For
all the freshmen out there. Whether you’re a freshman in college or a freshman
in life, here’s a letter I cobbled together in answer to my sister’s question:
First
of all, I really like you.
So,
eating in college is a balance of cheap, fast, and healthy. You decide the
balance. Below are some ideas.
Grocery Shopping: I highly recommend you make a list of 6-7 dinners each
week before you go grocery shopping to make sure you are only buying what you
need. You don’t want to buy two green peppers when you really only needed one.
I don’t usually need to plan what I’m going to eat for breakfast/ lunch. I just
make sure I have a couple breakfast choices (bagels, oatmeal, and apple juice,
for example), stuff for wraps (lunchmeat, cheese, mustard, spinach), and some
snacks (yogurt, string cheese, rice cakes, peanut butter, crackers). And then I
buy whatever fruit is cheapest and a bag of sliced carrots for snacking. I also
like to plan one treat to make each week on Sunday, too.
Spices: You can get a long way with salt, pepper, seasoned salt,
chili powder, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and cinnamon. Those are the
basics.
Meals:
1. Pasta. Boil some whole wheat
penne pasta. Dice a polish sausage ($2 at Winco) and saute in butter in a small
sauce pan. Once they're browned, pour in half a jar/can of pasta sauce with a
1/4 c. half & half. Heat together, stirring frequently. Microwave some
frozen peas or green beans for on the side.
*Note:
Frozen veggies are much healthier than canned, though you may get tired of
fighting for freezer space with your roommates.
2.
Spaghetti Squash. Microwave a spaghetti squash for 2 min (just so it's soft
enough to cut). Cut it in half longways, rub on some butter, and then put the
two halves face-down in about 1/2 inch of water in pan and bake around 350 for
30-45 minutes. While baking, brown 1/2 lb ground beef and pour on the other
half of that jar/can of pasta sauce from night #1. Once the squash is soft,
scrape it out with a fork. Add a little parmesan to your squash and sauce and
dinner is served.
3. Tortilla chips with salsa, corn,
and black beans. Yes, I seriously ate this for dinner regularly.
4. Skillet Nachos. Saute chopped
zucchini, onion, and green pepper in skillet. Pour in one can chili beans w/
sauce and ½ to 1 cup salsa. Heat, stirring occasionally. Once it starts to
simmer, pour everything into a mixing bowl and fill the skillet with tortilla
chips. Then pour the stuff on top, cover with cheese, put a lid on, and wait
for the cheese to melt. Enjoy!!
5. Grilled Chicken Salad. Place a frozen chicken breast (or two) in a Ziploc bag
with teriyaki sauce before you leave for class. When you get home, cut the
breast in strips and grill/ sauté in a pan. Serve the chicken on greens with a
can of mandarin oranges and dress w/ a little teriyaki mixed with Italian (or
your fav dressing)
6. Baked Sweet potato and Chicken. Put a
frozen chicken breast (or two) in a Ziploc bag with olive oil and Italian
seasoning before you leave for class. When you get home, poke a sweet potato
with a fork, wrap in foil, and throw it in the oven at 350 for an hour. Tip:
buy two small potatoes instead of one large so it’s faster. Then slice the
chicken and grill/ sauté. Microwave some frozen veggies. Serve potato w/ butter
& brown sugar.
7. Peanut-Sesame Noodles. Boil whole
wheat spaghetti w/ 1/2 bag of frozen broccoli & drain. Brown a couple tbsp.
of sesame seeds and ½ c. (ish) of peanuts in olive oil and some minced garlic
(optional: and chopped onion). Whisk together ¼ c fresh-ground PB (super cheap
at Winco), 3 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp of vinegar, and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Mix
everything together and enjoy!
*Note: this is a recipe you have to
shop special for. Or just steal soy sauce, sesame seeds, etc. from me. That
would probably work better.
*Note: if you’re only using part of
an onion, put the rest of the onion (quickly) in a ziploc bag with two matches.
Then place that in a Tupperware and stick in the fridge. The matches prevent
the onion from stinking up your fridge and having your roommates complain at
you.
*I’ve also heard that you can buy
pre-chopped frozen onions and peppers in the freezer aisle. That would be
awesome if I could find them.
8. Parmesan Ckn. Thaw out chicken.
Dip in butter and then a mix of seasoned bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Bake
at 350 for 30-60 minutes (depends how small you cut the ckn strips). Eat with a
salad and croutons or some frozen spinach with parmesan on top!
*Tip: Cut the ckn smaller so it’s
done faster.
*Tip: Cover the pan with foil for
easy clean-up.
9. Fried rice. Google it.
*Note: Great for leftover rice.
10. Omelette.
*Note: You can put basically anything in an omelette.
11. Scrambled eggs w/ toast and a
fried tomato. I like scrambling my eggs w/ a splash of half & half. Cut a
tomato in half and then fry w/ olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper.
12. Buy stir-fry frozen veggies and
eat them with some chicken sauted in teriyaki. Serve on rice or ramen noodles.
*Note: Brown rice = healthier than
white rice. If you can’t stand brown rice, try mixing it half and half with
white.
13. Veggie Chili. Throw in a crock
pot: one can baked beans, one can kidney beans, 1-2 cans diced tomatoes,
chopped onions & bell pepper, chopped zucchini, some corn, maybe some
salsa…. You get the idea. Add seasoned salt, chili powder, and a little pepper.
Enjoy with rice or cheese or sour cream or fritos or whatever you want.
Note: This is easy and you can adapt
it however you want. Use black beans instead of kidney or add ground turkey or
beef.
14. Chili Pasta. Boil pasta &
drain. Brown ground beef w/ onion. Mix in a can of chili and ½ c of salsa and
heat. Serve chili on pasta and sprinkle with cheese.
*Note: you can always substitute
ground turkey for beef. It is usually cheaper and has much less fat.
15. Quesadillas – I prefer cheese
with sliced tomato.
*Note: I’ve heard through the
grapevine that you can shred cooked cubed chicken with a hand mixer! I need to
try…
16. Wraps.
17. Pita Pizzas. You can have
whatever you want…
19. Pork chops. Shake up in a bag
with a little olive oil or melted butter, seasoned bread crumbs, and parmesan.
Bake at 350, for… you know… a while. 45
min?
20. Apple Pork chops. Rub bottom of
crock pot with butter. Rub chops with salt & pepper. Place in crock. Dump
in chopped apple, a little garlic, and some brown sugar. Pour in apple sauce to
cover. Cook on low for a few hours and eat on rice! (Or however you want)
22. French Toast. Mix an egg with
some milk and cinnamon. Tip in whole grain bread and then cook on the stove.
Top with fruit.
