Reddit mentions of The $10 Gourmet: Restaurant-Quality Meals That Won't Break the Budget

I'm in a similar boat actually, my girlfriend is halfway through a degree but it's on hold while she works to save up some cash to pay for the rest of it. She works a really tough job and most days is completely wrecked when she gets home. I'm in grad school so not exactly rolling in dough either.

Anyway, I try to look for cheap ways we can have fun and spend time together (especially things that have us being active). I introduced her to backcountry skiing (a weekend costs us about $20 in gas since there's no lift tickets or other expenses). But we also go for bike rides, and hikes. This gets us out, doing something fun together while also getting some exercise which makes us both feel way better.

Another 'cheer up the girlfriend' thing you can do is make her a nice dinner (on a regular basis). My girlfriend's mood is pretty much directly related to how recently she's eaten so a nice meal really cheers her up. This also has the advantage that it's spurred me to cook more which has us eating way better than we have in the past, while also spending less on food because we don't eat out or eat prepared foods nearly as much. There's a cookbook by Ken Kostic called the $10 Gourmet which is full of cheap, easy to make meals for 2 under $10 which if you watch the portion sizes (his portions are silly large for some of the recipes) are nice and healthy.

Also, regular hugs do wonders.