Mi 16 year old daughter is following my thrifty footsteps lol she was spending $5+ on lunch every day at school and this was her solution to lower spending. She boiled pasta (I buy 4 packs of spaghetti for $3.49) I think she use a pack and a half more or less. She warmed a couple of tablespoons of butter and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet on low heat and threw a few cloves of minced garlic and let it cook for a few minutes to release the flavor then she added the spaghetti, a couple of tablespoons of pesto, salt and crushed red pepper. Mixed everything up and then added grated parmigiano reggiano and tossed again. She came up with 6 servings (2 are not pictured because she and my son had them today) and almost a whole quart container.
I had a 3 pound bag of frozen large shrimp that I got at Sam's for $16.98 so she is going to saute about a pound of it to go with these meals and probably some baby carrots, salad, or fruit.
So about $5.66 for the shrimp, $0.86 cents for the pasta, the butter, oil, garlic, and pesto can't have been more than $1 because I buy it in bulk. And the veggies/fruit maybe $2-3. So for just over $2 per day she will be eating a far healthier meal than anything the school serves . I am a proud momma 🥰