Sometimes you just don’t feel like cooking, especially when the temperature is 95 in the shade and you’ve been working for the last twelve hours and the cash on hand totals all of about $3.47. Ordering pizza is out of the question (too expensive), and the idea of ingesting three items from the McD’s dollar menu makes you gag.

Not to worry. The following six meals are filling, delicious, dirt cheap, and you can throw them together even if all you own are a couple of pans and a cookbook your mom gave you when you graduated from college.

Rice & Beans

I love Jasmine rice. It has a mildly sweet fragrance (somewhat like Jasmine flowers, duh), and it is fluffy and perfect every time I make it. If you buy it in bulk it’s cheap, less than 10 or 15 cents a serving. Cook up a pot of Jasmine rice (or any kind of rice you like), and in another pan heat up some refried beans. (We like refried black beans best, but you decide.) When it’s all hot, sprinkle shredded cheese over all of it and serve with tortillas warmed in the microwave. This is filling and delicious and the whole meal is less than $1 per serving.

Chili Casserole

This is a no-brainer and so good. Dump a can or two of chili with or without beans in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar-jack cheese. Mix up one batch of just-add-water cornbread mix and pour it all over the top. Bake for 25 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Depending on what you pay for the canned chili, this one can stay pretty close to $1 per serving too, and it’s yummy.

Chili Cheese Crisps

On a cookie sheet lay out two flour tortillas and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread each tortilla with half a can of chopped green mild chiles, then sprinkle with shredded jack or colby-jack cheese. Top with sliced olives and whatever else appeals to you. Bake until cheese is bubbly and brown. Eat them both or share with a friend. Cost: Less than $2 per crisp.

Pad Thai

Stir fry in a little oil a couple of chopped green onions, a handful of any kind of greens (spinach or pea pods are good), a teaspoon of chopped garlic (you can buy it pre-chopped in a little jar and keep it in the door of your refrigerator), and some grated fresh ginger. Add a package of cooked ramen noodles and mix with one tablespoon of smooth peanut butter and a couple shakes of spice stir fry sauce. Pour it all in a bowl and hog the whole thing for yourself. Cost: Under $2 if you keep the garlic and ginger on hand for other recipes.

Fresh Tomato Pasta

This is so easy and so good, and if you have a vegetable garden (which you should!) it’s almost free. Cook a pound of any kind of pasta al dente. (That just means don’t cook it into mush, cook it until it’s just tender to the teeth.) In a separate bowl combine three or four chopped ripe tomatoes, a handful of finely chopped basil leaves, a tablespoon or two of good olive oil, and a tablespoon of chopped garlic. Do not cook the tomato mixture. Toss with the pasta and serve with grated Parmesan, crusty bread, and cheap red wine.

Chicken Salad Roll-ups

Warning: If you have a man in the house he might consider this chick-food (as in fare for girls only) and turn his nose up at it, but I think it’s yummy, and it’s cheap and quick. Mix a bag of foiled-picked precooked cooked chicken breast with about half a cup of mayo, half a cup of craisins, half a cup of chopped pecans or walnuts, and a quarter cup of raspberry vinegar or raspberry salad dressing. On a flour tortilla or circle of lavash (a flat bread that looks a lot like a tortilla) spread some spinach or lettuce leaves, then the chicken mixture. Roll carefully, then slice into two or four pieces and serve with chips or a salad. Cost: About $3 per half-roll.

You can can eat cheap, eat fast, and eat good without ever leaving your home. All you need to do is keep some staple ingredients on hand and collect some fast recipes. Here is what I keep around at all times:

Rice

Chopped garlic in a jar

Canned refried beans

Canned regular beans

Tortillas, flour and corn

Spaghetti and assorted pastas

Ramen noodles and soba noodles

Soy sauce

Stir fry sauce

Peanut butter

Raspberry Vinegarette

Dijon mustard

A chunk of fresh ginger

Butter

Olive oil

Shredded cheese

Parmesan Cheese

Cornbread fixings (or instant mixes)

Milk

Fresh veggies in season

You buy all that and keep it on hand for under $50, less if you grow your own veggies. I’m not saying you should confine yourself to a diet of these ingredients only, I’m just saying, if you don’t have $30 to blow on a pizza, you can still eat good and eat fast, and it won’t cost you much at all.

So, enjoy. And feel free to post your favorite super cheap meal!