That sounds disgusting. You can definitely cook a great many meals for that price with better ingredients than that slop. allrecipes.com is your friend
Hell, a good pot of Elli's home-made spagetti sauce is cheap!
ground beef (not so lean) ($2.50)
can stewed tomatoes (80 cents)
can diced tomatoes (80 cents)
can base tomato sauce ($1.50)
red, green pepper (50 cents)
onion (30 cents)
garlic (15 cents)
box dried spaghetti ($2)
Throw it in a pot and you're off to the races!