tell me about your cheap tasty meals

[zenithblue]

So now that I'm finished with my semester, I can get started on the real work. My program offers us a certain amount of money towards "professional development," which we can take for almost anything--conferences, production costs (for the playwrights and screenwriters), or summer writing projects. I've taken some summer money so I can get a jump

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[sixcylinders]

Ooh, I'm good at this. Here are some of my favs:

-Soups and stews. A good cookbook on this is invaluable, though of course you can improvise. I prefer meat based stews personally, but I usually add tons of lentils and beans, making it really healthy, filling. A big pot of soup can easily feed me for a week or more, and costs, maybe 5 bucks tops.
-Variations on spaghetti and sauce. Make yourself a pasta rustica by adding lots of veggies to the sauce, or make a cream sauce with cream and veggies, or (if you're into clams) get some canned clams to make cheap homemade clam sauce. Since I don't have a food processor, I haven't made any homemade pesto, but a jar of it lasts forever.
-Ginger tofu or beef or shrimp or whatever. I like to make a big serving of this, and then I get boil-in-a-bag brown rice. This, likewise, can last a long time if you get a big serving of it.

Some other food money saving tips: shop for produce at Asian markets. For some reason, they're consistently cheaper. Cans of beans and frozen veggies are always a good back up for the lazy days when you don't want to splurge on better vegetables. Also, FOOD STAMPS.

[zenithblue]

Soups and stews are great, except I live in Texas and it's about to be summer...ugh. But the spaghetti variations are good ideas and I *love* ginger anything, so these are all helpful. Thank you very kindly. :)