Fall

Photo by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Anne Eastman

86 Bean Recipes to Always Keep in Your Back Pocket

Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou

26 Creative Lentil Recipes That Go Way Beyond Soup

Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou

36 Tinned Fish Recipes, Because Big Flavor Comes in Small Packages

Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski

81 Leftover-Friendly Recipes to Get You Through the Week

Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Pearl Jones

29 Healthyish Chickpea Recipes Here for Your Weeknight Dinners

Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Sue Li, Prop Styling by Kalen Kaminski

71 Creative Rice Recipes Using Our Favorite Pantry Staple

Photograph By Emma Fishman, Food Styling By Susan Ottaviano, Prop Styling By Sophie Strangio