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They sell it in powder form too, if you prefer to mix it yourself. I like the smoother consistency of the bottled version better, personally. You can add flavors in a variety of ways (Mio, Hershey's syrup, Torani syrup, etc.), and you can amp up the nutrition with supplemental additions like PB2 (powdered peanut butter), Kencko (whole fruit & veggie powder), various protein powders (egg, soy, pea, whey, casein, hemp, etc.). There are also a variety of other competing vendors, some with variations for things like being keto-friendly & so on:

https://www.reddit.com/r/soylent/wiki/distributors

There's also a huge DIY community, if you want to source the ingredients yourself: (Soylent was originally an open-source recipe, which you could either purchase or make yourself from scratch)

https://www.completefoods.co/

Other people have gone the solid-food route, while keeping the meal-replacement. If you're a geek, then you'll know what Lembas bread is from LOTR; Meal Squares has kind of gone that route with a solid Soylent-style bready bar:

https://mealsquares.com/

Vite-Ramen just started shipping to their Kickstarter backers, which is a nutritionally-complete instant ramen, but it isn't deep-fried & then packaged first

https://viteramen.com/

There's a lot of cool ideas coming out in food. Like for DIY cooking, I love sweets & am a big fan of ProteinPOW's recipes, which are basically treats infused with protein powder:

http://www.proteinpow.com/

I also like a lot of the new milks, especially the ultra-filtered kind & the kind with MPC (milk protein concentrate). Fairlife's chocolate milk is super amazing, and both Shamrock (Rockin' Protein) & Nestle (Protein Plus) have high-protein milks out now (in vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate). I actually really like Nestle's strawberry protein drink, it's pretty decent!

Should all of this replace real food? I mean, I have mixed feelings about it. There are some people who live 100% on Soylent, which I don't think is like super healthy, but I also know people who have to live off feeding tubes because their stomachs don't work right, so it does keep you alive.

I like Soylent, especially the bottled variety, from a convenience standpoint. I work like 60 to 70 hours a week on average & sometimes it's just easier to grab a few bottles of Soylent when I'm super busy & then not have to worry about breakfast or lunch, but also not skip a meal & miss that nutritional intake for the day. As a bonus, real food (Soylent'ers call that "muggle food", haha) tastes like 10x better at the end of the day...if you have Soylent for breakfast & lunch, and then have pizza for dinner, it's going to taste pretty dang good haha.

Also, if you do get into mixing stuff like meal-replacement powders, protein powders, etc., shaker bottles were all the rage for a long time (a bottle with a cap on it & a metal whisk ball inside to help blend the powder into the water or milk or whatever liquid you were using). However, the latest tech is battery-operated blender bottles, which is basically a rechargeable blender. This is the one I have:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HCM92SV/

Plugs into a USB port to charge (sounds silly for a bottle, but hey) & actually does a really good job mixing. It's kind of like a high-powered milk frother, or portable Nutri-bullet mini blender. It won't chop up chunks of food or anything, but you can add a little bit of yogurt & whatever powders & liquids & it blends them up pretty nicely.

Eggs. So many eggs. I suggest steaming them instead of hard-boiling them because it's just more user-friendly, but you can just do so so much with them with recipes from any cuisine.

You don't necessarily need to drop Trader Joe's outright, because some of their snack foods are actually a hell of a deal if you're going to be buying those things anyway—their nuts and trail mixes are great compared to the Planter's prices you'll get at a Key or a Met—but depending on your neighborhood you should acquaint yourself with your local produce shops; not the Key or the Met, but not the bodega either. The small grocers that have six-packs of garlic for .99 and bags of onions for 1.50. Which borough are you in? Happy to make recommendations.

If you do meat, chicken parts (quarters, thighs, drumsticks and occasionally whole chickens on sale) are your friend, as are pork shoulders and frequently chops. Both are consistently inexpensive and extremely versatile in just about every cuisine, and both can be cooked in bulk (and refrigerate well) and then used in different recipes through the week so you don't get bored. This recipe will take care of baked chicken parts for you. If you have a dutch oven this recipe will expand on that. If you don't have a dutch oven, buy this immediately. It's a Le Creuset without the price tag. $60 feels hefty up front, I know, but you'll end up living out of this thing for years as long as you don't use any metal utensils in it.

This recipe is outstanding for a big pork shoulder; it should make you feel fearless about buying seven pounds for one person and cooking it through an entire day off. Really; my SO is a Miami Cuban so I feel like I know this blogger, her recipe is legit.

