I guess Costco’s only good if you only buy stuff you would buy elsewhere if you didn’t buy it at Costco. Mr. Neville and I stick to the food and cleaning supplies sections on most of our Costco trips- that stuff, we’d have to buy anyway if we didn’t go to Costco. We never get to the area where the castle-shaped cake pans are. I guess it also helps that I’m the anti-Martha Stewart- I don’t bake, and if I did, I wouldn’t bake cakes in castle-shaped pans.
I was about to suggest the same thing. Quesadillas with re-fried black beans are cheap, quick, and tasty, too.
I like to just get a whole chicken and roast it. They’re only about $3~4, rub a little oil on it, salt, pepper, roast. Splurge for a head of garlic and an onion if you want to have some more flavor. That's good grub for a couple of days, get a .65 can of corn and a can of beans and for the cost of a fast food jumbo meal you can eat pretty well. Plus roasting chicken smells great, especially if you do the garlic and onions.
For a quick cheap meal or snack, I like making something my family calls “Pizza Bread.”
You take bread, slather some catsup on one side, sprinkle that with oregeno (w/ basil, garlic, whatever you like), and then put some thinly sliced cheese on top. Put it under the broiler to melt the cheese and then eat. It sounds weird, but is really really good.
This reminded me of my specialty: Root beer can chicken + BBQ Cabbage
In case anyone has not been exposed to this cooking method:
Wash whole chicken, cut off tail + nearby fat. Allow to drip dry for a few minutes. Rub on dry rub of choice. Bend wings back under themselves so that they stay tight to chicken. Shove a half can of beer/non-diet soda/lemonade/tea/whatever up the chicken’s but and stand it (balnced on the can + legs) in your grill at 325F over indirect heat for 1 1/2hr, or until internal temp is 175F. remove from heat + let stand 15 minutes
I never make the rub the same, but I’ve never had a bad one (HOT sometimes, but not bad). Always put in more sugar than salt. Tandoori spices in the rub + tea in the can make a delicious combonation if you like Indian food.
Here’s an example off the top of my head:
1C brown sugar
1T cumin
1/2T paprika
1t garlic powder
1T onion Powder
1t black pepper
1/2t cayanne pepper
BBQ cabbage:
Chop 6 strips bacon into 1" pieces. Fry bacon + 1 medium onion (chopped) until onions are golden brown. Add 1 C prepared BBQ sauce (Cattleman’s Honey is one of my favorites). Reduce as necessary so that it will stand in a pile. Remove from heat.
Make a ring of aluminum foil to keep the cabbage standing. Core a firm cabbage so that the hole is big enough to stuff all of the bacony goodness inside, then do so. Place on grill next to chicken (indirect heat) for 1-1 1/12 hours depending on size of cabbage. Peel off the outer layers if thy’re burnt, + serve.
Ditto on that. Also, you can cook a whole chicken in a crockpot with your favorite BBQ sauce and it comes out very tender and delicious.
We eat baked potatoes regularly. Just stab a few holes in them and stick them in the microwave for 6 minutes. You can top with cheese or bacon bits or sour cream or a half can of chili or brocolli and alfredo sauce. Potatoes are so versatile and so filling. And so cheap.
I make a sort of mexican beans and rice. I’ll mix rice with beans, either red or black, and sometimes refried, with a little cheese and some salsa. Also I’ll add tomatoes, onions, or jalepenos if I have them. If I have chips I’ll make nachos with beans, or I’ll keep the three separate for a full meal.
My mom used to make this as a quick hot lunch on the weekends. I don’t even know what to call it.
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tuna
1 can corn
1 can peas
1 can potatoes
Mix in pot, heat, eat. Serve over noodles if you want.
Sausage and Peppers - Italian Sausage, Bell Peppers, Onion I think you can make this feed 4 people for under $10
Bean Soup - You can get those pre-packaged bean soup mixes, add kielbasa and you’ve got another meal that’ll feed 4 or more for under $10
Zatarain’s beans and rice mix by itself or with added meat is tasty and fairly inexpensive.
