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easy to make college dinners?

weflyhigh

weflyhigh

Senior member
i lived in the dorms freshman year and ate the dining commons and then last year i lived in an apartment and cooked for myself but my cooking was seriously limited to:

scrambled eggs with cheese
a cut up chicken breast fried (stove top) with season-all/red peppers
a cut up steak fried with light seasoning
hamburgers or meat sauce or hamburger helper from ground beef (stove top)
pasta+butter
macaroni and cheese
grilled cheese

and then i would also eat like those pre-cooked meals you just fry up or lasagna that you just bake

one of the main reasons for no variety was that me and my 4 roommates all had individual food last year but next year we will probably do community food so it will be more justifiable to buy entire onions, full package of hamburger buns, etc.



any ideas? i want more excitement in my life. things that are good re-heated are awesome (meat sauce or hamburger helper, for example). things that are messy suck..
 
Buy a crock pot (aka slow cooker). Soups and strews are dead simple to make with any ingredients you have on hand. Just make it the night before, turn it on when you leave in the morning, and you'll have a hot meal ready when you get home.
 
weflyhigh said:
but next year we will probably do community food
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Terrible idea.

That's fine for "events", like chili and burgers during the Sunday game or what have you. But I promise you arguments, tears and hunger pains when you find your desired 3am snack vanquished by someone else, or one end-piece of bread left in the bag.
 
Simmer: 1 pound ground beef (I use ground sirloin)
1 onion chopped
1/2 tsp. Lawrys Season Salt

Drain meat well to remove the grease.

Stir together:
2 cans tomato soup
1 can cream corn
7 oz. cooked noodles (I like the bow tie)
Browned meat mixture

Place in a greased casserole, place 4-5 strips of uncooked bacon on top.

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 1 hour.

Saves great. I usually get 3 dinners and a lunch out of it. Takes about an hour and a half due to the bake time, but only 20 minutes or so actively cooking/prepping.
 
Easy to make college dinners are an easy out (pun intended) but let me suggest something else instead.

College is basically the most free time you'll have in your life. Use some of the down time to actually learn how to cook. If you're cooking from scratch, it can actually be a fairly inexpensive activity, if that's a concern, and you'll at least eat well.

Buy a book and cook through it. If you like foul language and pretty good food, Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook is excellent. Jacques Pepin always emphasized cooking with what was available, so his books might be good for a college student since you're probably going to buy the most available (read: cheapest) ingredients and cook from there. That's not a problem, really, seeing that classical French cooking grew out of peasant food anyway. Most cuisines do.

If you don't have it already, get a decent pan or two and a chef's knife on the cheap (TJ Maxx works well for that) and start learning.
 
mmntech said:
Buy a crock pot (aka slow cooker). Soups and strews are dead simple to make with any ingredients you have on hand. Just make it the night before, turn it on when you leave in the morning, and you'll have a hot meal ready when you get home.
Click to expand...

Yep. Crock pots are awesome. Meat cutlets + potatoes, carrots, onions, green beans + broth, herbs and spices = dead simple and tasty.
 
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Crock pots are a great choice. I know my mom makes chicken tacos by putting chicken breasts + salsa in a crock pot and letting it cook for a couple hours.

Another cheap and easy to reheat food is stroganoff. I hate left overs but I always eat stroganoff leftovers. It is also really easy to make. I make a chili that uses 4 cans and some ground beef and its pretty damn good and cheap.

If you need other recipes I suggest grabbing The Joy of Cooking for 20 bucks
 
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Ns1 said:
george foreman + anything at costco = college
Click to expand...

This

My george foreman sees an incredible amount of use. It heats up much faster than any stove, and I got the one with the removable plates so cleanup is pretty easy too. Burgers are obvious, but you can grill a completely frozen chicken breast in 10-12 minutes. You can do a lot with that chicken too... make a salad, eat it alongside some sides, shred it up and make mass BBQ chicken sandwiches, make quesadillas/anything mexican, etc.
 
Buy a grill (even a George Foreman)

Buy meats. Grill meats.

If you want to get really gourmet, get a simple cookbook. I have a Better Homes and Gardens one that I borrowed form my mom.


Some of my favorites:
Meatloaf:
1 lb hamburger
2 cups quaker oats or stale bread
3 cloves garlic (maybe more if I'm feeling like it)
A dash of dried chili pepper or other hot spice
A dash of salt
A few dashes of Oregeno

Put it in the oven for a while until its cooked through (sorry, don't remember the exact time or temp)


You can make the same recipe into meatballs. These roll into balls, dip in olive oil, and fry in a pan (I prefer cast iron). Mike pasta and get some Ragu with it. Spaghetti dinner.


If you really want to go over the top, you can make your own pasta sauce. If you want the recipe for this, pm me. It is a little more effort than the meatballs/meatloaf, but awesome.


Regardless of what you do for sauce, making Chicken Parm is also wicked simple.
Either get breaded chicken or make your own (take chicken breasts, coat with egg or oil, then coat in breadcrumbs and cook in frying pan). Pour sauce over breaded chicken (both should be hot). Cover in cheese. Put some pasta on the side, and you have chicken parm.


Teriyaki anything:
cook your meat of choice (chicken, beef, squirell, etc)
Pour teriyaki sauce into a bowl, and mix in some corn starch
then pour it over the meat when the meat is almost completely cooked. As the mixture heats up, it will thicken to become a glaze. I can't really give you an exact amount of corn starch/liquid, I just add what I think is enough.


