The Freezer Aisle Trick That Turns Baked Potatoes Into A Full Meal For Under $5

There's hardly anything more comforting than potatoes, but they're often served as a side dish rather than the star of the show. If you want to make a meal out of a fluffy, perfectly baked potato without much effort or money, look no further than the freezer aisle of your local grocery store. There are countless frozen dinners that would work well when served over a baked potato, from frozen prepared pot roast to roasted turkey with gravy.

Everyone's so used to serving dishes over rice and pasta, but baked potatoes make a perfect starchy base, too. To serve a dish like this, just prepare the baked potato in the oven as you normally would (use these genius tips to get the absolute best result) then slice it in half lengthwise. Fluff the potato, butter it if you want, and scoop the prepared frozen meal over on top of the potato. This is best served in a bowl, so any sauce that's in the prepared dinner can be easily scooped up with a spoon.

A frozen pot roast dinner is classic. It's usually shredded beef with gravy, giving this dish plenty of sauce that can be spooned over the potato for so much added flavor. A pot pie is another great one, and even a beef teriyaki would work well. Salisbury steak or any kind of chicken with vegetables are both good choices, too, as well as shrimp and vegetables in cream sauce. For this, the only frozen dinners to keep out of your cart are ones that already have a starchy base, such as frozen pastas, mashed potato bowls, or rice bowls.

Frozen dinners vary in price, but you can almost always find some for under $5. Most frozen dinner brands, including Stouffer's, Marie Callender's, and Banquet all generally cost fewer than $5 per single-serve dinner, and you can even get some more nutritionally balanced dinners like Lean Cuisine within that range too. You can also use this frozen dinner trick with leftover meat or sauces that are in your own freezer. It's an easy way to use up frozen leftovers and cuts the cost a little more.