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Grandma knows a thing or two about cooking! These grandma-approved dinner recipes give you a week’s worth of cozy, comfort food meals that are delicious and budget-friendly too. And just like grandma’s home-cooked dinners, they’re guaranteed to please!
A Week of Grandma-Approved Dinner Ideas
When putting together this collection of grandma-approved dinner recipes, I was looking for a few things:
- Budget-friendly – Because grandma always knew how to stretch her grocery budget and make the most out of simple ingredients!
- Comfort food vibes – When we think of our grandma’s recipes, we think of cozy comfort foods with a heavy side of nostalgia.
- Hearty and filling – I don’t know about you, but my grandma didn’t serve salad for dinner! It was all about noodles and proteins and mashed potatoes and biscuits.
- Easy to make – When grandma was cooking, she didn’t have a bunch of kitchen gadgets and fancy appliances on hand to use.
I’d say that all of these recipes fit that criteria! Add them to your menu and enjoy a full week of satisfying, grandma-approved comfort food dinners.
1. Stovetop Chicken and Noodles
Stovetop chicken and noodles is the quintessential grandma-approved dinner. It’s hearty, creamy, affordable, and everyone in the family will devour it. Don’t forget a side of Classic Buttermilk Biscuits!
2. The Best Pot Roast
Pot roast is always a classic, and I have a few different versions, like my Instant Pot Pork Roast. But this is the one most like your grandma’s recipe, without the fancy gadgets—it’s started on the stovetop, which adds fantastic seared flavor, then finished low and slow in the oven so it’s fall-apart tender.
3. Southern Meatloaf
If you have warm memories of your Southern grandma—or maybe you know her as meemaw!—cooking dinner for you growing up, I bet this Southern meatloaf recipe will feel familiar. Especially if you serve it with a side of Southern Green Beans!
4. Crockpot Spaghetti
Maybe your grandma is an Italian nonna? She’s definitely going to love this crockpot spaghetti recipe, which comes together with much less effort than her famous Sunday sauce (although both are slow cooked to perfection). It’s not a complete meal without Homemade Garlic Bread on the side!
5. Chicken Noodle Soup
Every grandma has a go-to recipe for chicken noodle soup to cure whatever ails you. This crockpot version is a streamlined recipe with the same old-fashioned flavor you love, especially with some crumbled saltines on top. (Grandmas always have a box of saltines in the pantry, right?!)
6. Tuna Casserole
Grandmas are famous for their arsenal of casserole recipes, often hand-written on yellowed index cards and filed neatly in a decades-old recipe box. And I bet your grandma has a version of this tuna noodle casserole! It’s creamy comfort food that tastes like home. (If your grandma makes her tuna casserole with cheese, check out my Cheesy Tuna Casserole.)
7. Salisbury Steak
Salisbury steak is a retro dinner recipe that deserves a comeback! Grandma knows that budget-friendly recipes with tender ground beef and savory gravy for serving over Mashed Potatoes never go out of style.
