Unpopular opinion: the $1.50 rice and beans at a church potluck in El Paso taught me more than any cookbook
Back in 2019 I was broke and showed up hungry to a potluck at a little church off Alameda Ave, and an older lady handed me a plate of rice and beans that cost her maybe a buck fifty to make. She walked me through soaking the beans overnight instead of buying cans, and that one pot fed me lunches for four days straight on like three dollars total. What's the one cheap staple you still make the old way because someone showed you in person?