Backroads & Overdrafts

Stretch-It Kitchen

Shakshuka: Eggs for Dinner, Four Plates for Under Eight Dollars

Eggs poached in a spiced tomato and pepper sauce, scooped up with pita. A whole skillet of dinner for four built on the cheapest protein in the store. Priced with live Kroger numbers.

Shakshuka: Eggs for Dinner, Four Plates for Under Eight Dollars

Eggs took a beating in the headlines, and somewhere in there a lot of people stopped thinking of them as cheap. They still are. Even after everything, a single egg is the least expensive hit of real protein in the store, and shakshuka is the meal that proves it. Four eggs poached in a spiced tomato sauce, a stack of pita to scoop it up, and the whole skillet feeds four people for the price of one fast-food combo. It is the dinner I make on the night before grocery day, when the fridge is down to condiments and a carton of eggs.

What it actually costs

At our Kroger this week, a half-dozen of store-brand large eggs was $1.29, so the four eggs this needs are about 86 cents. A 14.5-ounce can of store-brand whole peeled tomatoes was $1.00, and you want two for a full skillet, so call it $2.00. A green bell pepper was $1.19 and a yellow onion ran about 50 cents of a 99-cent each, plus the garlic, paprika, and olive oil from the cabinet. A 6-count of pita to serve alongside was $2.99.

Add it up and dinner for four lands around $7.50, a little under $1.90 a plate, and the pita is the most expensive thing on the list. Skip it and serve it over rice or with toast and you are closer to a dollar a serving for a hot, filling, protein-forward dinner. That is the case for eggs in a nutshell: even at today’s prices they are the cheapest way to put real protein on four plates.

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cans (about 14.5 oz each) whole peeled or crushed tomatoes
  • 1 onion and 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp paprika (smoked if you have it), pinch of cumin and chili flakes
  • Olive oil, salt, pepper
  • Pita, rice, or crusty bread, to serve

How to make it

  1. Soften the vegetables. Heat a good glug of olive oil in a deep skillet over medium. Add the onion and pepper and cook 6 to 8 minutes until soft, then stir in the garlic, paprika, cumin, and chili flakes and let it bloom for a minute.
  2. Build the sauce. Pour in the tomatoes, crushing the whole ones with your spoon. Season with salt and pepper and let it simmer 10 to 15 minutes until it thickens into a sauce you could stand a spoon in. This is where the flavor comes from, so do not rush it.
  3. Make wells for the eggs. Use the back of a spoon to dig four little pockets in the sauce. Crack an egg into a small bowl first, then slide it into each well, so a bad egg or a broken yolk never lands in the pan.
  4. Poach them gently. Cover the skillet and cook 5 to 8 minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks are still soft. Pull it the moment the whites firm up, because they keep cooking off the heat.
  5. Serve from the pan. Crack pepper over the top, scatter any herbs you have, and bring the whole skillet to the table with warm pita for scooping.

It reheats fine, though the yolks will firm up, so if you are cooking for one, build the sauce ahead and poach fresh eggs as you go. A crumble of feta or a swirl of yogurt on top makes it feel fancy for almost nothing.

We did the full math on this exact question recently: even with the price spikes, eggs are still the cheapest breakfast protein going, and that holds at dinner too. When cheap protein keeps quietly getting more expensive, the carton of eggs is the one that still does the job.

What is the meal you make the night before grocery day, when the fridge is basically empty?

Recipe is a standard shakshuka (eggs poached in tomato and pepper sauce). Costs use live Kroger store-brand shelf prices at Kroger On the Rhine, Cincinnati, pulled 2026-06-21. Your store and day will vary.

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