I don’t eat meat but back when I did and was very poor, Meijer always had turkey legs for practically nothing. You can brown a couple in oil then boil them in broth or bouillon cubes until they are falling off the bone then either mix up some homemade dumplings or take a cheap can of biscuits and make dumplings from that. If you can’t afford cream, instant mashed potatoes works very well to thicken the broth. Most people I know that eat meat don’t like turkey except at Thanksgiving, but it was quite delicious and filling.
Something delicious and quick is super firm tofu, the pre-drained one cut into cubes then sautéed and put over microwave rice. I like to mix in a little hoison sauce and sweet chili Thai then throw in a few peanut crumbles and add a little lime juice. I use the mini peanut packets you get from the baking aisle. It’s similar to pad Thai but with rice instead of noodles.
I have microwaved the cubed tofu as well and it’s still good. I like to add black Indian salt, if I’m microwaving the tofu because it will taste like eggs. The tofu is a bit softer when microwaved so it makes sense that it has an egg flavor.
Another thing that’s very quick and good is microwave ready sweet potatoes. They are usually 1.00 each and cook perfectly.