Whether you’re cooking from scratch or buying ready-made meals to keep handy in the freezer, there are plenty of dinners to shop at Walmart to feed a crowd and stay on budget. Using Walmart’s in-house grocery brands like Great Value and Marketside ensure shoppers save even more money than they would buying name brand products.
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We rounded up eight dinners the whole family will love (and your wallet will love even more) using a combination of ready-made meals and those that require only a few ingredients to prepare. Keep reading to see which Walmart dinners you can buy to feed your family for under $15.
Spaghetti
- Total cost: $7.63
Few meals appeal to everyone, from adults to picky eaters, quite like the classic spaghetti dinner.
We selected only Great Value ingredients to stay on budget for this meal, including spaghetti noodles ($0.74 for 16 ounces), marinara pasta sauce ($1.67), and grated parmesan cheese ($2.98). Don’t forget the garlic Texas toast ($2.24) for the side! The total came out to $7.63, providing extra wiggle room to add in an extra box of noodles or marinara sauce if you want leftovers for later.
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Tacos
- Total cost: $14.01
You can find all the ingredients needed to cook delicious tacos at Walmart.
The cheapest ground beef is 73% lean and available in a one-pound frozen roll for $5.44. We went the Great Value route for the remaining core ingredients, including shelf-stable flour tortillas ($1.98), refried beans ($1) and taco seasoning mix ($0.47). Top off the tacos with a sliced roma tomato ($0.28 each), shredded cheese ($1.87) and mild salsa ($2.97).
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Pizza and Salad
- Total cost: $9.95
Busy week or busy day? Keep dinner simple with the crowd-pleasing pizza and salad pairing. DiGiornio frozen pepperoni and cheese pizza costs $5.97 while a family-size bag of Olive Garden Caesar salad has everything you need to make Caesar salad for a group at $3.98 per bag.
Pigs in a Blanket
- Total cost: $11.90
Pigs in a blanket are a kid-approved dinner that require shockingly few ingredients to make and gobble up.
We picked a 24-ounce bag of Hillshire Farm Beef Lit’l Smokies links for $7.94 since you can’t go wrong buying more sausage links. (Plus, whatever doesn’t get used up can be frozen again for later.) We also opted to shop for two rolls of Great Value buttery crescent rolls ($1.98 each). Each canister contains eight rolls and, with hungry households, it’s always better to have a few crescents handy than not enough.
Fettucine Alfredo
- Total cost: $11.04
Unfortunately, it would cost more than $15 to buy all the ingredients for chicken alfredo from scratch at Walmart.
Fortunately, however, four frozen boxes of Stouffer’s fettuccine alfredo are available for $11.04. It’s freshly made pasta tossed in a creamy alfredo sauce.
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Baked Ziti
- Total cost: $9.19
What’s one of the cheapest pastas to cook using Walmart ingredients? Baked ziti fits the bill nicely here.
Once again, we elected to use Great Value where we could to cut down on overall costs. Most baked ziti recipes call for ziti noodles ($0.74 for a 16-ounce box), ricotta cheese ($2.67), shredded mozzarella cheese ($1.87) and pasta sauce ($1.67). Remember to top with shredded parmesan cheese ($2.24) and let it get all melty (or bake for a few extra minutes) before serving.
Grilled Cheese and Soup
- Total cost: $10.41
As fall approaches, having a comfort dinner somewhere in the weekly lineup is a must for busy households. Grilled cheese with a side of soup not only offers that much-needed comfort, but it can easily translate to being served for dinner or lunch.
Grilled cheese ingredients are easy enough to find and available from the Great Value brand. All you need is a loaf of sourdough bread ($2.67), a block of sharp cheddar cheese ($3.78) and salted butter ($3.96).
This comes out to spending $10.41 and allows enough room to buy a few cans of your family’s favorite soup. (Our calculation shown above allotted for one can of soup.) Some cheap options from the Great Value brand include tomato soup and chicken noodle at just 70 cents per can.
Breakfast for Dinner
- Total cost: $12.48
Can you really make breakfast for dinner for less than $15? The answer is yes, although you will have to make clever substitutes (and keep an eye out for sales) to have it financially work out.
Instead of buying pre-made waffles or pancakes, pick up a box of Great Value pancake and waffle mix ($1.98). Each mix makes about 45 pancakes, which is a much better deal than you’d find from frozen breakfast name brands.
For eggs, which are still fairly pricey, we went with Great Value’s 12-count large white eggs for $2.72.
Bacon was a bit too expensive, but Great Value breakfast pork sausage was on sale for $2.94 so we snagged those as a meat side. We also included hash brown patties ($3.42) and wheat bread ($1.42) for toast. The total spend came out to $12.48, which isn’t bad considering you get just about every major breakfast food for the cost.
Editor’s note: Prices and availability are accurate as of Aug. 24, 2025, and are subject to change.
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