🥫the pantry stuff that actually makes a $5 dinner happen
ranked by cost per meal, not by how virtuous they sound on instagram
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1
Bush's Best black beans
$1.29ish a can, dump on rice with hot sauce and you have dinner. buy 6 at a time
2
Goya white rice, the big bag
cheaper per serving than anything in a box. rinse it or it's gluey
3
Rao's marinara
yes it's like $9 which feels insane for pantry, but one jar = 3 dinners of pasta and no sugary aftertaste like the cheap jars
4
canned chicken thighs, any brand
polarizing texture but shreds into a quesadilla like nobody's business. $ per serving is unbeatable
5
lentils, the bagged kind not canned
20 min, no soak, and a bag makes like 8 servings
6
Barilla pasta, whatever shape's on sale
7
peanut butter, the natural kind if it's not marked up too much
8
frozen peas
freezer not pantry technically but they don't go bad and rescue any sad meal
9
chicken bouillon (Better Than Bouillon jar)
one jar lasts months and turns rice/pasta water into something
10
canned diced tomatoes
11
old fashioned oats
savory oats with an egg on top is a legit dinner and nobody believes me until they try it
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