College student on a budget. cheap, easy meals to cook

Someone should make a Foreman grill appreciation post. I just bought the G4 grill with the removable plates during the labor day weekend sales...bestinvestment I made this month. Ive been grilling steak and burgers all week. In 5 minutes you can make a meal that would cost $5-$20 in take out. I'm aboutto head to the grocery store now to pick up more meats (nh).
 
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Originally Posted by Oh YoU MaD

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i got soo sick of those after the first 30 days of moving out....they just became my designated hangover food for 9am mornings at work.

Originally Posted by wj4

Invest in a George Foreman grill. It'll be the best $20 you'll spend.

After that, go to the local market and get beef, pork chop, turkey, chicken, etc. Also get the stuff like bread, tortillas, muffins, eggs, and pasta. Don't forget condiments like ketchup and whatever else you like. With that set up, you can mix and match a lot of meals that are tasty, good for you, and cheap.
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QFT! Thats what i do, buy some spices, throw it on the meat, throw it on the grill, and eureka!!! Also some fruits dont hurt! Im currently living off hotpockets for when im too lazy.
 
Originally Posted by SaltineWarrior

That's why you get the cheapest meal plan just in case. Take a bunch of food from the dining hall every couple of days and store it.
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What do you do if the cafeteria has garbage food?
 
When i was in college, i used to get some chicken thighs from pathmark. It's like $4-5 for a pack of 8-10 thighs. Just marinate with some herbs, lemonjuice, salt and pepper. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees and stick it in for about 45 minutes. Easy and tastes like great.
 
I've been making risotto.

All you need is some risotto rice ($7 for 32 oz I believe), grated parmesan cheese, chicken stock, and either chicken or shrimp.

The meal is easy to cook, and you'll have enough for leftovers too. I just googled the recipe.
 
Pasta is a great staple food and if you know what you are doing and read this book, you will be able to makelots of good, stuff with lots of variety and usually for very cheap.

This book is a great investment because most of the sauces are vegetarian and do not cost very much. For 100 different recipes, most of them based on low tomoderately priced ingredients, you can have lots of variety. It is also very good if you want to only cook with local and seasonal ingredients because thereare so many recipes from the various regions of Italy, you will find use for almost any vegetable. There are some dishes that are based on meat, seafood andluxury items so if you every need to make a fancy dinner in your life, this book with also be helpful.
 
on the reals, buy chicken and fry it yourself
or fish, and get a lot of fries.


thats how im making it through.


and for like random times when youre hungry just eat noodles. and lots of cool aid
 
Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwiches
Turkey Sandwiches
Grilled Chicken Breast
Rice
Pasta
Baked Potatoes
Boiled/Scrambled eggs
 
As mentioned, Lean Turkey Meat is your best friend.

It can make Chilli, which, if made in large amounts, can be eaten with rice, bread, taco shells, etc.

You can also shape it and either grill, or fry up some burgers.
 
Since you have your own kitchen you have the change to eat well and do so cheaply. What you need to do is to get your parents to buy you all of the basickitchen ingredients, you do not need every gadget from Williams-Sonoma but you should be look around your mom's kitchen and see that in just every daycooking quite few different things can get used.

Once you have the cook wear stock up on staples, buy in bulk and buy on sale to save money. Get rice, pasta and maybe some quinoa and potatoes. Do the samewith cooking oil and olive oil and cooking wine and brandy (I put brandy in quite few of many sauces and it impresses everyone even though it is so simple).Right after that you should get a couple cans of various types of beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, tuna and other things like that. Frozen chicken breasts,shrimp, green beans, peas and things like that are great. Dried food like mushrooms, fruits and bread crumbs last forever and makes life easier.

Then get seasoning (as with the cook wear, look around your kitchen at home and see that you need quite few common spices for many if not most recipes. Alwayshave salt (sea salt is best), pepper (make sure you have a grinder or at least the package include one) stock (powered, cubed or refrigerate chicken or veggiestock will make almost every dish better), sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, cayenne pepper and/or red chili flakes and hot sauce (I always kept three, thickAsian hot sauce, American hot sauce like Tabasco and Mexican sauce like Tapatio).

When you have all of that and you have few recipe books you can then simplify your shopping and you can generally go to the store or farmer's market andthere you can buy the meats, seafood, produce and dairy products that are on sale and then you can go home and your will have the recipes and staplesingredients to make something good. Also with experience you will get more and more familiar with food and what ingredients mix well and which do not and thatcan help you modify recipes, combine recipes, find substitutes when you are missing an item or two and you will be able to make meals from odds and ends andfind a use for something whose expiration date snuck up on you. Run a good kitchen and your roommates, suitemates and housemates will like you and you canleverage that into having them specialize in other chores and you do the cooking.

Because my school had suite style dorms, with kitchens, I cooked at college every year and by the time I moved off campus I became the de facto cook and Inever had to do dishes or most other household chores since my roommates and housemates had an efficient division of labor established. My specialty wasItalian and pasta sauces in particular and because it is usually low to moderate difficulty, can be made vegetarian or vegan easily, has recipes that can bemade quickly, has recipes that can be embellished and made fancy and can be made in batches several times the size of the recipes, it is perfect for college inevery way.
 
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