If struggling to feed yourself, foodbank is king Asian markets usually have the best prices in town for vegetables and cooking spices. Rice and beans are your friend, and easy to flavor Frozen are good and cheaper than fresh vegetables. Dairy goes far nutritionally Want Meat? Chicken.

Hispanic markets overlap produce items from different cuisines, often cheaply. But yeah, Asian markets rule. If you have H Marts in your neighborhood, you're lucky.

Canned veggies are great if you have limited freezer space. Indian markets are cheapest for a lot of spices and things like garlic and ginger. Ask the bakeries if they have a day olds section.

Tofu is inexpensive and keeps better than meat. Only downside is you have to learn how to cook it.

Not sure how these price out now, but in my broke days, popcorn (popped at home) satisfied the salty-snack urge, and chocolate chips the sweet one. I felt much less deprived.

Also, eggs.

Eggs. Tinned baked beans. And, oddly, tinned potatoes are identical nutritionally to fresh but cheaper by weight. There’s nothing unhealthy about tinned vegetables (in water not oil) and they’re often even cheaper than frozen.

These options don't work very well for folks who don't have a kitchen to use or somewhere to store things. Foodbanks are great, but extremely limited in what they provide.

Master tofu. It's cheap, takes sauce well, and fries or bakes well as an OK meat substitute (especially in sauce!).

I love rice and beans, (chilli, curry; Italian style tomato - no matter what flavour).

super good advice. i'd like to add: in my experience, canned vegetables are often cheaper and tastier than frozen. plus, you can store them on the shelf, and you don't even have to heat them up