Fried chick peas (I use cans since they’re more convenient, but even cheaper dried beans are fine too but you have to soak for 24h and then boil them first). But either way, seriously cheap, loaded with protein and fiber, and delicious:
Rinse beans and dump into a large dry pan on high heat. Move them around until they have mostly dried up and just barely start sticking to the pan. Then add oil - just once or twice around the pan is plenty - and some salt. Then let them fry in that little bit of oil. Move them with a spoon every so often to keep from sticking too much.
After about 15 min you have these golden brown crunchy and slightly salty little things. They’re great, and go with everything as a side dish.
I don’t know about micro but I keep a conventional amount of starter in the fridge and have had it for 5+ years. If I’m out of a bread phase I take it out once every few months, let it come to temperature and feed it. When it gets bubbly and happy again I give it more flour and water till it’s thick and stick it back in the fridge. When my next bread phase kicks in I leave it out of the fridge for a day, feed it again and then use it like normal (once I see it can double in size). Very little waste this way and super-low effort.
I’ve also dehydrated strips of extra-thick starter and have successfully reanimated them years later (just did it recently with 4+ year dehydrated starter in fact).