🥫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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Bush's Best black beans

$1.29ish a can, dump on rice with hot sauce and you have dinner. buy 6 at a time

Goya white rice, the big bag

cheaper per serving than anything in a box. rinse it or it's gluey

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

canned chicken thighs, any brand

polarizing texture but shreds into a quesadilla like nobody's business. $ per serving is unbeatable

lentils, the bagged kind not canned

20 min, no soak, and a bag makes like 8 servings

Barilla pasta, whatever shape's on sale

peanut butter, the natural kind if it's not marked up too much

frozen peas

freezer not pantry technically but they don't go bad and rescue any sad meal

chicken bouillon (Better Than Bouillon jar)

one jar lasts months and turns rice/pasta water into something

canned diced tomatoes

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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