Cowboy chicken. Recipes are all over online, but I love it, usually presented as a one skillet meal so easy, and very filling!

Cut up chicken, coat in chili powder and smoked paprika, then sear. Dump in corn, beans, veggies and simmer for a bit. That’s it.

Mix in a pack of taco seasoning with brown rice and it tastes like tacos without needing the meat. Tho rice takes a bit to cook

Buy a bunch of silicon containers or boxes that are both freezer and microwave safe. Take the biggest pot you have and make a massive portion of food. Eat 2-3 times, freeze the rest in individual meal portions. Repeat 1-2 times and you have a massive storage of cheap, healthy, delicious food.

Suitable dishes:

• Indian curry
• Thai curry
• Japanese curry
• any other curry, just experiment
• soups
• pasta Bolognese etc.

Big upgrade for your nutrition and kind of fun to cook such massive portions, while also allowing you to be lazy 9/10 days

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Any tinned beans are ready to eat, just rinse and heat a little (a minute in the microwave, give or take). I’m super time poor, So lately I’ve been mixing a few varieties of beans, with some just defrosted peas and corn, and some dip and corn chips, if im feeling fancy. Damn it’s yummo!

I use about 1/2 cup peas corn, microwave for 30 sec to 1 min, in a little water, drain.

Pour in 1/3c (odd) of whatever beans you like (I go with black beans, chick peas, and lentils)

Microwave 30 seconds.

Add lemon juice to taste. Pour on whatever dressing you want for flavour. (Tzatziki, 2tbsp or vinegarette, or salsa, endless options)

Then you can use it like a chunky salsa / dip, eat with corn chips. Or as is.

Or eat with rice or noodles.

I have at times added cheese or a chicken schnitzel.

Got a crockpot/slowcooker? If so, throw a thawed chicken breast in there, season it with paprika, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper and add a small jar of salsa. Set it to low and go to work.

When you come home. Shred it with a fork. You now have pulled chicken. Put it on a bun and add some bbq sauce. Bon apetit.

But wait. There’s more

Day two: slice some peppers and onions. Use the same seasoning on the peppers and onions and move them around in a scorching hot pan. Toss in leftover shredded chicken to warm up and absorb the flavor. I like to squirt some lime juice on it right at the end. Put that on a tortilla and enjoy your chicken fajitas.

Easy and delish and not from frozen. Do multiple breasts and freeze the leftovers for future quick meals.

cheapest meals you’ll ever find.

• beans
• rice
• seasonings
• ramen

also if you can, grow your own veggies. yellow summer squash dries really well and can be used in lots of dishes.

winter squash like butternut stay good for 6-10 months in the right conditions and can literally fill a meal.

carrots are easy to grow and high in nutrients, they can be stored for several months as well.

make sure you keep all your scraps and reintroduce them back into the soil as fertilizer. I would dry them and grind them in a blender along with egg shells, a bit of coffee grounds, dried fruit peels (like banana, orange, apple, etc). sprinkle over soil and mulch over that(could be dried leaves or hardwood mulch), and water.

if you grow eggplant, the leaves can be dried and boiled to create a weak insecticide since the plant is related to tobacco.

fight powdery mildew with vinegar and water. A 1/10 solution weak should be good enough.

if squash bugs or other pests are a problem, get a torch and burn them and the eggs off your plants. if you’re vigilant when they first show up, you won’t have to work so hard later. remember, the point is to “cook” them, not cremate your plant.

if space is a concern, grow things that crawl. greenbeans, peas, tomatoes, acorn squash, yellow squash, zucchini. all can be grown from pots on trellis. make sure they get plenty of light, water, and nutrients. careful with some squash though, they can crossbreed if they’re in the same family.

think of it this way. you spend $10-20 on heirloom seeds and take the seeds from your best harvest every year, you’ll never have to buy those vegetables again. $10-20 dollars, for a lifetime of food.

We make this black bean soup pretty regularly at my house. I still can’t believe how good it is for how simple it is to cook!

ETA: I crib quite a lot of recipes from eatingwell these days. This chickpea casserole is quite good, too.

Buy a super cheap rice cooker, its life changing! Throw some rice with frozen or canned veggies of choice, added some beams and you got a nice delicious and nutritious meal. There’s lots of variation you can do with that.

Hoover Stew: Elbow macaroni, can of corn, can of diced tomatoes, sausage/hotdog. I’d start looking up depression era foods and learning how to cook. It stretches your dollars further.

