Red beans and rice & sausage
Red beans - $1
Rice - 20c (I'm guessing because we get the huge bags at Sam's)
Hot sausage - $3.29
For less than $5, you've got 8-10 (I'm guessing) bowls of good, healthy, tasty food.
It's easy to do in a crock pot also.
I’m really careful about food at the dollar stores because much of it comes from China. But we do lots of meals for $5-7 per meal.
I do a similar thing to your red beans with lentils. Lentils, sausage, seasonings, and at the end stir in some cheese...serve over rice...yum, and cheap.
We also make stews and soups. With a tiny bit of lamb you can make a tasty lamb stew, ingredients: lamb, potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions.
A couple turkey thighs (cheap cut) some celery, onions, carrots, seasoning, and a bag of barley...makes lots of servings for under $5.00.
Our favorite, (but the fish is free because we catch it) is a seafood gumbo made with canned tomatoes, lots of spices, cayenne especially, fish fillets, then add some okra, maybe corn, serve over rice. Good eating, and healthy too.
Red beans and rice & sausage