Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat, the more you...
No, really, they're great cheap eats. If you want REALLY cheap, cook up some dried beans (takes a while, beans have to soak overnight, etc etc) but canned beans are almost as cheap and much easier.
You can make:
--minestrone soup (the ultimate in cheap veggie soup, there are tons of recipes, find one you like)
--chili (saute a bit of chopped onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat, add a chili seasoning packet, add a can of tomatoes, a can of corn, a can of kidney beans, and a can of black beans, heat until it starts to bubble a bit, then turn down the heat and let it cook for 15 minutes or so)
--burritos (tortillas, cheese, black beans or refried beans)
--a variety of mexican themed casseroles (Mexican lasagna, burrito bake)
Frozen vegetables are cheap and a great way to get your fill of veggies. Get a rice cooker with a steamer basket that fits inside the lid--then you can steam veggies while cooking rice. Easy-peasy.
I really recommend reading Mark Bittman's column in the New York Times on Wednesdays, the Minimalist. Here is one of his recent columns on pasta dishes:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...prod=permalink
He also has a cookbook that is excellent.
Three cookbooks worth purchasing if you can find them lightly used:
1) Better Homes and Gardens (any edition will do, it's good for basic info/photo illustrations)
2) The Joy of Cooking (everyone should have at least one copy of Joy, I recommend the 1997 edition)
3) If you ever want to bake a cookie, get a copy of the 60s era Betty Crocker Cookbook. Also good for quickbreads and breads.
Man, and I can't imagine having to pay that much for milk. I pay 95 cents a half-gallon (plus a 95 cent deposit for the container, but I only have to pay once). If you look around, I'm sure you can find a good deal on milk. I'm lucky to live in a milk-producing area and to be able to buy almost-directly from a dairy that uses reusable, refundable containers. It seems to me that the cheapest prices around here for conventional milk are at the 7-11. $2.50 a gallon.
Use your freezer and buy in bulk! I buy bread in 2 packs at Costco--1 goes in the cupboard, 1 goes in the freezer. I also buy canned goods in bulk--kidney beans, black beans, green beans, corn, diced tomatoes, and stewed tomatoes. Find a grocery store with a good bulk section--dried fruits, nuts, pasta, grains, etc, all for cheap. Mason jars make great storage for bulk dry goods.
If you look around cooking, you'll find a few vegetarian recipes I have posted that are super-cheap and super-easy to make. A lot of my recipes are adapted from Rachael Ray's in order to be vegetarian. Don't be afraid to make modifications to a recipe to make it veggie--beans often make a great substitution for meat.