Cheap & Healthy: The College Way

Chinese Style Corn-Soup
1 16-oz can sweet corn
1 16-oz can chicken broth
2 16-oz can water (just use one of the cans above to re-fill it with water)
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp corn starch, dissolved in 2-3 tbsp cold water

1 // Chop/slice the onion, very thin. Add to your soup pot over med-high heat and swish around until golden (do not burn, brown or blacken!)
2 // Add the corn (all of it, including the canned juices), the chicken broth, and water
3 // Let the above come to a boil, add the soysauce, salt and pepper to taste. If desired, you can add more chicken bouillon (sold in either powder form or cubes, very cheap. I recommend Knorr brand.)
4 // While still boiling, add the corn starch mixure and bring down to about medium heat. Let it simmer and stir continuously.
5 // Once you see that the starch has started to thicken the soup, bring the heat of the soup up a bit, and slowly add the beaten egg. For a more consistent egg-flower-drop looking soup, pour the egg out of a small bowl, letting the liquid egg trickle through prongs of a fork pressed against the edge of the bowl. Move the bowl around with your arms, as if to draw circles in your pot with the egg. If the egg liquid lands in thin layers evenly throughout the survace of your soup, you should succeed.
6 // simmer for 10 minutes, test the flavor, add salt/pepper to taste, and serve.
* This soup will be kind of sweet due to the corn and the onion. If you desire a more savory / spicier soup, this is the wrong receipe for you. However, I'll let you know this pot of soup takes all of maybe $2 to make.

To accompany your soup:
Teri-stew Chicken
1/4 lb. Chicken (about 3-4 drumsticks and 2-4 wings). I prefer the party drumstick packages, but those are kind of expensive. If you can learn to bone your own chicken that's probably the cheapest option. However, if all else, just buy the package that has the wings and small drumsticks and divide them up into servings. Freeze what you don't use.
Other ingredients: garlic, onion (optional), ginger, crushed red pepper, salt & pepper, soy sauce, mirin, sake, honey (optional)

1// Take the chicken and salt & pepper lightly. Pat down with a paper towel to get excess water off.
2// In a bowl, add in a tablespoon each of grated garlic, onion, and ginger. It's about 3 cloves of garlic, a 1/4 small onion and peeled ginger about the size of a tic-tac case (maybe smaller). Add 2 tablespoons each of sake, mirin (sweet rice wine), and soy sauce. Sprinkle in a drop of honey and a general sprinkling of crushed red pepper for some heat (cayenne pepper would work also, just don't use too liberally). Make sure your chicken is all incorporated and marinated in this for about 20-30 minutes.
3// In a saucepan, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil and toss in freshly chopped 1 clove of garlic and about the same amount of ginger. Put in the chicken parts immediately after, putting the "pretty-skin" side down first.
4// Once the chicken is all browned and nice and chrispy on all sides, put in 1 cup water, 1/4 cup sake, 1/4 cup mirin, and 1/3 cup soysauce. Make sure the liquid is just enough to cover the chicken, and let it simmer on medium heat.
5// Let the liquid simmer for 20 minutes. Keep the saucepan some what covered but not entirely, enough to let some steam out. A piece of foil does this nicely.
6// After 20 minutes and the chicken is cooked through, take off the heat and let it cool for 3-5 minutes. Serve.


Easy side-dish veggie: Broccoli with mayonnaise sauce
1// cut Broccoli into easy-to eat sizes (or if you're lazy like I am just buy the package with just the flowerlettes)
2// place your broccoli in a plastic, microwave-safe colander and wash.
3// after you drain out most of the water, put plastic wrap over the colander, microwave high for 1 minute. Let it stand about half a minute before you take out (!Caution!, Hot)
4// Dipping sauce: 3 tablespoons Best Foods Mayonnaise, 1/2 tablespoon soysauce

15 minute Fried-Rice
NOTE: This recepie requires you to have some amount of left over rice. Depending on how much you have, the cooking process may take longer.
Ingredients:
Left over rice
1/2 chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 handfull chopped green onion (about 1 stalk)
1/2 small carrot, chopped finely
1/4 green bell pepper, chopped (optional)
1 slice ham, chopped (Bacon works too, essencially any meat is possible)
1 egg, beaten

1// In a large frying pan, saute the garlic and onion with 1/2 tablespoon of butter (yes, butter). Once tender and opaque, add the carrots and ham, then a little after, bell peppers if you have any.
2// Once the above is mixed and heat has gone through somewhat, set aside in a bowl. Heat up the pan again, and add the beaten egg.
3// As soon as the egg starts solidifying on the bottom, add the rice. Add back in the fried veggies.
4// Add in a teaspoon of butter if desired, and the green onion. Mix the rice well with the rest of the ingredients. Slowly at a total of 3 tablespoons soy sauce, little by little, while constantly stirring the contents of the pan.
5// Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

How ya doing, buddy?

