How much are you willing to spend a meal?

I try to make big batch cooking stuff like:

• Soups. For example, watercress soup is real easy to make. 2 bunches of watercress like $0.90 per bunch, plus 2 packets of pork big bones/chicken bones at $1.80 a packet and salt/pepper. It will taste 'sweeter' if you add stuff like red dates/honey dates/goji berries but you don't really need them.
• Chili. You can make a vegetarian option if you want to save on meat costs, since minced meat can be expensive. Just canned beans ($1.80-2.50 depending on brand and type. Phoon Huat actually sells the beans for pretty cheap) and a chili/fajita flavour packet ($2.50-3.00) with garlic, onions and fresh tomatoes (maybe like $1.50 a packet?). Chuck it in the pot for about 30-40 minutes till all the water reduces. Freezes well. I add some grated cheese on mine and heat up but not necessary.
• As the rest have said, veggie stir-fries.
• Or if I'm well and truly lazy, I just get some chicken legs, salt them and steam with ginger. If I'm impatient I just boil them in salted water and ginger. If you've got an oven you can just chuck them in for 30 minutes too.

Local food ingredients are cheap - dried wood ear fungus, mushrooms, broccoli (from China, not Australia), eggs, green veggies.

When eating out I tend to go for Chinese soups or cai png (no png/rice).

What type of food do you like to eat? I can give you more recipes if you like :) It's an ongoing experiment but once you've got the basic techniques down like stir-frying and stews you can literally cook up just about anything you like.