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A Week of Easy No-Cook Dinners for $100 (Plus Shopping List!)
- This 5-day plan features no-cook dinners to keep your kitchen cool.
- The recipes use the same ingredients in multiple dishes to cut down on food waste.
- This plan highlights summer produce, including tomatoes, lettuce and corn.
Finding ways to keep your house—and kitchen—cool is top of mind for many of us right now. That’s when no-cook dinners like the ones in this plan come in handy. These deliciously seasonal dinners don’t require the use of the stove or oven. Plus, the grocery bill comes out to about $108—or an average of $22 for each four-serving meal, which would likely be more budget-friendly than going out to eat. (Note: prices may vary depending on your location.)
With a strategic use of ingredients, you can make satisfying meals that everyone will love all week long. Plus we streamlined the shopping list by making the most of certain ingredients—here’s how:
- You’ll buy a loaf of ciabatta bread—half of it will be sliced to make open-faced sandwiches while the rest gets cubed and dried out for use in the panzanella.
- Roasted red peppers and pickled jalapeños are whirred into a flavorful spread for the sandwiches, but also lend a bright, acidic bite to the taco bowls.
- Those taco bowls are not only quick to pull together, but they employ lots of the same vegetables from the other meals—from the cabbage and lettuce of the chickpea salad to the red onion of the panzanella—so nothing will go to waste in the crisper drawer.
Ready to get dinner on the table? From juicy, sweet tomatoes to crunchy bell peppers and tender zucchini, fresh vegetables all play central roles in this seasonal menu that makes the most of summer.
Grocery List
- 1 (15-oz.) can no-salt-added chickpeas
- 1 (15-oz.) can no-salt-added black beans
- 1 (5-oz.) can oil-packed tuna
- 1 (12-oz.) jar roasted red peppers
- 1 (6-oz.) jar pickled jalapeños
- 1 (16-oz.) loaf ciabatta
- 1 (6-oz.) package unsalted peanuts
- 1 (9-oz.) bag tortilla chips
- 5 medium tomatoes
- 1 medium red bell pepper
- 1 head garlic
- 1 medium lemon
- 2 medium limes
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger
- 1 medium avocado
- 3 heads romaine lettuce
- 1 medium head green cabbage
- 2 medium zucchini (1½ lbs. total)
- 1 bunch scallions
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 bunch thyme
- 1 bunch basil
- 1 bunch mint
- 2 large ears corn
- 1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
- 1 (6-oz.) block Parmesan cheese
- 2 (6-oz.) containers burrata
- 1 (8-oz.) block Cheddar cheese
- 1 pound cooked shrimp (31-40 count)
Check Your Pantry
- Dijon mustard
- Cider vinegar
- Reduced-sodium soy sauce
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Crushed red pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
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Herb-Marinated Veggie & Chickpea Salad
Photographer: Jacob Fox; Food Styling; Sammy Mila; Prop styling: Joseph Wanek
This big salad is packed with lots of vegetables marinated in a bright and herby vinaigrette. Marinate the vegetables for at least 15 minutes so they have enough time to soak up the dressing, but you can leave them for up to an hour for a deeper flavor.
A combination of romaine lettuce and green cabbage provides a hearty base for the marinated vegetables and shaved Parmesan cheese. And don’t be shy with the herbs! Here we use parsley and thyme but dill and chives would be delicious as well.
Open-Face Tomato & Burrata Sandwich
Photographer: Jacob Fox; Food Styling; Sammy Mila; Prop styling: Joseph Wanek
Tomatoes are the star in this open-face sandwich where thick slices of juicy, ripe ones are piled high on ciabatta bread. But what makes this sandwich even more special is the pepper spread, which tastes like something straight out of a great deli. Here, we chop jarred roasted red peppers and pickled jalapeños and combine them with fresh herbs, oil and vinegar to create a spread that amplifies the flavor in the sandwich. Crisp greens and torn pieces of creamy burrata on top makes for a satisfying meal.
Ginger-Soy Zucchini Noodles with Shrimp
Photographer: Jacob Fox; Food Styling; Sammy Mila; Prop styling: Joseph Wanek
Turning zucchini into noodles (zoodles) is still quite popular, but you can also use your vegetable peeler to turn them into long, thin ribbons instead. Since zucchini is mostly water, it acts like a flavor sponge. That’s why tossing it with a ginger-soy sauce makes these ribbons mouthwateringly delicious. Finish the dish with some precooked shrimp for protein, chopped peanuts for crunch and mint and basil for a seriously fresh flavor.
Panzanella with Burrata & Tuna
Photographer: Jacob Fox; Food Styling; Sammy Mila; Prop styling: Joseph Wanek
Panzanella is an Italian salad featuring dried bread and tomatoes that gets tossed in a vibrant vinaigrette. Tear or cut the ciabatta into bite-size pieces and let them sit out overnight to dry so they’re ready to soak up the dressing the next day. The dressing features the liquid from salted tomatoes and the oil from a can of tuna to help reinforce the flavors of the salad in every bite. Adding tuna also amps up the protein in the salad so you have a satisfying dinner.
Black Bean Taco Bowls
Photographer: Jacob Fox; Food Styling; Sammy Mila; Prop styling: Joseph Wanek
By the end of the week, you’ll have a good amount of fresh vegetables to use up—and that’s the magic of these taco bowls. The rest of the cabbage, lettuce, roasted red peppers, pickled jalapeños and red onion get mixed with fresh corn and black beans that gets dressed with a simple scallion-lime dressing. Pair the bowls with your favorite tortilla chips, and you have an easy, 15-minute dinner ready to go.