Lentils, my friend. They don’t need soaking. Aside from soups and stews here’s a fun recipe:

Find some wheat gluten, could be in the baking aisle, maybe in the “ethnic” aisle with Asian stuff as it’s used for making seitan. I got some from a health food store where I felt like I was carrying explosives as I strolled past bourgeois folks and their toddler on a leash.

• 2 parts cooked lentils (I like red lentils, could substitute chickpeas), puréed and cooled
• 1 part wheat gluten.
• 1 part breadcrumbs

Add water or broth sparingly until you can knead it all into a rough dough. Spices to taste.

Roll into "meat"balls or burgers. Bonus: gluten is protein.

Fry or bake.

A second tip, frozen veggies and fruit retain a lot of their nutrients. Best to buy a kilogram or two of frozen berries in winter rather than a wee clamshell of tasteless berries flown in from Peru for the same price.

Third, tofu is often cheaper in Asian groceries than in supermarkets. Cube it, toss it in salt, white pepper, and cornstarch, fry until golden brown. The cornstarch gives it a good crispy layer. Mix soy sauce, oyster sauce (available with no actual oysters as ingredient too), white sugar, stir fry veg of choice. Serve over rice.

rice
canned kidney beans (you need a good amount of beans to rice to get a complete protein profile)
vegetable stock (i use powdered which seems cheapest)
ground coriander seeds
ground cumin
ground chipotle or any chili
limes or vinegar
shallots or onions, hot chili (if you like it hotter)
garlic and or garlic powder
tomato paste
any oil
salt, pepper
fresh coriander and parsley if you can afford it (i use frozen parsley)

a large pan or pot with airtight lid (this is necessary to steam the rice)

drain beans
wash rice if you are concerned about arsenic or dirt (i sometimes leave it dry to get a bit of toast on the rice)
make about 0.5L of vegetable broth
chop onions and garlic, chop chili (de-seed for less heat)
heat pan with oil, add powdered spices (not the garlic powder) until fragrant,
add onions and garlic, chili, stir as needed
add tomato paste (about 1 tablespoon)
after about a minute add rice (stir until a bit toasted)
add beans, stir
cover with broth (about 0.5 - 1 cm above rice) add water if necessary
add parsley, garlic powder, salt, pepper, dash of vinegar (if not using limes)
cover pan, turn heat to lowest (if that burns on the bottom you can also turn off heat)
cook 20-25 minutes (do not open the lid)
near the end roughly chop fresh coriander
turn off heat, open lid, gently stir
close lid and let it sit for 5 minutes (not strictly necessary, YMMV)
if you like it tangy add some more vinegar to taste, add salt if necessary
serve with limes and fresh parsley

a very cheap meal that can be upgraded (fresh coriander, limes) if you have some money left over.

for non-vegetarian experiment with lard instead of oil and chicken stock.

Buy cheap basics: dried beans & lentils, rice, potatoes, pasta & whatever veg is cheapest - frozen if fresh is too expensive. Use onions, garlic, salsa and spices to make it tasty. Falafels are easy and cheap to make. Dal is also good. Farmers/Shepard’s Pie (can use veggie ground round for cheaper and vegetarian). Having a prep day is good to make chili or veg stew or other casseroles that can be portioned out over the week. Making more portions at once is cheaper over time. Oatmeal with cinnamon and a tiny bit of (real) maple syrup is a healthy go to breakfast.

My tip is rice for calories, veggies for nutrition, dry beans/chicken for protein. Frozen veggies can get very cheap.

Potatoes are also super good and allow for a lot of variety. To make something tasty like mashed it does require butter and milk.

Side tip for rice, rice cookers are pretty cheap and save you plenty of time. You just toss in rice, water and salt in the correct quantities and good rice comes out. You can also make whole meals with it by putting some oil and frozen veggies.

For taste spices are key and big quantities of spice don’t cost much per dish. It takes some experimenting but once you get a hang of it it becomes very nice and easy. Garlic/onion powder, cayenna pepper, salt and pepper improve almost every dish.

One caveat is that seed oils are just not healthy so if the budget allows for olive oil, butter or coconut it’s better.

Find your local asian market, buy ramen noodles in bulk. Chop up some veggies, saute them in the pan before you make the noodles. Crack an egg in there. You can buy bulk mushroom powder for cheap too, put that in there. Go to your local grocery and buy the cheapest meat, slice it up and throw that in before the veggies.

Is it going to be culinarily coherent? Maybe, maybe not. Are you going to eat it? Probably. Is it going to hit your macros? More or less.