Cooking for Poor College StudentsFollow

On this one, it's best to go early in the morning if you can. Back in my college/grocery store days, I worked a few months in the meat room. We had rolls of coupons that would get stuck on any meat expiring that day. Now, that might not sound too appetizing until you find out that ground beef only gets one day, and whole cuts only three days in the case before it had to be thrown out. The stuff is still perfectly fine to eat, and tastes just as good as if it had just been cut. Because of this, the bargain shoppers usually come in early and pick up the best cuts on the cheap.

Edited, May 31st 2010 1:19pm by Turin

Godawful store, but it's cheap.
Still worth it to look and compare though, not everything at the Aldi is cheap.

Besides being bad for you, meat is expensive. Here's my contribution:

Seven Cheap and Easy Vegetarian Meals



Edited, May 31st 2010 6:47pm by ShadorVIII

Fix'd

The ones around here are pretty nice. My father does the food shopping, and Aldi is the 1st place he stops at.
They do have some good food (and some bad, have to try it to find out :p), but the moment you find something you really like..they won't carry it any more.
Edit to add: I would suggest you not buy fruit or vegis from Aldi's unless you plan to eat them soon. It seems they go bad pretty fast >.>
I only buy avocados from them.

I like to make Ramen soups. Just random things thrown into the pot w/ Ramen.
Or if Ramen isn't your thing, there are other noodles out there..like Undon. I <3 Undon noodles. There is always some in the house.

Hot Ham and Cheese/Grilled Cheese is always a good.

PB&J, you can never go wrong with.

And canned foods.. like Ravioli.


These are the things I ate when I went to school. I still eat most of them for lunch because they are east and take at max 15min to make.

Edited, May 31st 2010 6:28pm by Sandinmygum

Ugly, I use far too much salt in my cooking, but the whole concept of mixed spices for anything but curry is just strange to me. I've seen them occasionally and used one kind (saltless) for salad dressings, but I usually go for the pure spices and use them as needed.


And ravioli are nice.

Also, when I couldn't be bothered to spend much money on food or cook, I've mostly lived off apples, grapefruits and raw carrots.

Also, try (soy) yoghurt, (soy) milk, spelt seeds, flax seeds, oats and random fruit put together in a bowl. And porridge, with random stuff thrown in.

Mixed spices are very common in rubbing spices used on most bbq items and well, bbqing is huge over here. Now, mixed spices aren't the best option, but they sell well to the masses.

A cheap stir fry would be chicken ramen + chicken + green bell peppers (+ any other plant you want to add) + soy sauce = pretty good.

Hobo soup - lb hamburger + can of dark kidney beans + can of pork n beans + can of light kidney beans + chili powder = a soup that will last you a while (unless you eat for several people).

Will add more if I think about it.

Yup

Here are a couple of dishes I liked to make when I was in college.

1. Super easy Grilled shicken of doom.
Ingrediants:
1 (or more) thawed boneless chicken breast.
1/4 cup flour
Seasonings (start with 1Tsp poultry seasoning and 2 shakes seasoning salt, adjust to taste from there.

You will also need a nonstick frying pan and a plastic bag.

Put the seasonings and the flour in a plastic bag, and add the chicken. shake chicken until it is evenly coated.
Plase the frying pan on medium heat on the stove, then place the flour covered chicken in the pan. Important: DO NOT TOUCH IT UNTIL TIME TO FLIP. Cook for 11 minutes.
Next, flip the chicken over to the uncooked side and cook for a further 7-8 minutes. Chicken should be cooked solid white all the way through. You may have to adjust the times slightly for your oven.

That, some grean beans and maybe a potato or something makes a good meal. Healthy-ish too because you don't need any oil. By not moving the chicken, you bake the flour coating to a nice crispy coating. You can change the recipie up a bit by cutting a pocket in the chicken breast and inserting a slice of swiss chease.

