Cheap & Healthy: The College Way

Originally Posted by Zephyrin

Dude, your problem is you don't like to cook, or think you don't have the time.

I'm not criticizing. A lot of guys are like this. What you need to do if find 5-7 meals that you like, are healthy enough for you, and you don't mind eating consistently.

Cook these meals and these meals only. Rotate them. What makes a meal easy to prepare is how familiar you are with them. If you cook something all the time, it'll take you no time flat to fix it.

Don't buy a bunch of lunch items, cuz you'll be eating your leftovers for lunch. You can get a really good Rubbermaid tupperware set at Target for really cheap, last I checked.

Buy deli bagels or whatever for breakfast. Buy a toaster (pretty cheap), and get cream cheese, butter, jelly, or whatever the fuck you like to top them with. Takes 3 minutes to prepare breakfast and you're out the door. Make 2 bagels if you're really hungry.

I totally agree. Just find some meals you like and rotate em like crazy. I normally choose it based on what meat is involved. That way I don't get bored with it and it's still easy to make.

Almonds will make up for a good chunk of the vitamins you're missing. Please, correct me if I'm wrong so I can stop shoveling them in my face.

If you're short on ideas, find some time to stop by a book store and thumb through the cook books. Look for recipes that look tasty, use only a handful of things, and take 5 steps to make or less. It'll probably be good if it only takes up half the page. You will have the best left-overs ever.

It took me till my 8th semester of school to learn how to cook and I wish I would've figured this out earlier. I think it's a lot of fun to play around with recipes and see what works.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Shorty

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.

That sounds REALLY good. I'm totally trying this, but I think I'll add some chicken in the pasta or grill up a pork chop to go with it. Thank you!

Lemon zest Mac & Cheese:

1 small lemon, block of cheese (cheddar works great, mozzarella or parmesan are a bit better), your favorite pasta shells, butter, oil, salt (pepper if you want)

1) Boil up some water with a bit of salt.
2) Toss in the pasta shells when it's ready, add a bit of olive oil. Put a small sauce pan on med-low heat with some olive oil, a splash of water - toss in a bit butter once it gets hot (more butter = richer sauce).
3) Let the sauce simmer for a bit, toss in some lemon zest and lemon juice (half the lemon is more than enough). Let this simmer about 5 minutes. Toss in some shredded cheese if you want.
4) Strain the pasta, toss it back into the pot and drizzle lightly with oil (pepper if you want). Pour in the sauce and mix. Toss in some more cheese if you want!
5) Serve it, put on lots of shredded cheese, and just let it melt and be beautiful!

There's nowhere I can't reach.