8 Budget-Friendly Dinner Ideas Made With Markdowns

1. Autism-friendly dinner

So, first up, I got these chicken bites marked down and was going for the autism-friendly dinner idea. I happened to say this was autism-friendly, hoping to keep the main food trolls away, because I always get asked where the green veggies are.

Still, I had so many people go, “My kid would never eat that.” I’m like, it works for my family. So, I didn’t get as much hate as I probably would have, but seriously. When you post something you can’t edit it.

2. Lamb burgers

The next night I found those bread rolls that I’d planned to use with the lamb burgers that we’ve got. So, I cooked two of those. I had one without the bun and salad. Everyone else had chicken burgers with bread rolls. That worked out really well.

3. Pizza dinner

The next night for dinner, I found these pizzas marked down. We will never have the barbeque meat one again. It was a bit oily with all the meat. The three of us had the pineapple pizza. I just had some salad. I added some fries to bulk it out.

My daughter had a chicken burger with fries and salad. I completely forgot to put the parmesan on top, but she was okay with that.

4. Pork sausage

The next night, I found some pork sausage marked down, so I had these with salad because I love sausage.

My husband and daughter had some risoni.

My son had a chicken pizza that I found marked down, so I just added more ham, pineapple, and cheese, and cooked that up for him. He really liked it.

Dessert this week was another markdown apple pie. I was worried it would be really doughy, but it was really nice. We had ice cream with that as well.

5. Meat tray

On Thursday night, I won the meat tray at Bingos, so that was exciting. I’ve put away the patties and the sausages that were there. 

Hubby and I had the ribs with fries, and the children had chicken nuggets and fries with vegetables because they’re not really fans of ribs. There were heaps there.

6. Chicken Kiev

The next night I got some chicken Kievs marked down to around AUD1.50 (USD1). I found some potatoes marked down and the carrots were a dollar for the bags, so that was a really good meal, especially for hubby and me. The kids just had some chicken nuggets, because they’re not a fan of the Kievs.

7. Lamb roasts

The next night we’re having lamb roasts. I got this for AUD9.79 (USD6.60) a kilo (around 2.2 pounds) from Foodland. It was an absolute bargain. They also had potatoes marked down, and a veggie pack. I cooked all of those in the oven.

I cut off a portion of the lamb to save for a stew later. The three of us had that. My son just had chicken nuggets and fries as usual. I cooked his first so that I had space in the oven.

8. Chicken pasta

The next night we had a split meal again. I got this pasta marked down.

Then, I cleared out the deli of the cooked barbeque chicken. It was a brilliant price, cheaper than a chicken breast is right now. I was like, “Thank you very much. I’ll take the entire tray.” It’s already cooked, so I don’t have to do anything about it. 

My daughter and I had that, and my son and hubby shared a normal Hawaiian pizza because I had that as a markdown. 

I did buy ham separately because I was trying to show a TikTok about how pricing works. It’s all crazy. I added everything up and it came out to roughly AUD65 (USD44) if you add in the can of pineapples, the fries we used for the week, and the corn.

Budget-friendly dinner ideas

I didn’t price out exactly how much each meal cost, but I’m pretty happy with the way the week’s meals worked out.

What markdowns have you found that you use to feed your family? What budget-friendly dinner ideas are your favorite? Drop a comment and let us know.