Healthy food can get expensive, but leafy greens and root vegetables are more affordable. And they have a longer shelf life if you’re cooking for one.
My grocery store sells 5-lb bags of kale and collard greens. They’re tough, so they last a couple days in the fridge. My dinner most nights is chicken or salmon with greens on the side. The best way to cook them is to saute on medium-high heat for 5–10 minutes, and add some chicken stock if it starts sticking to the bottom.
Making a big pot of soup is pretty cost-effective, because you get so many servings out of it. One of my favorite things to make is corned beef and cabbage. Buy a corned beef brisket and simmer it on low in a large pot filled with water and pickling spices. After about an hour, add a head of cabbage and an onion (cut into bite sized pieces) plus a bunch of baby carrots and cut up potatoes. Simmer for another hour and it’s done.
You can do basically the same thing with a rotisserie chicken. After you’ve had a meal from it, save the bones and whatever meat is on it. Simmer it in a large pot with veggies, remove the bones, and bam- soup.
You can also add veggies to spaghetti sauce to make it healthier. Carrots, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, and eggplant all go well.
Barley and brown rice are also healthy and affordable.