This is the best for cooking for one; few ingredients, easy, cheap (so cheap!), somewhat healthy, not that much washing up. I’ll give quantities to feed one, but can just increase for however many you want.

No salt is added to the sauce because the zucchini is already salted to help bring out some of the moisture. Also, timing matters, please pay attention.

Ingredients:

• Spaghetti for one, this is subjective unless you get one of these

• 1 medium zucchini (courgette?)

• 1 and a 1/3 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon butter and a splash of olive oil

• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced (not chopped, sliced)

• a pinch of chili flakes

• ground pepper

• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley (or a mix of parsley and mint if you have it)
• 1 tablespoon crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

Fill your biggest pot with lots of water and put it over high heat on the stove with one teaspoon of salt in the water.

Grate the zucchini then lightly salt it. Leave for 5 minutes.

Slice half a clove of garlic into fine slices. Chop parsley and mint. Squeeze excess water from the zucchini with your hands over a bowl or sink. Just squeeze it like Play Doh, don’t worry about getting all the water out.

Once the pasta water is on a rolling boil (has been boiling for more than a few seconds, the water is moving energetically around the pot), put the spaghetti in. Give the spaghetti a quick stir to stop it from sticking.

When spaghetti has cooked for 5 minutes, put the teaspoon of butter and the oil in a fry pan with the garlic over low heat. Cook for 20 seconds, don’t let the garlic brown.

Turn heat up to medium-high and add the zucchini. Fry the zucchini for 1 minute, it shouldn’t brown, in fact, it will continue to look raw. It will actually be juicy and sweet and so great. Turn the heat off, add chili flakes, pepper, crumbled feta, herbs and two teaspoons of the water from the pasta.

Drain the pasta once it is al dente, mix it into the zucchini in the pan.

Eat in bed while watching YouTube videos of David Mitchell talking about food.

Have a cheap an easy recipe you want to share? Send it on over. See more recipes here.

Cat McInnis is a food blogger and a recently-employed publishing assistant-type-person in Melbourne, Australia.

In truth, The Box did very little to connect me with my foodshed; I didn’t learn anything about the farms behind the food nor, I’ll admit, did I care much at the time. On the other hand, it was through this service that I developed a borderline-unhealthy obsession with cooking everything we’d gotten one week before the next delivery arrived. I also learned that I liked chard, fava beans, and a few other seasonal foods I might not have tried. More importantly, I became a Person Who Got a Box of Organic Vegetables Every Week. And, looking back, that was a big step toward becoming the person I am today (a local food- and farm-obsessed gardener and home cook who reads and writes about food politics for a living).

Grist has a recent article about the rise of community-supported agriculture, and how the rise has made some small farms become bigger—not industrial big, but medium-size, and what this means for people who want to support small farms.

I’ve often thought that I might be the sort of person who might enjoy paying to get a box of mystery produce delivered to me each week, which would force me to change up my meals a bit more. But knowing my history with watching fresh produce go bad in my fridge, it’s probably best that I just buy it when I know I’m going to eat it. But perhaps you can convince to look up a good CSA in the city. Yay or nay on CSAs? (Or jeah? Are people saying jeah now? I refuse, Ryan Lochte.)

Photo: Annemod

Folks, it’s time to check in. Hope you all had lovely weekends.

On Friday evening, I decided I needed some sort of small indulgence to finish off a long week of work, and stopped by Zabar’s for a pint of Whiteface Mint Chip ice cream, fresh ground coffee to cold brew iced coffee overnight, and a baguette to eat on the way home ($11.94).

On Saturday, I put in some time to watch the Olympics, and then visited Kate’s Paperie to pick up some cards because everyone is suddenly birthing babies, celebrating their own births, or getting hitched ($33.15). I also dropped by Bed Bath and Beyond to stock up on some household items ($16.18), and renewed my subscription to the New Yorker ($39.95).

I woke up on Sunday morning with a huge craving for an open-face tomato sandwich, so I walked to the farmer’s market and bought three big heirloom tomatoes (pictured above: $11—I know, but they’re totally worth it), and then stopped by the supermarket for ciabatta, basil, mozzarella, and a four-pack of maine root sarsaparilla ($22.22).

Open-face heirloom tomato sandwiches recipe, which isn’t really a cheap eats because heirloom tomatoes aren’t cheap:

Get a hearty loaf of bread—either a pullman loaf, or a crusty ciabatta, and cut into thick slices. Drizzle with olive oil. Slice your heirloom tomatoes any way you want them (you can dice them small as if you’re putting them on a crostini, or in thick, meaty slices, or somewhere in between like I did), and put them in a bowl with chopped basil, minced garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. I also added a squirt of Sriracha for an extra kick. Toss and let it marinate for 20 minutes. Place slices of bread on a pan, and drizzle with a little olive oil. Top with slices of mozzarella cheese. Top with heirloom tomato mixture. Put in oven at 350 degrees for 10 to fifteen minutes until cheese is gooey. Enjoy with sarsaparilla or your drink of choice. Thank yourself for buying two additional heirloom tomatoes.

