if you have a rice cooker you can cook lentils with the rice and they are so small it cooks right up. Can add any veg or spices you like and the key with the rice cooker is the harder something is to cook the smaller you need to cut it up. I know you said veg but you can throw raw chicken in if its cut up small enough without poisoning yourself. I put that in just to showcase the cutting things ups small. You just can’t beat beans and rice for macronutrients vs cost. If you want to go for a superfood that is not to expensive buckwheat is amazing.

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.

Black Beans and Rice

Cook 2 cups of rice (rice cooker makes this easy)

Ingredients: 2 cans black beans 1 chopped green pepper 1 chopped onion 1 table spoon butter or oil

Spices: 1 Bay leaf 1 tsp black pepper 1 tbl spoon sugar 1 tsp vinegar (or lime juice) 2 tsp cumin (other potential spices: allspice, ginger)

Garnish: Sour creme (optional) Chopped green onion (optional)

Cook onion and green pepper together with butter/oil Add beans and spices Add sausage if using Add spices Cook together about 45 minutes on low, stirring occasionally Serve over the rice, garnish with sour cream and green onion if desired

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

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.

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.

yes.

ditch the frozen pizza and make your own dough. it tastes way better and is much cheaper.

6 cups of flour

3 cups of water

1-1/2 tablespoons of yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons spoons of salt

mix it all in a bowl, cover it and let it sit for about an hour. once it’s risen, put it in the fridge. it will be ready to use the next day, but it will keep for a few weeks.

i like to make pies with 450 grams of dough, it makes for a good 15” pizza. i use tomato sauce from fruit that we grow, but ive heard greet things about san marizano tomato sauce in a can.

i have lots more to say, but i don’t want to type it all out if you’re thinking ‘yeah, fuck that guy - i’m never gonna do that’, so if you want more info, lmk.

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

Find your local asian market, but 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.

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 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.

For when it’s real bad: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

Veggies + pasta + sauce

Beans + veggies + sauce

Various forms of potato

Carrots and hummus

Oh shoot also, you said vegetarian so I didnt include this but you could probably make it work.

Okonomiyaki:

Its practically fish flavored pancake batter filled with cabbage and other veggies fried on a griddle. Invented in japan after WW2 to use scraps and make them tasty.
I make mine with bacon or cheap slices of ham on bottom but you can skip that, but I would still crack an egg into the center.

If you look around at street food post WW2 in the world you will find a lot of it is cheap and tasty and with a globalized market easier to get the ingredients/recipes.

Get a pressure cooker and a bread maker from a thrift store or Facebook marketplace. Your bread will be cheap and plentiful. Get some herbs and veggies to spice them up. I’m a big fan of rosemary, garlic and onion and then dipping it in olive oil with some cheese on the side.
Or make pizza dough dough setting and make a quick pizza or even bread pizza

I adapt what I make to what is cheap to purchase at the time. Sometimes it is lots of eggs and quiche, sometimes it is specific veggies, stuffing them with rice and cheese and lentils and baking them is nice.

And to finish off here is my ancestors depression dish which I swear by.
Eggs tomato and cheese:
Saute onion, and green pepper or celery until sweated, add salt, pepper and thyme
Add a large can of tomatoes or 4-5 large tomatoes cut into chunks and let simmer until liquid
Reduce heat and add a soft cheese (cheddar spread or american cheese works well cause it melts well | generous 1/2 cup
Once melted mix in slowly 6 scrambled eggs and raise heat a little until it cooks and thickens stirring constantly.
Serve on bread.