With rising grocery costs and produce supply changes, it can be tricky putting together a hefty meal plan. Here are a blend of recipes that are cost effective and budget-friendly, including dishes that preserve your ingredients, minimise waste, use only a few items, and make the most of what you may already have in your pantry.

Supergreen risotto with pecorino cheese

Warren Mendes shares his super tasty supergreens risotto with pecorino – a hearty rice dish great for a midweek dinner.

Spiced beef and feta filo pie

Cold nights have never tasted so good.

Turmeric dahl with curry leaf flatbread

Embrace turmeric with this delicious dahl recipe, perfect for a midweek dinner.

Chilled chicken and sesame noodles

“Combining leftover chicken with crisp vegies, fragrant herbs and a flavour boosting dressing means you can have this meal ready and on the table in minutes.” – Lucy Nunes.

Risotto carbonara

If you thought cream in carbonara was controversial, just wait until you meet our cheesy carbonara risotto. If eating it is wrong, then we don't want to be right.

Taco rice

Alice Zaslavsky deconstructs a Mexican staple with this easy – and super tasty – taco bowl.

15-minute corn alfredo

Use up that frozen corn with this super-easy, super-fast and super-tasty corn alfredo recipe.

Sesame beef with gochujang udon noodles

Move over, 2-minute noodles. This beef and udon dish will make your evening.

Sardines on toast

"Here we’ve flipped it on its head so the bread doesn’t just soak up the sardines’ juices but also the juice of the tomatoes and the dressing," says Matt Preston.

Canned tomato risotto: the stockpile recipe you need to make tonight

Canned tomato risotto

Use up those canned tomatoes sitting in your pantry in this comforting and delicious risotto recipe.

Maqloubeh (Palestinian upside-down rice)

“Traditionally this layered dish is inverted and served upside-down. I’ve baked this in the style of a pilaf, but kept the layers in the rice for little pockets of flavour," says Phoebe Wood.

Chicken larb with rice vermicelli

Make the most of chicken mince with this ultimate healthy midweek dinner.

Chickpea and pea falafel recipe

Chickpea and pea falafel

Credit: Cath Muscat

“The frozen pea is not a traditional addition to falafel, but these are delicious. Crunchy and green, they’ll disappear as soon as they hit the table. The beauty of falafels are that you use chickpeas that are soaked but not cooked, making things much quicker." Begin this recipe 1 day ahead. This is an edited extract from Use It All by Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards (Murdoch Books, $39.99). Photography by Cath Muscat. Styling by Vanessa Austin. Available September 29. Pre-order now via Booktopia Books.

Chickpea and broccoli stem falafel with mint yoghurt

Budget friendly, nutritious and endlessly versatile, there’s a lot to love about legumes! Darren Robertson has his finger on the pulse with this must-make falafel.