spaghetti, a can of sauce (read the ingredients and get one without sugar). Feel free to brown some ground sirloin or turkey if you want mea sauce
A mixed green salad, ( a salad in a bag if you can aford it) don't use iceberg lettuce, use red leaf if you plan on making the salad yourself. crumble some bleu cheese, walnuts on top, add dried cranberries, fresh apple or dried cherries if you want, pour on some virgin olive oil and a GOOD balsamic vinegar.
Pop a <$10 bottle of wine and you're good.
Cheap, fresh, fast and good.
If I had all the ingredients, I could easily make that in a 1/2 hour. One thing you need to try and learn is how to use the FEWEST dishes possible to make clean up easier.