Thanks all for the tips, and I'm still wary of Soylent green.

@benjammmin, well, yeah, adding the barley to soup makes it rather solid, but when it is dinner? I appreciate the extra starc h. And its Barley, not oats, if I could get oats in bulk consistently? Yeah I would.

Get some barley. I can say, better than oats.

Though, I am fond of your turnip recipe. And you are 100% right, simple foods and spice it much later.

Allright, here is grad student chili. a recipe for disaster:

one cup barley, boil for at least 20 minutes. in three cups of water
a can of red beans
a can of spinach
a can of cream soup
chopped onion, some
hot sauce
This is something you can live on.

Thank you all that responded to this thread.