Use when the whole gang’s in town and they’ll be here at 6 o’clock. Your group of girlfriends is coming over for book club. Your neighbors are en route to watch the big game.
Your teen’s four besties from school are coming over to work on a project. Whatever the case may be, you need some cheap recipes to feed a crowd that won’t break the bank or take forever to get on the table. When I think about some potentially easy meals for large family gatherings, I lean toward things that yield a lot of food (obviously), and that do it with a relatively short ingredient list so I’m not blowing my grocery budget on one dinner.
And ideally, they’d be things that tend to be crowd-pleasers, or something (like the burger bowls below) where I can set out all the toppings and let each person customize their meal. These recipes do all of that for the least amount of moola possible. Let’s say it’s a couple days after Thanksgiving and you’re still swimming in leftover turkey and houseguests.
Princess Pinky Girl’s turkey biscuit stew is an easy and affordable way to reuse your cooked turkey but make it into a simple pot pie style that tastes new. I love a good chicken thigh recipe, especially because they’re on sale so often at the grocery stores where I live. These red curry chicken thighs from All The Healthy Things only require a few seasonings to dress them up, and she serves them with a simple garlic rice and spicy cucumber salad.
If you need a vat of pulled chicken for tacos, enchiladas, or rice bowls, Princess Pinky Girl’s recipe will get the job done for you. All you need is a slow cooker, two pounds of chicken breasts or tenders, taco seasoning, two cups of salsa, and the juice of one lime (but even that is kind of optional). Tilapia is the most affordable fish, especially if you buy the frozen filets (I lived on them when I was single).
Damn Delicious’ sheet pan recipe calls for simple roast veggie sides to pair with them, so all in all this meal feels a lil’ fancy but is budget-friendly. Ground beef is one of those things most families keep in the fridge, which means spaghetti, tacos, or burgers are evergreen options. If you want to change it up just a little, you could make All The Healthy Things’ burger bowls, which give you the same classic flavor combos of a burger but over greens instead of on a bun.
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