Help Me Figure Out What My Meals And Cabinets Could Look Like?

[AzizaRivers]

This summer, my boyfriend and I will be moving in with his family (right now we live on our college campus) and remaining there for the year. We share his family's food but they are tight on money so I habitually replace the foods they buy that I eat a lot of. I also have a cabinet there where I keep my gluten-free stuff.

I have a job so I'm trying to plan out what my budget will look like and how much money I will allow myself per week or month to buy my food. I will buy the occasional gluten-free treat, but besides that I just have a few things I try to have on hand that are not naturally gluten-free. Those would be corn pasta and graham crackers (I like my s'mores...) for the most part (sometimes Van's waffles). I have other staples like natural peanut butter, corn tortillas, cheddar cheese, dry beans, and rice. If I ever have bread or muffins or anything, I usually make them from scratch and freeze them in portion sizes.

Next year I'll be commuting to school so I need to figure out what kind of foods I will be each week, and what kinds of foods are good for providing nutrients and also sometimes being easy to pack so they can be heated up for lunch or dinner when I get to school. I have figured out rice with some cinnamon and maple syrup makes a wonderful hot breakfast cereal, and I also like polenta for breakfast. I need ideas for things I can have in the house and make, and also make to take with me...that are healthful and on the cheaper side. What are your favorites?

[StacyA]

There are a ton of discussions here with favorite cheap meals. Do a search that includes 'meals', 'quick', 'cheap' and you may get some good ideas. I have a shared kitchen, and my boys eat a lot of bread/toast, so we have separate margarine and jelly. I have a cabinet just for me that includes: my own jar of peanut butter, almonds (I usually mix M&Ms in them), chocolate Chex(I think I got zapped by honey-nut Chex), a stash of Lara bars, a bag of sugar (I don't trust the communal sugar, or anything communal in my house - once a bag of chips is opened I assume that gluteny hands went into it), and various gluten-free pastas. My favorite pasta is rice sticks - I find them cheap in the Chinese food section or ethnic grocery stores. I cook a lot from scratch, but we also use Hunt's pasta sauces, Progresso soups that are gluten-free, Tostito's corn chips and salsa. My stand-by for if I'm on the run is Boost.