Beans are just so useful and can be used in so many ways, and their cooking is mostly inactive. I have a 2 1/2 hour black bean recipe going right now that I'm stirring every twenty minutes or so but it's otherwise set-and-forget, and it's awesome. They can be used in any meat-based or vegetarian/vegan recipe, they're inexpensive in bulk and they last on the shelf FOREVER.

Rice is also super inexpensive to buy in bulk—I spend about $25 on a 25lb bag every couple of months for my SO and I, and we are serious rice eaters so we tear through it and it still lasts about eight weeks. "Splurge" and buy jasmine rice from Thailand; it's hands-down the best deal on rice in terms of being satisfying to eat, forget about anything by Canila or Goya (sorry Goya, I love ya).

One of my Brooklyn kitchen's best aces in the hole is something called gravlax. It's basically sashimi. You buy a pound or two of fresh farmed salmon, generally $10/lb whether you're at Key Foods or Whole Foods, you slather it in salt and sugar and plastic-wrap it and forget about it in the fridge for a few days. Blammo, sushi-grade salmon that you can use in any recipe.

So liver sounds super unappealing, but bear with me. This classic French paté is unbelievably easy to make, delicious, refrigerates great, and is a super-cheap nutritional powerhouse. You do need a food processor or at least a mini-chopper (for a coarse, country style) but it is hands-down one of the most inexpensive dishes I've ever come across.

My last tip, if you have a blender, is this smoothie. It'll sound weird but trust me.

It sounds like a Multicooker (such as an Instant Pot) would be perfect for you. I just got one a few months ago as a gift. Before I started using one, it seemed kind of gimmicky and faddish, but it's been a game changer for us and now we use it for probably every other meal. Specifically for you, the versatility would be make it the kind of your options. It cooks rice and keeps it warm as well as a rice cooker, it can be used a slow cooker like a Crock Pot, it can be used just like a pot on a stovetop with the saute mode, and it cooks fast like a traditional pressure cooker. There's a model of IP on sale for Prime Day right now ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBKTPTS ), and as a student you should already have Prime.

Once you have it, start buying super cheap staples. Rice, beans, lentils, etc. are always ridiculously cheap, and very easy to cook. Buy cheap frozen veggies to mix into what you're cooking for easy nutrition. Pork shoulder, chicken thighs/breasts, and sometimes beef roasts go on great sales. Find the discount areas in your grocery store, all of them. Mine has three: one for baked goods, one for meats, one for shelf stable stuff. Right now they have boneless pork loin for $1.50/lb, pork shoulder for $0.80/lb, and bone-in skin-on chicken thighs for $0.77/lb. Last week they had boneless skinless breasts for $1.25/lb.

After shopping for your cheap staples, start prepping components. You don't have to prep entire meals... just prep staples. Have containers full of rice or beans, and a protein. Last week I made 3.5lbs (prepared) of Mexican style pulled pork with a 4lb pork loin, a can of enchilada sauce, and an onion for something like $6.50. Stuck a third in the fridge, and two thirds in the freezer to pull out at a later date. Cook into scrambled eggs or put on top of rice. Side of homemade "refried" beans.

Get creative. Pick a protein (pork, beef, chicken, etc.), pick a "flavorful cooking liquid" (salsa or enchilada sauce for Latin American, teriyaki for Asian, broth for a soup base, etc.). Once it's cooked and shredded you can toss in a bag of frozen veggies and they'll thaw from the heat of the already cooked food.

Here are a few ideas:

• "Fried" rice w/ pulled garlic teriyaki chicken
  
• Scrambled egg with red chile pork
  
• Chicken and dumplings
  
• Cajun red beans and rice with crispy sausage
  
• Split pea soup with ham or bacon
  
  Feel free to message if you have questions or want a guiding hand.

Ok, another staple of puertorican cuisine is sofrito.
I usually make it myself. It lasts about a month for just 1-2 people. Here it cost about 2 dollars to buy a 14oz jar, but you can make your own. This will make basically any dish more flavorful, its AMAZING. We use it to make stews, beans, sauces.

• 2 medium green peppers, seeds removed(try to get this on sale)
  
• 1 red sweet pepper, seeds removed(you can always buy fresh or canned.)
  
• 2 large tomatoes(fresh, buy it on sale)
  
• 2 medium onions, peeled
  
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
  
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves(you can use(about 1/2 of a cup or 2 small stalks)
  
• 1/2 bunch parsley leaves(optional)
  
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
  
  Cut everything up, put into a blender or food processor, let it run on high until its diced enough or pureed. Put it in a disposable container and refrigerate. Can last up to a month or better yet, freeze it, if it can be into small cubes even better.
  