Here's one I tried this morning, took me all of 15 minutes and enough time for me to toss a serving in one tupperware to take to lunch, save the rest for dinner tonight, and get out the door. Clean-up is a snap too.

1// Bring a LARGE pot of water to boil; toss in a small spoonful of kosher salt (reg sea salt is fine too) and put on high heat. (I took a shower while I waited for the water to boil)
2// Cut about a half bunch of asparagus into 2-3 inch pieces and wash/rinse well.
3// Once the water boils, add in 2-3 tablespoons of Olive Oil, then toss in pasta (I chose Penne Rigate this morning)
4// The penne was 11~12 minutes of cooking time (as instructed on the box), so after 5 minutes I tossed in the asparagus in the same pot.
5// Six minutes after I tossed in the asparagus, I saved 1/2 cup of the pasta water, drained the rest, then put the drained pasta and asparagus in a big bowl.
6// Add back the 1/2 cup of the pasta water, 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of butter (oh hush up, the recepie feeds at least 3 people), salt and pepper (freshly ground/cracked is best) to taste, and some good old fashion hard cheese (Parmesean was all I had), a sprinkling of some italian seasonings because I felt like it, and voila, finished.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Here's how you can dress up your regular old bowl of ramen without having to buy any new / expensive items.

main ingredients:
1 packet ramen (Any brand you like, I like Sapporo brand. Maruchan brand is the cheapest around)
1 stalk green onions, chopped
1 egg
1 handful bean sprouts (it's about 50 cents per bag for the pre-packaged stuff, but for the amount you need for this recepie, if you can find a grocery that sells it loose by the pound, it literally costs just pennies.)

optional stuff you can throw in later
sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds
1/4 sheet of nori (dried seaweed), cut/torn in bite size pieces
teaspoon of pickled red ginger
Menma - pickled bamboo shoots

1. Bring about 3-4 cups of water to a boil. Toss in the bean sprouts while you wait for it boil.
2. Once the water bubbles and boils vigorously (without putting the top on), break open /& drop in the egg. You can also hardboil the egg before hand and add it later if you wish. I just like dropping the egg better; letting it cook in the hot water for a bit before you add in the noodles will also help it be less of a mess. =P
3. Add in the noodles once the egg white around the yolk becomes white. You can also break the ramen square in half before putting it in the pot if you feel space is an issue.
4. Two minutes after you toss in the noodles, add the soup base that came with the packet and chopped onions. Let it incorporate.
5. Ramen really only takes 3 minutes to cook, so by the time you start to see the green onions wilt with heat, it should be ready. For easy serving and better presentation, just take the noodles out into the bowl with either chopsticks or a pasta server if you have one, then dump the rest of the soup/egg/beansprouts on top.
6. Add the optional stuff if you have any on hand. You can also spice this up to your liking with various spices.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by DeLorean

P.S. I shop at Costco mostly.

The only thing I'd buy there in your case is non-perishables (like toilet paper) and meat. Like others have said, stick to buying vegetables at the local farmer's market. Your veggies will taste better, cost less and last longer. However, you'll have to be conscious of your freezer storage space & how often you're going to want to eat it if you're buying meats at costco, especially because they come in huge packages.

As soon as you come home from costco, you'll want to separate the meat out into single/double serving freezer bags (make sure you pack it REALLY well and squeeze out all the air as much as possible to ensure your meats last longer in the freezer). Ground meat is very versatile and easier to handle in most cases, so I'd recommend that if you want to start off. If you want to keep to healthier options, turkey is the way to go.

*Note: When you buy a package of butter, place the rest of the sticks of butter you don't intend on using immediately in the freezer. This will prevent the grease/oil in the butter from oxidizing in your refrigerator while you're not using it, so when it comes time to use the 2nd, 3rd or 4th stick of butter, you'll know it's in better quality if it came out of the freezer than the fridge.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.