Quick, cost effficient meals.

Watch out for sodium on canned *anything.* There are sometimes low sodium alternatives, but you should look at the sodium mg on everything you buy. One can of Hormel chili is like 1250mg, and that's before you put crackers in it or whatever. You can easily max out your recommended daily sodium in one meal.

For veggies, I prefer frozen because they often taste better, and they heat up fairly quickly in the microwave. No extra sodium.
 


Oh and a quick breakfast that I love:

2 slices of Texas toast
2 Eggs
2 Slices of cheese
Butter

Scramble the eggs and while they are cooking, butter one side of each slice of Texas toast. Cook them on a skillet like grilled cheese with a slice of cheese on top while cooking to melt it.

Once the eggs and toast are done, combine them to make a grilled cheese and egg sandwich. The Texas toast makes it awesome.
 
I can't believe I've never heard of this place. I thought I'd eaten at practically everywhere around me. There is one like 10 mins away, going to check it out for lunch today I think.

Jimmy John's is god damned awful. One kind of bread and no pickles? Only a sandwich-masochist would eat there. Plus you have to find your way in by dodging the maze of fixed gear hipsters.

Oh, and if a sandwich shop doesn't offer a good meatball sub, they are no sandwich shop.
 
Goulash (german dish I believe)

Don't quote me, but I believe it's hungarian.

I lived off of a variety of Ramen when I was living in Vienna and perpetually broke. Two packs of ramen and a cheapo beer (there is no such thing as a bad german brew). A good 50 cents for a full meal? Can that be legal? OK, so it's nutritionally deficient, but oh well.

When I was in Malawi for a summer, the staple was N'Sima (boiled rice flour), fresh chicken, and corn. Beautiful meal if done right.
 
grilled cheese on a George Forman mini grill is super fast, easy and cheap. Can do two weeks worth for less than $4.
 
Set aside a day at the beggining of the week to grill some chicken. Then get a giant plastic bowl and throw in:

1 package of spinach leaves
1 pkg of walnuts
1 can of chopped pinapple
1 can of mandiaran oranges
1 bag of dried cherries
1 carton of strawberries (sliced or whole up to you)
1 diced onion

Dressing: up to you but the one I've found compliments this salad best is Poppyseed dressing. DELCIOUS.

Once you've tossed that salad (I can never use this term without giggling) throw on the sliced grilled chicken and then start filling up those little glad plasticware trays. You'll have lunch for a week. Filling, healthy and delicious. Protip: add dressing when you're ready to eat, not when you're storing the salad otherwise you get saggy salad syndrome.
 
^^ I make a similar salad to that except with just cranberries in the way of fruit. +1 on adding chicken to make it a full meal. The recipe is here.