  For Puerto Rican Beans:
  
  
• 1 - 15oz cans of beans(white/pink/red or kidney beans)
  
• 1 -tablespoon of sofrito
  
• 1/3 of green pepper or canned red pepper
  
• 1 - small yellow onion
  
• 1 clove of garlic
  
• 6oz or 3/4 of tomato sauce
  
• 1 - chicken, beef or ham bullion cube
  
• 1 peeled russet potato(or similar) cut into large cubes (about 8-12oz)
  
• 1/2 packet of sazon you can find sazon and boullion examples here
  
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
  
• 1/2 cup of water
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
  Put onions, peppers and garlic first with the oil and water, heat on med-high for 5-7 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, put it on medium and cook for 25 minutes constantly stirring. after that, put it over rice and enjoy.
  I sometimes like to add an egg to get some extra protein in there and if i want more to save for later, i put 2 cans of beans and add about an extra 1/2 of each ingredient listed above. All of this cost me here about 10-13 bucks and that amount of beans will last me for a week. It seems like work but its not, its easy and fast. After a while youll remember the entire process and do it by heart.
  
  If you choose not to make sofrito you can always buy it Goya brand.
  
  Dont be afraid to buy some of these online, At least I have when the deals are too good to pass.
  
  Edit: formatting

You could go three ways:
cheapest:

1. crock pot
   
2. gallon zip lock plastic bags
   
3. glad ware or other plastic tipper ware
   
4. optional but handy - cheap food processor
   
   

• almost all food processors come with a slicing/shredding dis. I use the food processor to dice onion, shred cheese, cut tomatoes, generally speed up my cooking, especially when doing batch cooking like this: http://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/
  
  zero waste, environmentally and healthfully aware:
  

1. cast iron or stainless steel skillet - this would basically meet all your needs: http://www.costco.ca/Lodge®-5-pc.-Logic-Cast-Iron-Cookware-Set.product.10395556.html
   
2. glass lid lock or WIDE mouth mason jars
   
3. hand blender or food processor
   
   again, for versatility, its not absolutely necessary but certainly speeds things along - hand blenders now come with chopper attachments and aren't cost prohibitive http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-79-200-watt-Immersion-Attachments/dp/B00AN9UJ68/ref=lp_289916_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1393751066&sr=1-2
   
   
   more expensive but complete list would look like this:
   
4. cast iron skillet set above
   
5. food processor
   
6. at least two baking sheets, or you can buy a baking set that includes muffin tins so you can pre make things like egg muffin cups
   
7. roasting pan (cooking at turkey is not hard and makes you feel like a king. Also, roasting veggies is one of the easiest and most delicious sides - any veg, oil, salt, pepper, and 45 minutes in a 375 degree oven. done)
   
8. pyrex glass lock set (at least two - you can bake in them as well)
   
9. a good chef's knife, a paring knife, and a long serrated knife
   
   
   I will say that however you store it, the trick to avoiding freezer burn is avoiding air exposure. For example, if you have a tupperware container half full of chill and you want to freeze it, put a sheet of wax or parchment paper on top before freezing - it will help prevent freezer burn.
   
   This got too long. Hope it helps!
   

Just a couple of links to help you out.
The stonesoup has great (mostly) 5 ingredient recipes and can be easily made vegetarian.
I highly recommend How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and Appetite for Reduction for simple, basic recipes.
Also, quesadillas are a great, quick meal on a stove. If you're looking for a good vegan recipe, these Smoky White Bean Quesadillas are awesome and can be made easily without a food processor.
And this Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce (scroll down) is delicious, cheap and easy with pasta or steamed veggies. I had a kitchen this size when I studied abroad in France a couple years ago and it can be done. You just have to learn to be creative. :) Good luck!

disclaimer: not vegan, but I do vegan cleanse weeks

That's all dependent on where you live and what sort of bulk access you have. Can you give some examples of produce prices? Make sure you're buying your fruits and veggies in season. Don't expect to buy strawberries in november on that budget, but pear and citrus shouldn't be too bad.

Since I don't know enough of your specifics to suggest specific items, here are some general tips:

Do you have access to a farmers' market?

You might be able to find a CSA that puts out a box of veggies every week or two--added benefit of this is variety (though you're going to hate it in winter when you have boxes of kale). Those range 20-60 a month. just search for "csa box, yourcity". Honestly, getting a varied amount of produce for cheap should be the least of your worries--you aren't going to be having big, heaping salads everyday, but you should be able to at least have 1 or 2 types with each meal. Also, bags of frozen veggies should be pretty cheap too, at Vons/Safeway out here, you can get a 1 lb bag of green beans or corn or peas or mixed for $1--often it's on sale 2 for 1--so stock up then.

