Don't ever forget hot sauce. Hot sauce on eggs, hot sauce on beans. Consider baking your own bread; I recommend Milk Bread from the Joy of Cooking. In fact get the fucking Joy of Cooking. Recipes are expensive but you can pare them down to the essentials and they'll still (mostly) work. Minced garlic in everything. Onion powder is the best all-around seasoning; you can put it on sandwiches, soups, and salads for extra flavor. Baked apples mang, they're good. Make some garlic bread. Steam some vegetables just until they turn bright bright green, then shock them in ice water.
Get herbs and spices.The more you have (variety, not quantity) the better but think before you add. Best sources are ethnic stores.
Another hack is soy sauce. It makes beans incredible. And I recommend Vegan Indian Cooking by Anupy Singla. It's spice heavy but if you find a cheap source of them, the spice blends alone are worth it. You may be able to find it at a local library.
Kidney beans, lima beans, pinto beans, flour tortillas. Salsa and guacamole. Make tacos with a fuck ton of taco seasoning- vegetarian if you can't afford the meat. Make some salads with onion powder, lemon juice, olive oil, grated tomato and salt.
If you can have gluten you have myriads of cheap options of delicious food. Banana bread, baguette, homemade pizza, etc. etc.