Total Weekend Spending: $134.44

What was your weekend damage?

Here at The Billfold, we love cheap and easy recipes. Here’s an easy and affordable dinner party menu by reader Allison Bello.

I love to cook for people—it’s how I show my love for my friends. Hosting a dinner party can be expensive, though! You want the food to be delicious and impressive, the alcohol to be free-flowing, and the pre-dinner nosh to be satisfying. Armed with $50 and a basic idea that I wanted to keep things as simple and delicious as possible (read: it’s 90 degrees out, so light food and drink, no oven involvement, and less than three pans to wash), I came up with a dinner party menu that received rave reviews from all guests in attendance.

Note: The prices here are approximately how much I pay for these items from the cheapest of my local grocery stores.

The Pre-Dinner Nosh
• 1 wedge goat’s milk gouda: $4 (They have an excellent version at Trader Joe’s. I found mine at Market Basket.)
• 1 jar banana peppers, sliced into rings: $3.50 (I like Pastene sliced hot pepper rings¬—don’t buy the pepperoncini deli rings, which look similar, but taste less awesome.)

This combination is incredibly simple and sounds a little crazy, but I swear it’s the most delicious cold appetizer. Just cut the gouda into 1 inch x ½ inch rectangles, and place a hot pepper ring on each slice, secured with toothpick. Arrange on plate, and enjoy!

The Meal: Sesame Ginger Stir Fry
• 1 package thinly sliced turkey medallions: $4
• 2 bell peppers (I like yellow and orange): $1.50
• 2 small zucchini: $1.50
• 1 red onion: $1
• 2 jalapeños: $1.50
• 1 package pea pods: $2
• 4 cups brown rice: less than $1
• A few tbsp. grapeseed oil (I find this oil to have a nice, nutty flavor that is less overpowering than olive oil but still healthier than vegetable oil; but any oil you have on hand that you like to use for pan-frying is fine.)
• Salt & pepper to taste

The Marinade
• 1 bottle Kikkoman Teriyaki plus Triple Ginger marinade: $3
• 1 small bottle sriracha (I had this on hand, but you can buy it pretty cheap, around $2. It is the BEST hot sauce ever and you will want to put it on everything after this.)
• 2 limes: $1

Pour three parts Kikkoman Teriyaki sauce plus one part Sriracha into a small mixing bowl. Juice two limes into the mixture, and whisk with a fork. Slice the turkey medallions into bite-sized pieces and place into a Tupperware container (or whatever you use to marinate things). Pour marinade over raw turkey, place in fridge to sit for the 30-45 minutes it will take to prepare the veggie portion of the stir fry.

Chop bell peppers, red onion, pea pods, and zucchini into same-size pieces. (I like to make the peppers, zucchini and onion slices about 1 ½ inch long and very thin, and cut the peapods in half.) Finely dice jalapeños and put all veggies into a large mixing bowl. Coat with several tablespoons of grapeseed oil (or whatever oil you prefer), and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.

Put a nonstick pan or wok on medium-high heat, and let the pan warm up. Once the pan is hot, put all of your veggies in and cook for about 10 minutes (enough so that the onions start to get clear and soft, but not so much that you compromise the integrity of the vegetable—I think a good stir fry needs some crunch to it). Once your veggies have reached desired done-ness, pour the marinade-and-turkey-pieces mixture into the pan. Toss everything together until the turkey is cooked through (it should only take a couple of minutes) and the veggies are coated in marinade, and everything is nice and hot. Then, remove from heat and prepare to enjoy!

For rice, I use the 10 minute boil-in-a-bag kind. I prefer brown rice, but any kind will work. I try to time it so that I put the rice on just before the veggies. It’s okay for the rice to sit for a minute because you’ll put all that hot stir fry stuff right on top of it. However you do it, just try to time it so the rice is done a little before everything else.

Serves four VERY hungry people, or six people who have just been noshing on your awesome gouda-and-pepper appetizer.

The Booze: White Sangria
• 1 box of Fisheye Pinot Grigio: $14.99 (for a 3 liter box, which is an incredible deal because this wine is actually very drinkable and delicious on its own; with this much wine, you can make half sangria, and keep half as plain wine so you can offer variety to your guests.)
• 1 box strawberries: $2.50
• 2 peaches or nectarines: $1.50
• 1 box raspberries: $4

Nothing compliments the heat factor in this meal like a light, crisp sangria made from white wine and fresh fruit. I used to put vodka in my sangria, until it started getting people way too drunk, way too quickly. So now I save money and unforeseen costs to dignity for all involved by just using wine and fruit! Do this the night before – the longer the fruit soaks, the more delicious the sangria is. Pour out approximately half of the 3 liter box into a pitcher. Cut up strawberries into fourths and peaches/nectarines into like-size chunks. Pour all the fruit into the pitcher, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit overnight (two nights is even better). Serve chilled.

