Who wants to hear it, but hamburger boils up nicely. Take a pound chub, break up some carrots, add some potatos, quarter an onion and boil it up together in a pot. The fat in the burger enrichens the broth, it makes a hell of a one-pot stew with NO fuss whatsoever. Quick and easy.

Another thing: get a big pot/skillet, cut five carrots into it. Boil them up. When they're about done, take two of those forty-four cent mac/cheese boxes and empty into pot. Boil. When done stir in both cheese packets. Take a fifty-five cent packet of sloppyjoe seasoning or chili or fahita seasoning, mix that into the mess.

Put it into the fridge and you can dole out servings for days, whenever you're hungry--unless you eat the whole mess at once. Mix some mayo into a portion of this cold mac/cheese/spice mix and you've got cold mac salad, as good as any you can buy in a deli.