College student looking for healthy quick-fix meals

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DJKenn
DJKenn Posts: 17
in Food and Nutrition
Hello all!

I've just started on here; my brother showed me this website, and it looks like a fun and easy way to keep track of my exercise and weight goals/food intake.

I'm a college student, and this semester I cancelled my meal plan, with the expectation that I would eat much healthier left to my own devices. For the most part, this worked - I eat better quality meals. However, I've discovered two things: it's much harder to keep food in a dorm-sized fridge than I thought, and that all my meals are centered around carbs, because they are the easiest to make (cereal in the morning, a sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner...so on). I was wondering if anyone had some favorite quick-fix recipes that can help me introduce more protein/veggies to my diet? I'd like to start eating more "rounded" meals.

Thank you!

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  • chauncyrenayCHANGED
    chauncyrenayCHANGED Posts: 788 Member
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    Bump!
  • lenwie
    lenwie Posts: 240
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    Breakkie
    Boiled eggs with bacon or scramble with salmon or omelette with ham or bacon and of course you can add veggies like toms peppers etc to this

    Lunch
    Ham with salad

    Dinner
    grilled chicken/beef/pork/turkey/bacon etc with sautéed savoy cabbage & spinach, really quick.

    add to the cabbage a teaspoon of butter along with onion sauté off, them add the mushrooms for a minute or two then the spinach, once wilted plate up and add the protein to top, yummy very low carb high protein.

    and if need veggie just have a quorn fillet or something along those lines to substitute the meat
  • AngieOnTheBeach
    AngieOnTheBeach Posts: 44 Member
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    This would be useful for me as well, I feel like all I eat is noodles, especially since I'm not only a student, but a poor one, and a vegetarian one :P *sits patiently and waits for responses*
  • crystal10584
    crystal10584 Posts: 334
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    chicken breasts... get a george foreman. if you get fresh chicken you can put them in ziplock bags with marinade so they don't take up as much room in the freezer, the steam in a bag veggies don't take up much room and leftovers can be reheated (one bag is 3-4 servings)
  • katy5692
    katy5692 Posts: 140
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    are you from the UK?

    I'm restricted to fridge/freezer space too.

    I seem the easiest thing for me is to buy those little microwave meals (i buy tesco value, sainsburys basics, asda smartprice) and they tend to be around 300-400 cal each & i either have them with veg or salad.
  • JoceyyySmall
    JoceyyySmall Posts: 155 Member
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    My friend did this for awhile and he eats pretty healthy because he is a vegetarian...

    I would suggest:

    Go shopping every few days for food (yes that will suck, but that way things won't go bad and you have room to store it in the fridge)

    1. Buy meat, but cook it that same day and just eat that over the couple days like chicken.
    2. buy fresh vegetables those will last in the fridge for a little bit and should be too bulky for the fridge especially if it was like the one I had and had a drawer( you can stuff quite lot in there)
    3. also buy some snacky foods( a couple of oranges, a couple of apples, that's if you decide to keep it in there) that way the variety is different, but you don't have to take up a lot of room.
    4. things like salad bags don't take up a lot of room in the fridge and you can pile things on top of it.
    5. Just organize your fridge as well as you can and I'm sure you'll be able to fit things in there pretty well

    I don't know what kind of dorms you have, but do you have apt style dorms? Do you know anyone in there that you're good friends with? Maybe you can go over there a couple times a week and make dinner with them? and that way you can get in a healthier meal.

    Good luck.
  • Ninetta
    Ninetta Posts: 71 Member
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    This would be useful for me as well, I feel like all I eat is noodles, especially since I'm not only a student, but a poor one, and a vegetarian one :P *sits patiently and waits for responses*

    Check this out - I'll usually create a meal out of the things that I have kicking around the house....be creative!!

    http://vegrecipereviews.blogspot.com/
  • 2004Jessica
    2004Jessica Posts: 113
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    When i want to have something healthy, I found that my local pizza place also delivers salads! I just order a garden salad and tell them I have my own salad dressing. (I keep fat free dressing on hand.) If I need to order more before they will deliver, I get diet soda. Also, they will usually deliver sooner than if you order a pizza, because it takes less time to make.
  • DJKenn
    DJKenn Posts: 17
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    Unfortunately, George Foreman grills are "illegal" in the dorms. Chicken breast definitely sounds like a good option, though.