The Dessert: Accept the Generosity of Your Guests
You know when you invite someone to your place for dinner, and they always ask “can I bring anything?” The answer is always yes, and always dessert!

Total Cost of Perfect Summer Dinner Party: $48.99 (Under budget! Woo! Go take that $1.01 and buy yourself something pretty.)

Allison Bello lives, works, and cooks in the Boston area. She’d love to have you over for dinner. Photo by Shutterstock/R.ashrafov Have a recipe you’d like to share? Email us!

Cereal is, in many ways, the people’s food. It’s easy to prepare, utterly satisfying, and, though charged with being a breakfast food, it is suitable for lunch, dinner, and even dessert (it’s truly a 24/7 food product). Cereal is staggering in its versatility: in a bowl with milk (duh), as gorp, mixed with melted marshmallows and turned into treats, eaten straight out of the box during Sunday night TV. It even, arguably, has a nice range in healthiness: your Special Ks and Grape-Nuts are heartily at the bottom of the food pyramid, while your your Captain Crunches and Apple Jacks hang out at the top.

But there is one thing keeping cereal from claiming its place as a true food of and for the people: price. This stuff is ridiculously expensive. A standard, major-brand box can go for $3 to $6 a box. Even the knock-offs (your Nutty Nuggets, Golden Puffs, Krusty O’s, and Cinnamon Toasters, which we all know just isn’t the same) usually only goes for a dollar less! Bulk packaging is available, of course, but variety is the spice of life! A lifetime supply of Oat O’s does not a fulfilling diet make. 

But: I have a tip for keeping you in your cereal habit, even if you don’t have cash to burn. Before I moved to New York my mother gave me lots of advice I conveniently forgot, but I remembered one thing she said that has proven to be most useful. She told me: “Lindsey, always buy cereal in drugstores.” That’s right: Rite Aids and Duane Reades and Walgreens aren’t merely for prescription meds and late night Pringles, they are also your number one resource for CHEAP BRAND NAME CEREAL. You heard me: In a drugstore, cereal is always on sale.

I’ve brought cereal boxes to bars before, because I just couldn’t help stopping into the CVS to see if they had my favorite brands on sale (and also: I wanted a snack).  My roommate calls me a cereal hoarder, but he just doesn’t understand the deals I’m getting. Plus: Cereal doesn’t (really) go bad! Stale cereal is just as edible as a freshly ripped-open bag. I’m basically running an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with the amounts of Corn Flakes and Bran Krisps I hoard.

The drugstore is your friend, fellow cereal lover. It’s a way for even the most broke of us to keep our shelves in boxes of sugar and fortified-vitamins. Two-for-one deals are especially common, in my experience, which means you’ll be getting your beloved Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms and Special K with Berries for around $2 each. That’s a price for the people. (You usually have to sign up for the loyalty card or whatever the heck, but you should do this anyway.)

Lindsey Weber likes cereal. 

Summer means heat, and heat means cravings for cool, light, refreshing meals. When I get home from work on a hot July day, the last thing I want to do is heat up my A/C-less apartment by turning on the oven or standing over the stove. Behold the wonder of Lentil Quinoa Salad. The fresh herbs and lemon give it a light, refreshing taste, and the quinoa and lentils make it filling enough to create a whole meal out of it. (Not gonna lie—the last three nights, I’ve just grabbed a fork and eaten this stuff straight out of its container in the fridge.) Bonus: It’s super cheap, and the recipe makes enough to feed an army.

Here’s what you need…
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 cup green or brown lentils
• 2 lemons, zested*
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4-1/2 cup basil, chopped
• 1/4-1/2 cup parsley, chopped*
• 4 big or 6 small green onions, minced (white parts only)*
*These are the ingredients I had to buy, for a grand total of $2.97.

Other ingredient costs: The basil came off a plant I bought at the grocery store for $2.99, which was the same price as a pre-cut bunch. Now I can have fresh basil whenever I want! Lentils are $0.99 per pound, and 1 cup is a little less than 1/2 a bag. And honestly, my 4-pound bag of quinoa has been with me forever, so I have no idea how much I spent on it. But based on Amazon and Google Shopping prices, it looks like quinoa is about $4.00-5.00 per pound, less if you buy it from the bulk bins. It’s more expensive than, say, rice, but oh-so-delicious and versatile and healthy. And did I mention it lasts forever? Buy it in bulk and store it in an airtight container someplace dark and cool. You can thank me later. Like the lentils, 1 cup is a little less than half a pound.