Just don’t forget to eat your vegetables!
Thanks for all of the ideas! Looks like I’m going to have a much bigger catalog of cheap good food! 
I’m headed home pretty soon, and don’t usually use the internet at home (@#$% dial-up!), so sorry if I don’t respond again until Monday!
Keep the good ideas coming!
Please fight my ignorance. What is a “chub” of sausage? Is that one of those communist “metric” measurements? 
Slice up 1/4 to 1/2 a polish sausage, brown in skillet. (the kind that come folded in half in a plastic wrapper)
While sausage is browning, cut up about 1/4 head of cabbage.
Throw cabbage into skillet and stir until grease from sausage coats cabbage.
Crumble in 1 pkg Raman noodles and dump in seasoning packet, and 1/4 cup of water.
Cover skillet, lower heat, and let simmer for ~15 minutes.
If you buy the kielbasa on sale, this will cost you about a buck or a buck and a half, and will feed one big eater or two normal eaters.
A chub is one of those plactic-wrapped tubes of bulk sausage with the little metal clip at each end. Usually 1 pound.
Get some chicken- breasts, thighs, legs, whatever you like and can afford. Rub olive oil all over it, put it in the middle of your roasting pan and lightly salt& pepper it (you can add all the other “herbs and spices”** you like). Get a shitload of yams, onions, potatoes, sweet-potatoes, cut them into roughly 3/4" cubes, put em in a bowl and get em covered in olive oil. I like to add a lot of peeled garlic too, but that ups the cost and the time factor. Put the oily roots and onions around the chicken on the pan, put the whole mess in the oven at 400 for about 1-hr, deliciousness ensues. I can feed three for about 5 bucks this way.
** I once heard a serious conversation between two stoners on the bus regarding KFC. One guy was insistent that it was “11 herbs plus some spices, man.” The other guy went with the more traditional interpretation of “11 total herbs and spices, dude.” This went on for over 30 minutes. It was like real life Cheech and Chong.
Buy a big package of chicken legs and thighs. Pull the skin off the thighs. Saute some onions in the bottom of a big stockpot until they’re brownish, add the chicken without browning it, almost cover the whole assortment with chicken-broth-in-a-box, and simmer the whole thing for about 45 minutes.
You can add some vegies towards the end if you wish, or just serve this simple stew as is with salad and crusty bread. It keeps extremely well so you can get several servings out of it, and vary the accompaniments each time.
You might be interested in a site a friend told me about. The Hillbilly Housewife has Emergency $45 and $70 menus that she claims will feed a family of 4-6 on $45 or $70 for a week. The plan includes a whole week of meals and preparation for each day, which it doesn’t sound like you need, but also includes a bunch of cheap recipes.
I have one much like that. I do the sausage, then put it to the side. Then add some water to the grease carefully and sort of wilt/saute the cabbage so it’s still crunchy but all fat infused and nummy. Lots of ground pepper. Put it all over some intant or nuked potatoes. I think the instant ones run about 50 to 75 cents a pack.
I’ve bought one of those sausage things for about two bucks, cabbage goes for like thirty eight cents a pound.
(I know, to ya’ll in the UK, its like I’m saying it cost 12 hectares to the yard.
Apart from the usual cheap things: Spaghetti, Ramen Noodles, etc. I think that Chili is an excellent value. Three pounds of beef for around 7 bucks and your mix of veggies for another three will get you about 12-13 servings for 10 bucks. Buy cheese and crackers and get the works for about 13 bucks. So you are looking at a dollar per meal here…YMMV
Super easy and cheap:
Cheap copy of Kraft M&C + cheap can of chili. Cook M&C, add chili, nuke 'till warm.
Barley: cook barley, at the last minute add a beef boullion cube.
For those on Atkins: Cheesy steak- buy very cheap cuts of steak. Cut into bite-sized peices, then brown, with seasoning to taste. Top with grated cheese, then nuke 'till cheese melts.