How To Fix Cheap Meals in Hard times

Instructions
Difficulty: Easy
Things You'll Need
Basic cooking tools and seasonings.
Cheap seasonings  at the dollar stores will be fine!..fifty cents to a dollar.
onion powder, garlic, parsley, minced onion, pepper flakes, cinnamon, etc...
Steps
1.  Those of us with Depression era parents or grandparents have heard countless stories of how they lived on beans during that time. I really never thought we would live through the same experiences! But Beans were and are a good food item to have on hand . any kind you can get cheap...pintos, cranberry, October, great northern, etc.
"Look them" as the old folks would say...(checking for foreign matter) wash them and soak them over night or all day while at work. cook them till they soften. I use a crock pot. Season them and Voila! Additions of onions, mustards, corn bread or cole slaw still make a cheap meal! You can buy little off brand boxes of corn muffin mix for around 39cents.
Leftovers can be mashed for bean dip(add some seasonings of your choice hot as you like it!) for tortilla chips or put in burritos! Place it in a soft taco shell with a little cheese and roll and melt in microwave!
2. Macaroni and cheeze Dinner ....Boxes were four for a dollar last night at my store! Fix according to box directions...spread on a pan and crack a couple of eggs on top...place in the oven or under a broiler. This is a British fave. They use the can macaroni....I prefer to fix the box.
You can also prepare and add a veggie like broc or whatever you have....or ham for a casserole! My son likes the eggs beat and then added to the mac and baked.\
Using just the macaroni...yo can cook, cool, add mayo or salad dressing and basically whatever veggies you have! Macaroni salad. Onion flavoring or minced onions completes this.
3.  Ramen noodles...are they a dime a pack now?
You can fix these and drain them...add butter or oil ,the seasoning ....Then toss with veggies or meat for a quick cheap Asian
meal at home. If you use chicken flavor ...use chicken meat.,....beef for beef etc....IF you have leftover seafood....use the shrimp flavor.
Just drain them completely. You can also add leftover nuts with the chicken one for a restaurant feel.
4.  I fix a pasta primavera on the cheap//I buy two packs of the cheapest noodle mix with primavera type sauce...around 79 cents a piece....I cook them according to directions..divide in half and place cheap cooked frozen spinach with butter and garlic ....whatever cheeze I have I add
to the spinach or to the top of it..parmesian is good mozarella....et Even sliced cheese would work in the spinach especially. You can add mayonnaise to the spinach if you don't have much cheese.....remember we are using what we have! You can add a can of chicken to the noodles if you want to splurge! 
5.Polenta!
Sounds very Italian and expensive....three cups of water and a cup of corn meal....thatS it! I do mine in my rice cooker which is easier....basically you boil water and add corn meal! I add a little oil and flavorings to the water. Parsley, onion flavoring, salt and pepper. Serve with butter or cheese on top. comfort food.

Leftovers will be congealed when cooled. If you have some Italian in you...slice this and fry it up. You can serve it as a potato or add sauce like pasta or whatever.
6.  Dumplings
Open some chicken stock or use your own leftover stock....(You could even use bouillon cubes I guess! Add this dumpling mixture by spoonfuls to boiling broth. (break two eggs in a cup measure ..... fill the rest of the way with milk. Add two cups of flour.)
My mom uses canned biscuits cut up! You can add chicken from a can or leftover to the broth. Sometimes I will boil a boneless filet.
7.  Found objects....What?
One time we were hard up and my husband picked up apples off the ground that fell over in our yard from our neighbor's apple tree. WE peeled them, cooked them and made biscuits from scratch. Good eating! The kids thought it was a special treat! Lots of sugar and cinnamon.!
Tomatoes in season? buy pasta and make sauce or just cut up fresh tomatoes on pasta.yum!
Peach tree? Make a quick cobbler with flour and milk....top off a plain cheap meal with that and no one will notice the meal!
8.  Buy a breadmaker.
What? I bought one for one dollar at a thrift shop! People ditch them after they receive them as gifts. They are too lazy to learn to use them. See m breadmaker recipe on ehow and make homemade bread. Cheap and quite delicious. You can use it to do other things. (pizza bread, french toast, hot sandwiches, etc. accompaniment to pasta dishes.
I also use mine to bake cakes! cheap cake mix and cheap store brand icing are cheaper than buying snack cakes in boxes. Mix it up with a spoon...pour in breaddmaker on Cake setting.....Wham....instant yummy!
9.  Rice....learn to make rice from scratch....It's not rocket science Boil twice as much water as you have rice! boil, lower heat and put a lid on it...You can do it in the microwave , top of stove, or best yet....rice cooker! with some cooked rice...yOu can create a meal out of just about anything. Little cheap gravy packets and some kind of meat. Veggies and rice become oriental cuisine........I even made a rice salad with a recipe off of disney.com. I added veggies and mayo to cold rice. It was different and actually refreshingly good.
10.  Cheap fast food imitation....
The restaurants are selling those chicken parmesian sandwiches...I had one last weekend. They are nothing but a breaded chicken patty or filet with spaghetti sauce and parmesian or mozarella cheeze on them. The family will think it is a fast food treat. Use hamburger buns....or make your own buns with your breadmaker....use the dough setting and pull out and form big round buns....let rise and place in oven.
Tips & Warnings
Presentation is everything.
Attitude flavors the food too.
Keep your head up.....Times will get better.\
Always trust your ultimate security and existence to God.....He owns the cattle on a thousand hillsides!