You need to find a whole foods or a coop to find who has good bulk deals. Get a big airtight container and buy a 15 lb bag of rice. http://www.amazon.com/Nishiki-Premium-Brown-Rice-15-Pounds/dp/B004NRHAZO/ This bag would probably last you 2-3 months, eating rice every meal.

Nuts are probably going to be your most expensive purchase, but you'll need them for snacking, so you'll prob want to stick with almonds and walnuts since they are nice and rich in protein and o-3 (walnuts at least). Buy them in bulk and learn to toast them--try toasting or powdering them with things like cinnamon or cocoa.

Planning, planning, planning. You won't have the luxury to decide what you want to eat on any given day. You'll have some flexibility, but you absolutely need to have a general plan. Come up with a 3-4-5 menu. It'll really help you gauge exactly how much you'll need for a month. Decide on 3 breakfast recipes, 4 lunches, and 5 dinners. Cycle through them, so day 1 is B1, L1, D1, day 2 is B2, L2, D2, and day 4 is B1, L4, D4, day 5: B2, L1, D5. It keeps everything varied, but still predictable for shopping.

edit: I also meant to say lentils and beans. You can make some really tasty patties (that freeze) out of 1 C lentils, 1/4C brown rice, veggie stock, breadcrumbs, carrots. You can make some really tasty bread with olive oil, flour, baking soda, salt, water too. There are millions of recipes for vegan, no yeast bread online, just start with any of them because a good bread recipe is a labor of love that has to be discovered alone.

Fellow celiac here! I have a horrible selection for grocery stores, so I buy a lot of things off of Amazon a case at a time. It is way cheaper than I can find anywhere this way. Stop buying the Udi's muffins. Honestly, they taste like crap and you can make ones that are soooo much better! I like to do a lot of baking mixes so I don't have to guess on what ratios of flours to use. Anyways, here are a few of my favorites:

• Pasta that tastes good and has good texture - Tinkyada
  
  
• Pizza crust mix that my husband likes even better than the gluten filled stuff I used to make - Bob's Red Mill GF Pizza Crust Mix
  
  
• Bread mix that we make in a dedicated GF bread machine - Glutino Gluten Free Bread Mix
  
  
• Muffins - King Arthur Muffin Mix
  
  
• Pancakes, waffles, cookies, biscuits, muffins, just all around awesome baking substitute - Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix
  
  
  If you get adventurous and want to try baking your items with a flour substitute, Cup4cup or Better Batter are both great. I've used them both as replacements of regular flour in things I've made and turned out very similar to using regular flour. I also make my own chicken fingers using the GF Bisquick (there is a GF chicken finger recipe on the box). We also eat a lot of rice and quinoa.

If hot meals are important to you, then do yourself a huge favor and get a lunchbox oven. They're only $30, and are powered by your cigarette lighter. Works great for heating up/cooking just about anything. (there are a few different brands out there, suggest reading the reviews on each yourself)

Walmart or your grocery store sells disposable aluminum trays that fit perfectly inside, for a lot less money than they cost on the internet/Amazon. To lower the per-use cost even more, just take regular aluminum foil, and use that to line the disposable tray, and throw out the foil liner when you're done, instead of throwing out the tray. Ends up costing you almost nothing this way.

Using a lunchbox oven, you can prepare just about any meal ahead of time, put it into a tupperware type container, and keep that in a cooler with some ice packs until lunch. Put the food into the lunchbox oven, heat it up, and voila - hot meal of any kind. Can also use it to heat up your cold cans of Beefaroni or whatever!

Of course, you could always just eat cold sandwiches (roast beef/ham/turkey/etc), its a lot easier. As others have said, having a cooler is the main trick here. I also work via truck in the heat of summer, so I usually just freeze a bunch of water bottles and pack those around my lunch. They're super cheap, and when they melt, you're left with bottles of cold water to drink ;)

Good choice on the tea!

I don't buy much groceries in bulk... I did buy some Annie's organic mac and cheese (though I hear the white cheddar is better), since it is very cheap and somewhat healthier (but not by much) than the Kraft variety. One of the best things I've ordered was these tins of salmon. Very delicious, great for a quick lunch. You don't even need to microwave it.

Oh, also, I'm considering buying a bunch of the granola cereal I eat in bulk. It's still somewhat expensive in bulk, but almond and dark chocolate granola is maybe my favorite snack ever and I might succumb.