So, all told, the main ingredients come to less than $7.00, plus the oil, garlic, and spices, which you probably have lying around. Like I said, this recipe makes a lot, so you can easily feed a large group or have it as a meal or side dish for several days.

To assemble, rinse the quinoa in a mesh strainer and then combine it in a small pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Combine the lentils in a small or medium pot with enough water to cover the lentils by at least an inch. You can also use vegetable broth for a little extra flavor. Bring lentils to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

While those are cooking, assemble the dressing: lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, paprika, garlic, and salt and pepper. For the lemon juice, I like to squeeze the lemons—after zesting—into a 1 cup liquid measuring cup (two lemons usually yields between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of juice), pick out the seeds with a fork, and then top it off with that lemon juice that comes in a lemon-shaped-and-colored bottle from the produce section. Then add the rest of the ingredients to the measuring cup and stir it up with a fork. Set aside.

You can either chop the herbs and green onions now or wait ‘til you get home. You won’t add them until the salad has cooled. Chop ‘em up nicely and stick them in the fridge covered in plastic wrap while the salad cools.

When the lentils and quinoa have finished cooking, combine them in a large bowl and stir them together. If you’re like me, you will slop some over the side of the bowl no matter how carefully you stir. Just shrug and eat it anyway, assuming your counters are (relatively) clean. Give the dressing a quick stir, since the lemon juice and oil will have separated, and then pour it over the lentils and quinoa. Mix to coat evenly. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 60-90 minutes to cool. Add the herbs and onions, mix, and enjoy!

This is one of those dishes that’s better a day or two later, when the flavors have had time to mingle. This is a great potluck dish (especially since it’s vegan and gluten free), but make sure you save some for yourself to eat tomorrow. It’s also delicious on crackers! Oh, and if you really must have a hot meal, grate some cheddar cheese over the top of the leftovers and nuke it!

Have a cheap eats recipe to share? Send it in!

Linda Stewart eats, dances, and works in the Bay Area. After finding that YouTube clip, she spent the next 45 minutes watching Looney Toons clips with a dopey grin on her face.

The most stressful thing is buying milk for someone. What milk? What kind of milk?!?!

— Chris Kelly (@imchriskelly) July 12, 2012

Choire Sicha: There is no other kind of milk other than “WHOLE MILK.”

Pat Sachon (My Mom): Organic fat-free, usually the cheapest one. I used to buy fat-free half and half until I saw all the yucky stuff they put in it, so now I buy the real stuff. And soy milk when you’re home.

Adam Frucci: 1%, organic probably. [Do you want to expand on that, add a joke maybe?] What, just the basics of my milk-buying habits aren’t entertaining on their own?

Edith Zimmerman: I buy half and half for my coffee, something organic from Trader Joe’s.

Mallory Ortberg: I buy raw milk in glass jars from Claravale Farms. It tastes really good! And glass jars make me feel old-timey and wholesome.

Matt Powers: Sometimes Cream-o-land but when I feel guilty that I’m not doing enough for my health, I get Amish Farms, which is organic. It’s $4 for .5 gallon. I’m worth it.

Nozlee Samadzadeh: My BF’s allergic to dairy, so soymilk. I like Trader Joe’s store brand soymilk in cartons, because the only ingredients are soybeans and water! Although often I buy dried soybeans and make my own soymilk, because I am weird.

Mike Dang: This is a question that I think about a lot. I buy organic whole milk. Whole milk because the ones that aren’t whole are watered down, and have sugar added to them. And organic because it lasts longer, and I can’t finish a whole carton unless I’m given a month. And sometimes even that goes to waste, so I just buy a little carton of half and half for my coffee. (Organic milk comes from farms that don’t use antiobiotics on their cows to fight infections, and since this milk has to travel longer to grocery stores, they are processed at an ultra high temperature that kills all the bacteria in the milk, giving it a longer shelf life. Non-organic milk goes through a pasteurization process done at a lower temperature, so not all the bacteria is killed, so it goes bad faster.)

Eric Spiegelman: Trader Joe’s 2%. No pulp.

Hand Mustard Make sure nobody’s looking. Squeeze mustard onto the back of your hand. Lick it.

Veggie Dog in a Piece of Wheat Bread Folded to Resemble a Hot Dog Bun
Dress it up with your roommate’s spicy habanero ketchup to taste. Great for breakfast on the go!

Half a Tortilla and Hummus
Smear the hummus around with the back of a spoon and then lick the spoon. Only using half the tortilla will make you feel like you’re saving money, even when you eat the other half five minutes later.

—You can’t really argue with the economy or simplicity of these classic meals. HAND MUSTARD. More options for meals to eat while standing over your kitchen sink here and here. (And here.)