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[walker_percy]

I want to eat more rice and beans and the like, to save money and to cut down on processed foods. Give me your recipes for inexpensive yet still healthy meals. I will use them, unless they sound gross.

[prytania3]

Pasta with red sauce, linguine with clam sauce, ziti with Caesar salad dressing.

[dr_dre]

Bean salad. Drain and rinse canned beans: 1 can of black beans, 1 can of chick peas, 1 can of white beans, 1 can of pink or pinto beans (whatever you like). Chop one onion up small. Mix all that in a bowl. Add a pinch of salt, 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, 3 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and some chopped cilantro or parsley. Toss, chill for a couple of hours and enjoy. You could also add some chopped mango if you like, or peppers. We have this all the time when the weather is warm, and it is very inexpensive. If you're hardcore about all this, you could soak and cook the dry beans yourself.

[magistra]

How'd the bird's nests go over?  If the bread's brown, it should be nutritious enough.  Anything with eggs is good.  You can throw lots of things in an omelet -- including leftover bits and pieces -- and with some toast it's incredibly cheap and filling.  (I like peas and mushrooms in mine).

Pasta is good.  Pasta and a little butter or olive oil, salt and pepper, and you're good to go.  Just add a veg  or a little meet and cheese.  I've also made a "sauce" by putting together a can of tomatoes or sauce and a can of tuna.  Quick, cheap, and gets in some protein, which was sadly lacking in my grad school days.  Definitely needs cheese, but what doesn't?

Do you have a wok?  The whole point of stir-fry is to use up leftovers, I'm told.  Or am I thinking of fried rice?  Either one will work.  I don't have a wok, though, and make neither of these.

Big pots of soup and stew, which you then freeze.  You can get away with a certain amount of canned or frozen vegs. in the soup --  and frozen vegs. can actually have more nutrients than the fresh variety, since they're flash-frozen near the fields.  Soups in particular are easy, since you just start with a can of stock (or bouillion cubes and water), then add whatever vegetables, rice or noodles, and meat if you like.  This is better in the winter, though.

[magistra]

Have you seen this thread?  Not exactly what you're looking for, but it might give you ideas.  And hey, there's a chickpea curry recipe!

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,48583.0.html

[pandora]

I love love love epicurious.com.  The only ambivalence I have about it is that it makes it too easy to ignore the gorgeous cookbooks I own -- which, very inconveniently, do not include handy reviews from 2 dozen people who have actually tried out the recipe and told you what's wrong/fabulous about it.  This link will take you to recipes for beans and rice (I hope):

http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=beans+rice&x=0&y=0

The ones with the little clock icon are obviously the easy ones.

[poiuy]

Felafel!  one of the foods of the gods.  The internet is full of DIY recipes that don't involve a boxed mix.  Starting from scratch with dried chickpeas it's pretty cheap.  What do you already have in your pantry (relevant spices for e.g.)?   You can also bake them instead of frying. 

[kiana]

Stuff with glop on it.

Glop is white sauce. Basic recipe (according to my mother) is to take 2T butter, 2T flour, 1C milk. Melt the butter, stir in the flour, cook until it's light brown, then add the milk, stirring as you go. You can multiply the recipe, just keep the basic proportions. Once you're done, you can basically add anything you have around.

I usually brown garlic in the butter first, and also add herbs to taste. I usually add chopped meat and vegetables. I've tried pretty much every meat there is and not been disappointed, so whatever leftover you have around is good. Favourites for vegetables are peas, the peas/beans/carrots/corn mix, or broccoli, but pretty much anything chopped would work.

You can put this over rice (my favourite), pasta, potatoes, or toast. If you put it on toast, it's called s*** on a shingle. :)

It also keeps in the fridge with a lid on for a while, so if you're varying what you serve it over you can cook once and have it for a few days without getting bored. Personally, if it's something I like I don't get bored easily, but some people do. This is probably the first thing I learned to cook when I moved out, and because of being exceptionally busy and exceptionally broke for some time, I had this for supper many nights a week.

[iomhaigh]

quiche

homemade soup (canned broth + frozen/ fresh veggies + blender)

grilled or toasted cheese and tomato soup

pasta

chili (or chili mac, if you like some starch with your chili)

french toast & fruit

omelets

left-over stir fry  (or, the variations: eggs on stir fry, stir fry on noodles, stir-fry on baked potatoes, stir-fry dumped in a tortilla, etc.)

stuffed baked potatoes

salad

nachos

tacos

For me, it is really a question of protein + vegetables + carrying device (tortilla, pasta, etc.) with the appropriate sauce. 

[expatinuk]

stone soup....

it fed thousands during Ireland's potato famine.

[catmom]

For leftover cooked potatoes:

Smash potatoes with a fork, add an egg, add flour until the stuff is not sticky/gooey any more. Add some salt, pepper. Form little sausages about 1 cm diameter. Fry until nicely brown on the outside. A simple tomato sauce will go well with it (white sauce recipe from above plus tomato paste). Variations optional.

[barrelofmonkeys]

Try the Mennonite Central Committee cookbook "More-with-less."  The recipes are extremely frugal, and have balanced, meatless protein combinations. 

[illuminata]

Black eyed peas, can of Rotel Feista tomatoes (or homemade pico de gallo) and basmati rice. In winter, serve alongside greens. In summer, green salad.

[dysnomia]

Baked sweet potatoes are cheap, easy, nutritious, and tasty.

[verafrance]

Somehow I've know several adolescent and college-age boys that have all developed the habit of pouring ketchup over everything and anything. That's cheap.

I like wieners cooked in the microwave oven. Find a cheap brand, usually works best, because it has higher fat content, cook it at a medium-high setting in the microwave, the wienner will fry/toast slightly on the outside, it's great. More expensive wieners don't get the fried effect because they lack fat.  I pour mustard on top of it or eat it with a variety of veggies.

Buy cheap fruits that you like plus cheap chocolate and microwave, either all, or just melt the chocolate and pour over the fresh fruits.