Budget-Friendly Meal Ideas The Family Will Love

Assemble Your Kitchen Helpers

A chef – or humble home cook – is only as good as their tools. So kit out your kitchen with appliances that take the time, effort and expense out of cooking for a busy household. “Slow cookers, rice cookers and air fryers should be top of your time-saving list, but they’re also budget family meal magicians,” says Tracey Ellis, The Good Guys Buyer – Portable Appliances. “An air fryer is a whiz at blitzing food wastage by reheating leftovers and keeping them crunchy.” Preparing thrifty cuts of meat to melt-in-your-mouth perfection is a slow cooker’s superpower; and did you know you can use a next-gen rice cooker to whip up healthy soups, porridge and dumplings, too?

Here are some budget friendly family meals to inspire your next weekly menu …

#1 Slow-Cooker Shepherd’s Pie

The best dinner is one you come home to, hot and ready to dish up. So rustle up your favourite shepherd’s pie ingredients and stir them together in your slow cooker before work. You don’t even need to brown the mince! The only other prep required is mashing your potatoes. Spread those on top of your mince mixture in the cooker, seal with the lid and cook the whole lot on low for about 5 hours. Pie perfection!

Shop Slow Cookers

Russell Hobbs 7L Slow Cooker – Matte Black

Breville Fast Slow Pro Multicooker

#2 Air-Fryer Fried Rice

Have rice in the cupboard and seen-better-days veggies that still have some life in them yet? Combine the two for this quick and easy crowd-pleaser with a twist. Instead of browning, simmering and stirring over the stove, simply add all of your ingredients (fresh or frozen veggies are fine) and cooked rice (cold) into an oven-safe pan. Then it’s into the air fryer at 180ºC and in 15 minutes you’ll have dinner ready to serve.

Shop Air Fryers

Ninja Dual Zone Air Fryer

Philips 2000 Series 6.2 Litre XL Airfryer Black

Tefal Easy Fry Classic Air Fryer

#3 Rice-Cooker Taco Soup

Make Taco Tuesdays a soup sensation with a rice cooker. Just 45 minutes on a brown rice setting is all you need to turn a nutritious and budget-friendly mix of chicken breast, chicken broth, chopped fresh veggies, tinned tomatoes, brown rice and black beans into a Mexican mash-up that the family will love. Serve with tortilla chips for a touch of crunch.

Shop Rice Cookers

Nutribullet Everygrain Cooker

Russell Hobbs Turbo Rice Cooker

#4 Zucchini, Tomato And Bocconcini Pizza

This vegetarian delight is a lip-smacking combo and scores big nutrition points, but, really, anything tastes good on a pizza! Whether you’re cheffing up your own dough or saving time with the store-bought variety, an oven with pizza settings is your ticket to a crisp crust and oozy melted cheese.   

Shop Ovens And Benchtop Cookers With Pizza Settings

Breville the Smart Oven Pizzaiolo

Smeg 150cm Dual Fuel Upright Cooker

#5 Peanut Butter Chicken

Tell the kids they’re having peanut butter for dinner and watch their eyes light up! A budget meals hack for more complex satay recipes, this one combines peanut butter, coconut milk and tomato for a saucy chicken dish that will have everyone begging for seconds.

#6 Tuna Burgers

Healthy meals on a budget don’t get better than burger night! For something new, why not try tuna patties to get your Omega 3 hit. To make, simply drain canned tuna and mix with breadcrumbs, finely chopped spring onions, salt and pepper. A dollop of dijon mustard adds some zing! About 10 minutes over medium heat, turning once, will have them golden brown.   

#7 Chicken Nugget Casserole

Chicken nuggets, cheese, pasta sauce – if this chicken parmigiana  spin-off doesn’t get the kids excited, nothing will. And the best part is, with only four ingredients, they can help with the cooking! Just layer chicken nuggets, parmesan cheese, your favourite spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese and pop it in the oven at 180ºC for 30–35 minutes. Pssst, Dad… this one also makes a killer footy snack!

#8 More-Ish Meatballs!

Follow this easy recipe for incredibly flavourful, tasty and juicy meatballs, whipped up in a flash thanks to the Sunbeam Banquet Frypan Diamond Force. Its deep cooking pan is ideal for whipping up family-sized meals!

Monday-Night Meatballs By Sunbeam

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Servings: 6–8

Ingredients

Meatballs

1.5kg lean beef mince

1 cup packaged breadcrumbs

3 eggs

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

4 cloves garlic, crushed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

Sauce

2 brown onions, chopped

1 red capsicum, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tin crushed tomatoes

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil

1 beef stock cube

Cooked pasta of your choice

Parmesan cheese, fresh basil and crusty bread, to serve

Method

1. Combine meatball ingredients; roll into 18 balls (100g each).
2. Heat half of the oil in the Sunbeam Banquet Frypan Diamond Force on Medium heat. Cook meatballs, in batches, until browned all over. Remove from pan.
3. Heat remaining oil in frypan on medium heat; cook onions, stirring until translucent. Add capsicums, stirring occasionally and cook until tender, add garlic and cook for 1 minute, add tomatoes, oregano, basil and stock cube. Season with salt and pepper, stir and cook for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to Min/Med.
4. Return meatballs to the pan and cook, covered, for a further 15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.
5. Stir through the cooked pasta. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.
6. Garnish with parmesan cheese and fresh basil, serve with crusty bread.

Can’t wait to get cooking? Visit The Good Guys in-store or online to explore our huge range of small kitchen appliances.