2. Mashed potatoes and hamburger gravy stuff, also of doom.

Ingrediants:
1/4 stick butter. 1/4 cup flour. 1/2ish cup milk Seasoning salt, salt pepper if you like. 1 lb hamburger

Brown the hamburger in a frying pan. Once browned, drain the fat and excess water, then reduce heat to medium and put the butter in the pan to melt. Once it is melted add the flour to the butter and stir together. let cook for 30 seconds or so. then slowly add the milk and stir into the hamburger and seasonings. Make some storebought mashed potatoes (or a baked potato), pour resulting hamburger stuff over the top.

3. Salmon chunk

Ingrediants 1 smallish piece of salmon (wahtever the budget will bear), 1/4 cup butter, 1 Tsp sweet basil. Also lemon if you like.
Put the salmon in a glass pan, put the butter on top, put basil over butter. Place in oven, uncovered for 18ish minutes at 325 degrees. Fish should turn paler pinkish and be flakey when done.

Other suggestions: Nachoes (tortilia chips, meat, taco seasoning, cheese beans, black olive slices, etc), Chili mac (macaroni and cheese + hamburger and seasoning salt), Stuffed bell peppers, etc.

Random advice: Use olive oil instead of butter for random **** (pasta, sautéing, etc).

A good starting point is the campbell's soup recipes. They have a ton on the back (and inside) labels of their cans, as well as a website somewhere (use the google). Find recipes that mix some soup and some form of meat/veggies/whatever, but don't cook up the pasta or rice with it. Save the mixture in the fridge, and make a small portion of rice or pasta to put that over each day. There are tons of recipes out there that are usable in various ways.

I tend to do this a lot. I find stuff that I can cook the top portion of something and save it in the fridge, and the just make pasta or rice and serve it over that to add up to a full serving. Toss some mixed veggies or salad on the side and you can make pretty much anything into a meal.

I make pretty much the same salmon dish mentioned earlier. Serve over buttered rice (flaked up in a bowl if you want!) for yummy goodness. Add veggies as desired or needed.

I found another really easy one recently.

Picante Chicken of semi-doom:
Package of thin sliced chicken breast tenders (usually 5 slices). Medium bottle of Pace Picante sauce (heat to taste, I usually use medium). Rice.

In large skillet (with butter or oil), lightly fry up the chicken (no need for extra spices here). You want to kinda brown the outsides without cooking all the way through, about 2-3 minutes on each side works fine here. Pour in bottle of picante sauce. Stir up a bit to get the chicken off the bottom of the pan, then cover and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Serve over rice. Ridiculously yummy for how easy this is to make. As usual, I make a batch of this and have 5 days of meals from it for about 15 bucks. If you buy frozen chicken instead of fresh, it's even cheaper.


Depending on your tastes, find fruit that you like and always have some available. I tend to use bananas, since they're self-packaged. Take one with you to work/school, and eat that for lunch. If you make a habit of having a small breakfast (a quick egg dish for example), you'll find you don't need more than a fruit snack for lunch, and a modestly sized dinner will balance out your dietary needs. It's not perfect, but it's vastly better than rushing out without breakfast, then grabbing a microwave burrito a couple hours later, then munching on a burger or whatever the local fast food is for lunch, and then coming home and coming up with something for dinner.

You'll find that if you go to an actual grocery store, and buy ahead of time, you'll not only save money, but you'll also save time *and* you'll be a bit healthier. It seems counter intuitive at first, but you'll actually spend less time cooking each week than you'd spend in lines at fast food and convenience stores.

Edited, Jun 1st 2010 2:03pm by gbaji

Get the $2 rolls of country sausage, in the tube. This fatty, delicious, versatile meat product can become almost anything.

Cut the tube in half (save the other half for tomorrow), squeeze the contents into a frying pan, spread it around with a spoon, and brown it on medium heat. Drain the fat. You may then add it to:

- Hamburger Helper
- Ramen Noodles
- Mac n' Cheese
- Noodle packs (I like alfredo and butter flavors)

It's tastier than plain hamburger, and doesn't require any added spices for a ton of flavor.


Edited, Jun 1st 2010 6:41pm by catwho