You might find it easier to purchase bread and like products at the bakery outlet. Day-old bread is quite palatable and fairly cheap. And it freezes okay.

Spaghetti With Out Sauce.
Hot water and ketchup makes a soup.
Don't buy perfect fruits and veggies -- shop lower end markets.
Water and tea instead of soft drinks. Cheap coffee instead of fancy brands -- and buy it in bulk, freeze it by locking out the air.
Boone's Farm (or better, gifts) instead of Kendall-Jackson.
Grow your own veggies instead of buying them.

I, too, used to have a copy of "The Improvished Student's Books of Cookery, Drinkery, and Housekeepery." I lent it and it never came back (but then, it was lent to me and never returned).