Winter is coming— alas, your GWorld has run dry. You don’t want to spend any real money, and everything within realistic walking distance is obscenely expensive. It’s time to get on your money crunch. Feeding yourself for around $10 a week is possible. You will be fine, I promise. Just take it with an open mind:

1. Steer clear of Whole Foods. That was your first mistake.

Take the extra walk to Trader Joes. Your wallet will thank you. Use the opportunity for a little exercise, or an excuse to search for Pokemon in the city. Whole Foods will slap an organic sticker on everything and charge you double for it. Unless you care about that stuff a lot, keep moving.

2. Beans are your friend: Help foggy bottom live up to its name.

Be proudly unrivaled among your friends with your flatulence. With beans around a dollar per can, assuming you only need five cans to get through the week, that leaves you another $5 to add to your bean dishes! Buying dried beans will also save you money, as they are only a few cents more and have a lot inside. You can fry them up once they’re soaked or eat them cold. They will hold you up for hours, and give you proper nutrition!

3. Rice, rice and more rice.

Find a cheap bag of rice to last you for a while. Brown rice will keep you full longer, because your body takes more time to digest the hulls. You can basically eat it with anything. I like to throw cashews and raisins into mine sometimes with some cardamom pods, peas and curry, and make something that resembles a biryani.

4. Eggs are $1.39 at Trader Joes.

Need I say any more? Make yourself a killer breakfast every day, for every meal for the whole week. Do some over easy eggs with toast, fry some eggs and mix into your rice, and throw some beans on top. Be creative. You have 12 eggs. Assuming you only eat two per meal, and three meals a day, one carton of eggs should last you around two days if you’re only eating eggs. Since nobody wants to do that, and you’re probably not eating three meals a day (because that’s usually hard to fit into your busy schedule) you should be good!

5. Go bananas.

The most underrated fruit in my opinion. Bananas are super healthy, and full of lots of potassium. Most importantly, they are cheap. Bananas are awesome thrown into your rice and beans, and will fill you up and give your brain good sugars. If you’re not adventurous, bananas are also great with a heaping lump of peanut butter thrown on top, and doused with some honey. Maybe put that all in a sandwich. Or just eat them as is if you’re short on time.

Fun fact, you can peel bananas in two by pinching the bottom end. It bothers me when people don’t peel them that way.

6. Potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Starch is wonderful. Fill yourself up with as much starch as you can and you won’t be hungry. Potatoes are also healthy, so don’t worry about the bad rep they get because everyone is eating them in fries. Rub some garlic and salt into them and bake them, or put some rosemary and pepper and butter them up. If you’re cooking with sweet potatoes, try boiling them, mushing them, and mixing them into rice. Then throw in some good spices like cayenne and turmeric and a little something sweet like honey. It’s super filling and absolutely delicious. It’s also pretty healthy.

7. Plantains are cheap when they’re in season.

Platanos will never let you down. Just fry them and you won’t want or need anything else. But if you do, try putting them also with your rice and beans. You can boil them but they’re pretty gross that way in my opinion.

8. TVP isn’t as bad as it sounds.

While textured vegetable protein sounds scary, its actually pretty cool. When you cook it, it takes on the flavor of whatever you’re making. I like to throw mine into a thick chili and then add that to rice. It’s probably the most filling thing I make. Sometimes it’s so filling you might feel sick. Let me know if you want a recipe or something.

9. If you have to go to Whole Foods, there is hope.

Spaghetti is $1, and canned tomatoes or tomato sauce runs around $2-3. I avoid this because empty carbs will only leave you feeling hungrier, which means spending more money on food, and you’re trying to avoid that if you’re reading this.

10. Flax powder.

A beautiful thing I discovered. Flax powder is exactly what it sounds like—flax seeds ground down into powder. It’s super cheap, and works miracles. Besides being full of an incredible amount of fiber to keep your colon and intestines happy, it will fill you up to the maximum. Since its kind of a strange ingredient to have, I like to throw mine into a bunch of peanut butter if I’m making a PB&J.

11. Load everything up with lots of cheese.

Cheese is beautiful. It is full of protein that will fill you up, and has good calcium that your body needs. Whatever you’re eating, just throw a big lump of cheese on it and enjoy the gooey, melty goodness.

12. Cook one or two meals to last you for the week.

If you’re thinking about cooking for yourself, make things in large quantities. It will save you time, and you’ll be less likely to slip up and buy more food if you know you have a big bowl of chili waiting for you that will get spoiled if you don’t finish it off soon.

13. Maybe invest in a rice cooker if you are bad with cooking.

Start your dish for the week by throwing in whatever ingredients into the cooking rice. It requires amazingly little effort and will keep you full and satisfied, providing more incentive for you to stick to your regiment.

Pro tip—if you’re eating a lot of rice, throwing in some vegetable stock or something makes it a little more exciting.

14. Try to keep a lot of spices and hot sauce on deck.

Never let yourself eat bland food. Bland food is for bland people. Always pepper up your food, or throw lots of cayenne on it. Chili powder is a major must have, and makes everything taste better. Hot sauce will make things acceptable. Don’t forget to add salt to your meals (don’t overdo it though). If you like curry, don’t hold back with anything you’re making.