Fajitas are also pretty good:
main course/marinade
steak or chicken cut into strips (I usually figure half pound per person)
peppers (red and green)
onions
lime or lemon juice
soy sauce
black pepper
cayenne pepper
salt
vegetable or olive oil

Sides
salsa
cheese
guacamole
sour cream

Marinade the meat if you want ( .25 cup lemon/lime juice, .33 cup water, 3 teaspoons vinegar, 3 teaspoons soy sauce, a dash of salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper)

Cut up the onions, saute them in oil for a few minutes. Then pour soy sauce, lemon/lime juice, black pepper and a little water over the onions. Continue sauteing until browned.
Repeat for the peppers, but without the seasonings (I use the same pan)
Place both in bowls for serving.

grill or fry the meat. Then serve it in a bowl.

Serve the sides with the other stuff (I usually serve it right out of the container it comes in.

This one seems like a little much/over the top, but it's not too bad when you make it.


If you want some more things, just pm me. Also, try www.cooks.com[url] for a lot of rec...Marshalls, as well as a couple of good books.
 
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I can't believe Ramen Noodles haven't been mentioned yet.

Seriously though, get a Foreman Grill. Chicken, Hamburger, Bacon, etc are dead simple to cook. For Veggies, just throw them in the frying pan with some olive oil and a few spices and you have a good side dish. Steaming them is also easy, but you have to have the proper steam tray. If you want dead simple, just throw meat, potatoes, and maybe some carrot/onion in a pot and boil it until the meat cooks through. Drain and serve...
 
sjwaste said:
Easy to make college dinners are an easy out (pun intended) but let me suggest something else instead.

College is basically the most free time you'll have in your life. Use some of the down time to actually learn how to cook. If you're cooking from scratch, it can actually be a fairly inexpensive activity, if that's a concern, and you'll at least eat well.

Buy a book and cook through it. If you like foul language and pretty good food, Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook is excellent. Jacques Pepin always emphasized cooking with what was available, so his books might be good for a college student since you're probably going to buy the most available (read: cheapest) ingredients and cook from there. That's not a problem, really, seeing that classical French cooking grew out of peasant food anyway. Most cuisines do.

If you don't have it already, get a decent pan or two and a chef's knife on the cheap (TJ Maxx works well for that) and start learning.
Click to expand...

This x 1000. Cooking a good meal can get you laid as easy as chloroform. 😛
 
Take a dump in a bucket and you got college food.

Only college with good food that i've ever eaten was boston university
 
MovingTarget said:
I can't believe Ramen Noodles haven't been mentioned yet.

Seriously though, get a Foreman Grill. Chicken, Hamburger, Bacon, etc are dead simple to cook. For Veggies, just throw them in the frying pan with some olive oil and a few spices and you have a good side dish. Steaming them is also easy, but you have to have the proper steam tray. If you want dead simple, just throw meat, potatoes, and maybe some carrot/onion in a pot and boil it until the meat cooks through. Drain and serve...
Click to expand...

No, screw Raman noodles. First summer of college, I ate this stuff. Pretty much 1 or 2 meals out of the day. I didn't need a haircut, I had two colds, and trimmed my nails once.
Next summer, learned how to cook.
 
ramen is awesome if you don't get that cheap shit in grocery store. go to an asian market and get the good stuff.

Or better yet, go to Japan.

n27429567_40308191_7270425.jpg
 
japanese ramen is incredibly complex. it's like pho. you need to cook the broth overnight or longer with pork bones. the texture should be thick and greasy and when you mix in the noodles it should taste like heaven

this is nothing like packaged cheapo ramen....


now yes, you should learn to cook in college as some people said. learn to do stuff and figure out how good you are. i figured out pretty quickly i can do a decent job and i can out cook my parents. the minute i moved back home though i stopped. my mom is OCD about cleaning and she doesn't let me even cook dumplings thinking ill make a mess in the kitchen. so i completely don't cook at all. she thinks i suck and ill die in the real world, but i already proved her wrong with 4 years of college.

ill just have to make sure i move out far enough so she doesn't come visit me and see what a "mess" i make.

and dude, getting a half-assed meal plan isn't bad. i had tons of friends who did it, and i found my self eating at the dining commons every 2 weeks or so at least or begging freshmen to swipe me in. brunch and certain other meals (if you watch the menu carefully) can be pretty good at times!
 
College food:
potatoes (assuming you are on the continental US, if in Hawaii, then rice)
chicken/other cheap meat
instant gravy

This was my college food, everyday, chicken and rice/potatoes (probably also why I was skinny in college...having a real job = more/better food = not so skinny anymore). If i wanted to get fancy, then I would add some steamed broccoli. When times REALLY got tough, hot dogs/misc sausage (oven roasted) and potatoes.

Save your money for the weekends or that road trip you've planned.
 
gorcorps said:
This

My george foreman sees an incredible amount of use. It heats up much faster than any stove, and I got the one with the removable plates so cleanup is pretty easy too. Burgers are obvious, but you can grill a completely frozen chicken breast in 10-12 minutes. You can do a lot with that chicken too... make a salad, eat it alongside some sides, shred it up and make mass BBQ chicken sandwiches, make quesadillas/anything mexican, etc.
Click to expand...

Have they started sealing the backs of the plates yet?
 
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