I'm in a similar situation myself. Part of what has helped me I guess is that my wife works third shift so when I have dinner at night, instead of sitting alone in the kitchen, I watch cooking shows on youtube, many of which feature recipes that are cheap and easy. I freqently cheap for mark downs when shopping. And when possible, I try to make dishes I can get multiple meals out of to help stretch things a bit, especially soup and pasta dishes. Sometimes I'll make a pot of instant soup, which itself is not very filling at all and very watery, but I'll make some simple Norfolk dumplings to drop into it, which are basically made with nothing more than flour, water, salt, and whatever herbs or spices you like. They're as simple as it gets and they hit your stomach like a rock but they are filling and kind of a nice cheap and easy comfort food, especially on a cold day. And admittedly I am blessed with an Aldis up the street from my apartment which helps. Also, try making kush sometime. It was covered on an episode of the 18 century cooking show Townsends on Youtube. very easy and cheap to make. It's basically cornbread hash made with old cornbread[the fifty cent pack of cornbread mix are perfect for the cornbread used here], bacon, the onions of your choice[I prefer frozen pearl], Italian seasoning, and chicken broth[although I like to use apple cider when possible].
