Beans

Dried beans are an excellent source of protein, and are way cheaper than meat.  Unfortunately, they are pretty boring by themselves.  So, you have to be creative about how you spruce them up.  Things that I have found to work the best are chicken/beef/ham stock for both the soaking and the cooking liquid, plus I add salt to the cooking water.  This improves their flavor significantly.  Then, I also add them to other dishes instead of just having them as their own dish (except baked beans at a barbecue - love those).  For cooking tips and recipes on beans, check out The Family Homestead and click on her kitchen link and she gives you several tutorials on bean cooking.  Then you can also visit sites like all recipes, cooks.com, simply recips, etc and check out their bean recipes too.