Trader Joe's: Saviour of Men

So anyone who's ever eaten food on the fast and cheap before knows that Trader Joe's is totally ingenious. Their food is of a remarkably high quality, and they do a good job of keeping it interesting. They lack a lot of the staples of my office cuisine, particularly canned vegetables, but I don't mind hitting a few grocery stores at a time, so it's all good.

Tonight's dinner employed one of my favored TJ's discoveries - the Marinated Bean Salad. It's just a bunch of beans soaking in what amounts to a light salad dressing, but in one can you get 630 calories - not bad for $1.50 or however much it actually costs. I cleverly discarded the price prior to dinner today. Whoops!

Anyway, beans go remarkably well with couscous, which, as we know, cooks like a dream in the microwave. 3 minutes, a can of corn and beans later, and you've got a tasty, incredibly filling, and relatively high-protein meal.

There are variations on this which are super delicious at the ever-wonderful RecipeZaar. The problem is that unless you fancy chopping green peppers or you've got cumin next to your microwave, you've really got to keep it simple. Fortunately, the bare minimum is plenty for a balanced and delicious meal. Let's round it up!

Beans: $1.50?
Corn: $0.30
Couscous: $0.15

Total: $1.95

Ah, the taste of scrumptious poverty.

If you want a more professional take on this college eating thing, definitely hit up RecipeZaar's Guide, which looks fun and useful. I'll even look at it myself!