Gemelli with sungold tomatoes, beans & olives: 63 cents/serving

We had our first harvest of sungold tomatoes this week, and as difficult as it was for me to refrain from eating them right off the plant (although I admit there may have been a few that “fell”), I managed to accumulate enough to make this pasta dish. It’s a light, quick, cheap, and filling warm-weather meal, especially with the beans, and it can, of course, be made with any variety of cherry or grape tomato. I also used fresh oregano, but I didn’t like it all that much with the olives, so I’m recommending you use basil.

Red beans and rice: 62 cents/serving

Because of red beans and rice’s highly desirable price-to-tastiness ratio, I’ve been experimenting with it for years, and let me tell you: Despite the seemingly simple lineup of ingredients, there are many, many opportunities for things to go wrong (slow cooker vs. stovetop, red beans vs. kidney beans, rice cooked in-pot vs. separate, ham hock, no ham hock, different kinds of sausage…). This recipe, in my opinion, is both the most authentic and the best-tasting. It eschews the slow-cooker; uses small red beans, which cook up creamier than kidney beans; includes ham hocks and sausage; and has the beans served over the rice, which is the only way I’ve ever seen it in Louisiana. Don’t be afraid to make up a double batch—it tastes better the longer it sits.

Black beans and rice with roasted sweet potato & lime: 49 cents/serving

In the realm of cheap-but-filling foods, few things deliver more bang for the buck than a big ol’ pot of beans. Throw in some cooked rice as filler and you can stretch a 50-cent portion of bulk beans for several days, as I was able to do with this meal. The trick of adding balsamic vinegar, sherry and soy sauce to bring out the umami compounds in black beans is an old favorite of mine, courtesy of Bon Appetit, and in this case the flavor perfectly complements the sugary sweet potatoes, tart lime, and earthy-crunchy pumpkin seeds. In fact, this meal is so good it would work for a dinner party (it’s even vegan!), and no one would ever guess the whole thing cost less than $3 to make.

Baked bean, apple & sausage strata: $1.13/serving

Because I don’t like eggs by themselves (scrambled, fried, deviled…they all taste overwhelmingly of farts to me), brunch can be a frustrating meal. If a non-egg option even exists on the menu, which it often doesn’t, it’s either something disgustingly sweet, like powdered sugar with a side of French toast, or gut-bombingly fatty, like biscuits and gravy. (Nothing against biscuits and gravy, mind you—I would probably eat this happily every day, right up until I had to buy a new pair of pants.) This strata is a great solution for people like me: a brunch dish that’s egg-free yet flavorful, inexpensive, and a little easier on the waistline. It’s also great for dinner, or as a side dish at barbecues or potlucks.

White bean soup with pasta & rosemary oil: 63 cents/serving

Bean soup. If you’re on a budget, you’ve probably had more than your fair share of it, as it’s easy, inexpensive, healthy, and filling. It can also be kind of depressing. This soup to the rescue! It happens to be my absolute favorite bean soup of all time. It’s not overtly beany, with a smooth bisque texture and tons of flavor from both the soup base and the rosemary oil, plus pasta for textural and visual interest. This recipe makes a TON for around 5 bucks total, so you can freeze the soup base and make up a new batch with new pasta (the rosemary oil keeps a while in the fridge) whenever you feel like it, or, ideally, when you happen to have some hot, fresh crusty bread at the ready.

Cincinnati chili: $1.93/serving

Cincinnati chili—like a lot of things from the Midwest, in fact—is one of those things us dyed-in-the-wool West Coasters instinctively want to hate, but deep down inside just can’t. I mean, chili? Not to mention weird bastardized chili, with cinnamon and cocoa powder and kidney beans, on spaghetti? With more cheese than is reasonable by just about anyone’s standards? So shameful! But also so addictive. Adding fuel to Midwesterners’ likely growing irritation is the fact I’ve never even been to Cincinnati. In fact, I’ve never been to the Midwest at all, unless you count one half-hour layover in Chicago and two in Denver. (In fact, I’m not even sure Denver qualifies as “the Midwest,” but the view from the airport window was awfully flat, and I saw at least three Looney Tunes-embroidered denim jackets, which I would’ve sworn on a bible had all gone to the Big Goodwill in the Sky circa 1998.)

Chinese black beans and tofu: $1.96/serving

This almost-vegan (provided there are real oysters in your oyster sauce) weeknight dish is surely poised to become a favorite in the $35-a-week rotation. Not only would it be super-cheap with on-sale tofu and from-scratch beans (neither of which I had this time around, unfortunately), but the flavors echo those in Chinese black bean sauce, which I love, but with the added bulk and fiber of whole beans. Crispy fried tofu cubes add textural interest and even more protein. It would also, for you non-budgeting-folks, make a great side dish for duck or chicken, with or without the tofu.

Burrito pie: $1.41/serving

As if the name and photo didn’t already give it away, this hot mess of a meal dates back to when I first graduated from college. (The recipe is scrawled in my even-back-then-barely-legible handwriting on a stained, torn-out sheet of binder paper.) It doesn’t really have anything to do with burritos, or pie, but no one has ever cared. It’s not only quick to throw together on a weeknight, but it’s turned out to be one of B.’s favorite dishes. He’s lucky I even made it for him in the first place, but I do admit, even after all these years it’s still pretty good in an early-aughts “Mexican” food kind of way.

Beer-baked white beans and skillet cornbread: $1.38/serving

No sense beating around the bush: I like beer. A lot. I also have not had any beer for a long time. In fact, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had any alcohol (or caffeine) at all due to a misguided  attempt to live and work more mindfully. Not that I drank that much before (although I did drink too much coffee by anyone’s standards), but couple of beers a few days a week went a long way. You’d think it would get easier the longer you go without, but it actually seems to get worse as time goes on, especially when it comes to coffee. In fact, I apologize to all who’ve had to work with or talk to me in the past week. I thought this dish would allow me a way of finally having beer without actually drinking beer, but instead it caused a great deal of angst and emotional trauma for its requiring me to purchase a large bottle of beer—sweet, wonderful beer—only to pour every last drop of it into a pot of beans. Thankfully for these beans, as well as my sanity, it was actually worth it. These are some of the best beans I’ve had in a very long time, and they do have a pronounced ale flavor.

Tuscan bread soup with white beans & kale: 67 cents/serving

During the late-summer months, panzanella (bread salad) or pappa al pomodoro (bread soup) made with day-old bread and tomatoes and basil from the garden is a default weeknight meal for us. It’s light yet satisfying, and practically free. This is my attempt at a winter version, using both the innards of the bread bowls I made for roasted garlic soup and the general flavor profile of spicy kale and sausage soup. It’s considerably more expensive when not using produce from the garden, but well worth the effort. In fact, I almost like this version better than the original one with the sausage.