I came up with a fabulous recipe tonight for a really cheap meal because I've become the queen of cheap food.  Cheap quality food, if I may add, but still cheap none the less.  And what could be cheaper than beans and rice!

So here's what I used.

Can of Black Beans .99
Can of Red Kidney Beans .99
2 Celery Stalks 2.00 for a huge bundle of celery
Can Diced Tomatoes 1.39
Yellow Onion .69
Assorted Bell Peppers 1.34
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Total 5.40
Tax .43
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Grand total $5.83

Start out with the onions diced.  While that's cooking, start chopping the bell peppers, and throw that in.  Then chop up the diced celeries and throw that in.  All this can be done with everything else cooking.  Stir it around well and cook for 3 minutes or so.  Then throw in the two cans of beans, which I only drained half way.  Cook that for awhile and toss in half a can diced tomatoes for more flavor.  Of course, add salt (eyeball it), and you can add grounded pepper too, but I didn't cause it's at my new apartment.  However, I did luckily have my Creole seasoning which is perfect for this sort of stuff.  I highly recommend it.  Actually, it's a must have.  Then I threw in some frozen corn that I had in the freezer, and voila!  I was done.  I brought it all to a boil and just let it simmered for 45 minutes or so cause I really like the beans soft.

As you can see, that was an insanely cheap meal especially if you already have many of those items stocked.  You can save money too by buying dry beans and soaking them.  One pack is probably equal to 3 cans of beans, and it only cost .99 usually.  I was just too lazy to soak them although I have them.  Soaking your own beans is also better because it makes you less "gas"sy...supposedly.  If you add some water (watch out though because the beans should have a lot of water content in it), you can make soup out of it.  Just add  some shredded cheese on top if you're just golden.

It took me 15 minutes to get everything prepared and in the pot, but if you're a faster chopper, it might only take you 10 mins.  I had my meal with rice and it was delicious.  Although, I'd imagine you could serve it with bread too and have an equally grand ol' time.  From the looks of my pot, I'm guessing this will last me for 4 meals, so if you're serving for four, this would be a very cheap way to get a good dinner.