Make A Simple Seafood Pasta Dish For Less Than $10 With This Canned Fish

When you go out to eat, if you're getting seafood, you're likely spending big bucks. After all, premium proteins from the sea tend to be less abundant, tougher to catch, and more complicated to ship (a lobster dinner just doesn't cost the same as it did in the 1960s). That's why it's so beneficial to know how to cook; you can prepare a restaurant-worthy pasta dish for a fraction of the cost, using a canned fish that is bursting with flavor, like sardines.

Sardines might not be your first choice of seafood, but hear us out: They're incredibly economical, while also wonderfully briny with deep umami notes. You can assemble a stand-out weeknight meal consisting of the workhorse sardines, pasta, a little sauteed garlic, freshly grated lemon zest (as well as its juice), and some toasted breadcrumbs for less than a Big Mac meal in most markets.

Let's run the math (and please keep in mind, prices vary depending on where you live): A single can of sardines, which is all you need to feed two, despite the small container, costs a mere $1.25 at Walmart. A box of spaghetti (and you'll only need about half), another $1.25. A fresh whole bulb of garlic shouldn't set you back more than 80 cents, a lemon no more than 70 cents, and breadcrumbs are cheap, at less than $1.25. You should spend no more than roughly $7 on the basics, but if you need any seasonings, like red pepper flakes or parsley, you can absolutely pick them up and still stay under $10.

If you've got a little cash to spare, you can take your sardine pasta dish from elegant to truly luxe with the addition of some tasty, but still affordable, upgrades for just a few dollars more. For example, to really enhance the briny flavors, splurge on some capers, which cost as little as an additional $2 at Walmart. Or up the umami with fresh cherry tomatoes, which can run you anywhere between $3 and $6 (though depending on the season, perhaps they won't cost you anything because you've got some in your own garden). To bulk up your pasta and make it stretch, you might also toss in a bag of spinach for $2 to $3 more.

Also, you don't necessarily have to stick with the cheapest brand of sardines. It's generally understood that the pricier varieties are better, so if you're going to splurge, why not do so with the main event? Fishwife and Patagonia Provisions sardines both cost $7 for a container at Target, which is not an unreasonable amount to spend every once in a while for a special dinner.