It's cheap and filling and lasts a long time. It's pretty much all we're eating for dinner here.
Homemade soups are filling, delicious, some are relatively easy to make , and when made on big batches freeze well. And there are other things besides pasta that last ( rice is one ) and fill out meals of all kinds; potatoes too. And as long as you can get it, flour goes into a LOT of good things, for a starch side...bread, muffins, popovers, cakes, cookies, rolls, pies, pie crusts for pot pies, which do freeze well; FWIW.