    I'm not in the UK, but we have limits on the size of our fridges. Also, I have a very old mini-fridge, with only a faux freezer (which is the real problem).

    I live in a suite style dorm, with a kitchen on the ground floor of the building. I'm hopefully moving into an apartment style dorm next semester, which will mean much more room to cook and store.
  • pkpzp228
    pkpzp228 Posts: 146 Member
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    check out the biggest loser cookbook, I love it and eat from it a lot as part of my program. There's quite a few easy to make meals and what I like the most is that the majority of them are broken down into recipes that serve one.

    I cook out of cookbooks a ton and I'm always struggling with meals that are proportioned to serve like 8 people.

    Another tip, do your grocery shopping daily or bi daily, than you're eating fresh food and don't have to worry about storing it . Especially vegetables, easy to steam, takes like 3-5 mins. Boil water and put something like green beans in a flower sifter and into the boiling water pot, cover it with a lid and after a few moments blanch them real quick in cold water and you have super high quality fresh food for no trouble.
  • cottoncoily
    cottoncoily Posts: 1
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    I would look into cookbooks for college students. The one I have is The Everything Healthy College Cookbook by Nicole Cormier. For the most part the recipes are very simple (5 ingredients), healthy and cheap.
  • mom2claudia
    mom2claudia Posts: 53
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    Oatmeal! Something that can be a hot meal, warmed up in the microwave, and doesn't need to go into your fridge before it's cooked. I buy the big canisters, brown sugar, some dried fruit, and non-dairy powdered creamer and make my own packets in little containers or ziplocks. I make it with water. Tastes so good!
  • cleigh86
    cleigh86 Posts: 25
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    If you already like oatmeal you could also try doing a savory one to incorporate more protein and veggies for lunch and dinner! I don't have a specific recipe off the top of my head but Google helped me :)
  • peachyxoxoxo
    peachyxoxoxo Posts: 1,178 Member
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    I'm still on a meal plan but I do some of my own shopping too.

    Breakfast: I have oatmeal with chia seeds, cinnamon, and nuts/nut butter on top basically every day. Filling and yummy. You can make eggs in a microwave, so that's also an option, if you get tired of cereal.

    Lunch/Dinner: buy salad greens and put cut-up vegetables and beans/tofu for protein on top. I don't know about you but I'm a vegetarian so I eat LOTS of tofu. They sell refrigerated marinated tofu that's already been baked at Trader Joe's. Super easy meal.

    If you're allowed to have a rice cooker, not only can you cook rice in it, but some come with a basket to steam vegetables.

    Raw vegetables with hummus is always good. And I snack on fruit a lot too. I like apples and peanut butter in particular. Cottage cheese/Greek yogurt are some filling protein options if you have room to store that in your fridge.
  • TAWoody
    TAWoody Posts: 261 Member
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    Make it so much easier on yourself and do what I'm doing...unless you want to eat like a total health freak, but that will fill up your fridge too much. I just have cereal and a glass of OJ in the morning and then a tv dinner for lunch and dinner from Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, or Smart Ones. Whatever you can find on sale that week. Those 3 companies are doing a really good job at having pretty low sodium, calories, some fruit, carbs, protein, and veggies in every meal. It's dummy proof and takes up much less space than trying to build all your meals from scratch. In between meals I grab a small handful of mixed nuts or I just started eating these Larabars which have 1 serving of fruit per bar.
  • carrie_lebel
    carrie_lebel Posts: 135
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    Tuna or chicken in a can. Mix with light mayo and peas and you are ready to go.
  • mwilson57
    mwilson57 Posts: 78 Member
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    If you have access to microwave, look for a silicone microwave steamer. They're flexible so they won't take up much space in your room when not in use. You can cook just about anything in them, including meats. You don't have to add any oil or liquids. And like someone suggested earlier, cook the meat the day you buy it and eat it through out the week.

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