Me, I like potatoes and pasta. Both are cheap, can be cooked pretty fast and with some basic spices and extra ingredients can be turned into delicious dishes. I started eating them in my uni days when I had little money to spend on food but across the years they still remained my favorite. List some food you like - the only criteria: it has to be inexpensive.
One of the cheapest places I know to eat at is this place called "Jimmy Hotdogs" here in my city of Albany, GA. They have been around for years and are well known all over the east coast. They are located right in front of thet Albany bus and transit system.
The cheapest food that tastes good? Potatoes and pasta. No, I am not simply trying to repeat what you just said. I'm about to tell you about the most delicious budget food you will ever taste! Potatoes and pasta. Mixed together! Cook both, slice the potatoes up, throw them over sauteed onions, roast for a few minutes then mix in the pasta. Add salt, pepper, random spices you have in your house, and top off with a bit of shredded cheese! Try it out, it's amazing!
Potatoes are the cheapest food I know that tastes good. You can do so much with them. My favorite way to cook potatoes these days is peeled, quartered and sauteed of butter and onion. For some reason, this combo brings out the flavor in this food. Also, you can eat it plan, topped with ketchup or topped with shredded cheese and sour cream.
For going out I usually like Japanese food. You can usually get a Bento box for around 7 dollars or less and the food is yummie. For making at home I would go with spagetti with meat sauce. You can use ground beef and ready made sauce. Add extras into it and you have a delicious cheap meal. I also like to add meatballs to the mix. They are cheap to make, use one egg, bread crumbs with ground beef.
Beans and pasta. They are both cheap and taste good. Bean soup can last a very days making them more economical.
Pasta is by far my favorite cheap food, I might even say it is my favorite food all together. The main reason being that you can have it with many different sauces and flavors and is also very quick to prepare and of course, tastes great!
Since pasta and potatoes were already mentioned, I will throw in some other things: Canned crushed tomatoes - you can do so much with these, they are a great all around ingredient. From mixing them with some broth to form the base of a hearty soup, to making chili, or a rich meat sauce for pasta dishes, or even a vegetarian sauce for pasta. Plus tomatoes have the added bonus of containing a naturally occurring form of MSG in them (not in a bad way) which enhances the other flavors they are paired with. Tuna fish - in pouches if it's in your budget, but canned if you are trying to save even more. I will often make a pasta sauce with tuna instead of ground beef, since it's even cheaper and just as filling. Not to mention it's healthier for you. But you can also make stuff like Tuna noodle casserole, tuna patties, tuna melts, and more. The pouched variety is also great flaked over salads, such as the classic "Salad Nicoise". Fresh Peppers - these aren't always "cheap" depending on where you are getting them and what time of year, but at farmers markets, I can get large bags of these for much cheaper than what I would pay in the grocery stores. What I love about peppers is that they are "meaty", so I will roast a bunch of them under the broiler, then store them in olive oil and fresh garlic, to have on hand for sandwiches. Lots of vitamins in them as well. Hungarian hot peppers are another favorite.
I am neither a pasta nor potato fan, as they tend to sit rather heavily with me. My favourite cheap food would be a simple vegetable soup, thickened with whatever flour I have at home. Sometimes, when I have been short of cash, I just put together whatever I had left in the pantry and fridge and came up with some exotic yet tasty new dishes.
Macaroni & cheese and pickles are yummy and inexpensive. Mac n cheese can stand for a meal all alone. I almost always have pickles with my Mac n cheese.
A can of Heinz vegetable soup is cheap and I know it tastes good. I can add more vegetables to it and have it with some croutons or some nice toast. Sometimes I add some pasta to it as well, it is a meal I can rely on and is quick to make!
My cheapest food combination would be sausage and rice. I like this best not only for the cost but also because it is very easily prepared. I usually just leave the sausage in the oven for a few minutes and I know I'm getting my meal prepared while I do work or chores so it's the best for me. I sometimes also include some side dishes like hash browns or potato salad if I have it, but just sausage and rice is enough for me especially if the type of sausage is very tasty and delicious.
