Make your own goddamn tortillas, user. I've saved a lot of money that way
Poor people foods
I've never mustered past the "wash your corn in poison and oh god rinse it many many times" step.
Feed these to my cats
Yeah fuck that. I meant flour ones, I use beef tallow for the fat, gives it a good taste
banquet tv dinners
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Wouldn't barley pass through mostly undigested? In any case, you're definitely not getting 1600 calories out of it
Oatmeal with butter-eye.
Anything potato-heavy, it's sheap and versatile. Just flip the ratio of meat and potatoes, if American.
Rösti (kind of like hash browns, really) is simple, just grated potatoes and egg, grease, salt and pepper. Some labor is needed for grating the potatoes, but the result is tasty even with out anything but little ketchup or steak sauce.
Can't you just use beans and rice? Would at least not taste like absolute ass.