Savvy Dinner Plan: Quick and savvy back-to-school dinners to try this term
Every recipe here is part of Taste.com.au’s Savvy Dinner Plan, which gives you four weeks of delicious ideas to help you enjoy the meals you love for less.
While the holidays may be over, we’re now on a mission to kick off the new school year as we mean to go on – with a brand new menu of budget-friendly dinner ideas to try. Our food editors have picked their quickest and tastiest new recipes to help you ace the weeknight cooking routine. Every recipe below is part of our Savvy Dinner Plan, which gives you 4 weeks of delicious ideas to help you enjoy the meals you love for less.
Creamy tuna Florentine pasta bake
For busy budgeters like myself, the terms ‘pasta bake’ and ‘tuna’ are music to our ears. Not only is a pasta bake easy to make and grill on a weeknight, but budget-friendly tuna brings flavour and bonus protein to your dinner table. That’s why I’ve developed this creamy Florentine iteration as part of our Savvy Dinner Plan that’ll have you looking forward to dinner as soon as lunch is over. You can even cook your pasta in advance to make dinnertime simpler and faster. Easy? Check. Tasty? Check. Dollar-saving? Check. On the table in half an hour or less? Check.
It’s not hard to see why chicken chow mein is a classic take-away favourite – with its delicious combo of saucy noodles, vegies and chicken. And yet, when Chinese take-away cravings strike, you can make this easy twist on chow mein at home (for less than the cost of your local restaurant!). As part of our Savvy Dinner Plan, I’ve created this bang bang chicken version of chow mein, using a clever short-cut ingredient. Bang bang (sometimes referred to as ‘bon bon’ or ‘bam bam’) chicken is known for its crispy texture (usually created by coating the chicken in potato starch and flour). But, to make this recipe even more time-efficient, I’ve used plain crumb chicken burgers to achieve a speedy golden, crispy chicken in the oven. Skipping steps and saving coin? Yes please!
Jumbo chilli con carne burritos
Planning a menu with a budget in mind needn’t mean compromising on big, bold flavours – and this jumbo chilli con carne burritos recipe brings flavour to the fore! Chilli con carne is a delicious wallet-friendly meal, and I’ve given it a fun spin with this easy midweek dinner recipe that’s part of our Savvy Dinner Plan. What’s better than a regular burrito? A jumbo burrito. And this is a burrito recipe you can have on the table in half an hour.
While a simple, homemade stir-fry is an easy dinner that many time-poor cooks will have in their repertoire, I’ve come up with a way to make this go-to dinner even more cost-effective and (dare I say?) even more delicious. Taste.com.au’s community of home cooks know I love a cooking challenge, and so as part of our Savvy Dinner Plan, I took the humble stir-fry and tested new ways to create an enticing, speedy and pocket-friendly version. Better yet, it’s on the table in half an hour. The result? Even better than I expected!
Rich in Mediterranean flavours, my one-pan ratatouille risoni sees two great dishes form one delicious, budget-friendly dinner you’ll want to make time and time again. Ratatouille is a firm favourite recipe here at taste.com.au, and the addition of risoni means it goes further – making it a great addition to week 2 of our Savvy Dinner Plan. This impressive yet simple one-panner boasts maximum flavour with minimal washing up – what’s not to love? And, perhaps best of all, you can make it ahead of time and freeze it. You’ll thank yourself later.
Easy beef stroganoff pasta bake
The idea for this hearty beef stroganoff bake arose when the team and I challenged ourselves to come up with a budget-friendly version of the classic Russian dish as part of our Savvy Dinner Plan. I wanted it to be quick and easy enough to make for a hungry family mid week, and for it to be cheaper than the original recipe – without losing any of that delicious richness stroganoff is known for. The result is a saucy pasta bake that can be on the table in just 25 minutes!
Curried sausages - it’s been one of the most popular budget dinners in the taste.com.au dinner archive for over a decade. As part of our Savvy Dinner Plan, we wanted to give this old classic a new twist - so I’ve reworked our most popular version with a few ingredient switch-ups and some added vegies to bring the costs down. This recipe is a great way to zhoosh up sausages, and despite the ‘curried’ label, it’s mild enough for the kids to enjoy (but if you do like it on the spicier side, you can certainly dial up the curry powder to your taste).
Quick weeknight tuna fish tacos
Fish tacos continue to be one of the biggest trending dinner searches on taste.com.au as the nation’s obsession with Mexican food shows no signs of slowing down. The ingredients list for classic fish tacos can get quite lengthy (and can add up pretty quickly once you factor in all the accompaniments), which is where my Savvy Dinner Plan version of fish tacos comes in. This version of fish tacos uses some clever shortcuts to lower the cost, reduce food waste, and have dinner on the table in 20 minutes!
Easy butter chicken rice pilaf
When it comes to chicken dinners, few recipes have more enduring popularity than butter chicken. In fact, butter chicken is now the #1 chicken dinner search on taste, and it’s still growing! I’ve been on a mission to make the classic butter chicken you love more affordable as part of our Savvy Dinner Plan, and I’ve given it a makeover I think you’ll love. This version combines the chicken and rice into one fluffy pilaf, so all the delicious flavours of the sauce infuse through.
When I was asked to redesign our classic cottage pie recipe to make it cheaper as part of the Savvy Dinner Plan, I really wanted it to be as family friendly as possible. I needed it to be hearty enough to feed a family of four, but easy enough for you to make after a busy day at work. With a few shortcuts and ingredient swaps, this version not only reduces the cost of the recipe, but it also slashes the cook time by more than half, so it’s ready in 25 minutes.
One-pan vegetarian lentil and pumpkin lasagne
Vegetarian lasagne is the most searched-for vegetarian dinner recipe on taste.com.au - so when I was asked to create a budget-friendly version for our Savvy Dinner Plan, I wanted it to really deliver on flavour and be hearty enough to feed a hungry family of four. I served it with some salad and it stretched to serve my family of five (including two teenagers and a preschooler).
We’ve seen searches for ramen recipes explode on taste.com.au over the past year - so to keep up with this high demand I wanted to develop a brand new, budget-friendly twist on weeknight ramen for our Savvy Dinner Plan. My new version uses a few flavour-bomb shortcuts to create a beautiful broth, plus crispy, caramelised pork mince that cooks quickly enough for the whole dish to be ready in just 20 minutes.
Quick French onion chicken pie
There’s something to be said for the joy that a simple chicken pie can bring to the table – it’s a dinner that taste.com.au members love to share with their families. This was one reimagined dish we knew we had to include as part of our Savvy Dinner Plan, and I have a hunch that my quick French onion chicken pie, with its creamy vegetable and chicken filling, will soon become a firm family favourite. This is no humble pie. It really ticks all the boxes: it’s cost-effective, uncomplicated, quick to make, and is filled with wholesome fare. Plus, its picture-perfect pastry top makes it look too good to eat. (Almost).
There are few dinners more soothing than a bowl of curry, and a gently spiced chicken curry is a favourite dinner of taste.com.au cooks. So, I’ve given the classic homemade curry recipe a hearty, meal-stretching spin – earning it a place on our Savvy Dinner Plan. To create a richer depth of flavour, I’ve used tomato paste alongside a cast of pantry staples and budget-friendly fresh and frozen ingredients that carry this curry further.
For more recipe ideas, go to taste.com.au or check out the Taste Test Kitchen now.
Originally published as Savvy Dinner Plan: Quick and savvy back-to-school dinners to try this term
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