I bought my mom a Toddy cold brew machine for Christmas last year. She can make her own super delicious cold-brew coffee concentrate, and it makes a great iced coffee when combined with water, almond milk, or what have you.

Have you considered getting an actual rice cooker? I don't know if it is in your budget but I have used an inexpensive one for many years and they work very well and are versatile. I cook most of my meals in the rice cooker and toaster oven for a variety of reasons. One of my go-to meals is rice in the bowl of the cooker and a handful of frozen veggies and frozen salmon in the steamer tray on the top. Everything comes out perfectly every time, uses very little electricity, only a few dishes to wash, and it doesn't heat up my home as much as the stove/oven does.

This is the one I've been using for the last 5-6yrs:

http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-6-Cup-Cooked-Cooker-Steamer/dp/B0057XGM5W/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1425857837&sr=1-3

Maybe it is an option for you?

Peanut butter (or any nut butter) is literally just putting nuts in a food processor or blender and pulverizing it.

Butter is easy if you happen to have a Kitchenaid mixer. You just throw heavy cream in the bowl, turn it on with the paddle attachment and wait. Then just knead out all the watery stuff (keep it! It's buttermilk, which is awesome for pancakes and such) and boom, you've got butter.

[Check out this book] (http://www.amazon.ca/The-Homemade-Pantry-Buying-Making/dp/030788726X). It has mayonnaise, sour cream, ketchup, cheese, and a bunch of other awesome stuff.

Some things I'd add to the list that will all last a while (depending on how much you cook Asian at home):

Fish Sauce - little goes a long way, but it adds something magical and it lasts forever. One bottle = more than a year in my experience

Rice Paper - dunk it in water and then wrap anything you want in it. Again, it lasts forever & it turns any leftovers/herbs/lettuce into a superb snack or appetizer.

Tom Yum Paste - add to ramen instead of the powdered crap in a packet & you've got instant Tom Yum... add some coconut milk & it's instant Tom Kha.

Sesame Oil - add to salad dressings & stir-frys yum! And it also will add a little joy to ramen.

Mirin - Mirin + Soy Sauce + Sesame Oil + Garlic Powder = Teriyaki Sauce

I have about a dozen different thermos bottles of various brands and sizes. Personally, I find that the glass vacuum lined thermos bottles are the best for holding heat (especially if you follow the directions and "charge" them by filling it with boiling water for 5 minutes, first.) I frequently find them at thrift stores for under $5. For food use, I prefer the wide-mouth bottles, which can be found in both pint and quart sizes. Some of the bottles even have plastic inserts in case the glass breaks, so your food is protected, and it also makes the cleaning a bit easier.

Since you're based out of a vehicle all day, you really do have a few options. If you do an web search for something like "12v appliances", you'll find a bunch of cooking items that run off a vehicle's cigarette lighter. You can get crock pots, coffee machines, hell, someone even makes a 12v microwave.

One of the things you might want to think about is a 12v heated lunchbox. If you want a hot meal for lunch, you could prepare your lunch at home, pack it in a cooler, and then just throw it in the heated lunchbox to heat up while you're working on a job, and it would be hot and ready when you finish. That basically gives you all the options of having a kitchen to be able to reheat things, and opens up a whole world of possibilities.

Mayonnaise, many different kinds of pickles and jams, bread, rolls, and pizza dough (scroll down for magic dough recipe, it does just about everything!). Use dried beans and buy in bulk. Make your own stock bases using left over chicken, vegetables, pork bones, beef bones. It's not really that difficult to make your own mozzarella or yoghurt. Try blogs like this one for tips and to get you started. There are also books on the subject. I find it much more fun to make things at home, anyway. :)

I cook a bunch of stuff in my small rice cooker. I make quinoa, rice, couscous, oatmeal, steam veggies, steam meat and make hard boiled eggs.

I think it would be a great use of $16. I bet you could use it to make soup as well, if you wanted to.

Try this stuff:

https://www.amazon.com/Knorr-Chicken-Bouillon-Granulated-Tomato/dp/B017B6NAJS/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_325_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MJXGRCYJR0GE2Y9ZGQZM

I use the chicken flavor in almost everything I cook. It's powdered bullion, it's like using broth instead of water, but you can just sprinkle it like a spice instead of using salt. My roommates from China and South America taught me to use it. Generally speaking, I use this stuff, garlic, and onion, plus maybe paprika or ginger to dress up anything.

My sister bought me a Toddy for a wedding present. It makes a coffee concentrate and its perfect for iced coffee.