Now if you want truly haute cuisine, mix a cup of sour cream into your mac ‘n cheese and tuna.
I lived in apartments shared with five other students in three bedrooms. We most often pooled our dinner money and one person would cook a meal for six one night a week. One roommate, a Navajo Indian, made Navajo tacos every Thursday night with authentic frybread. We lived frugally, worked part-time as much as possible and through our summer breaks. Never had a spring break, made it through college in four years. Those hard times were just the incentive I needed to take advantage of my education and prepare for a decent career because I knew what was waiting if I failed.
I have actually done that a few times. Although more often, I used cream cheese.