College student looking for cheap, healthy & non-skilled cook friendly dinners :)

I'm in the same boat. I find if I prep food ahead of time for the week it makes it much easier! Chicken is one food that is easy to experiment with as it goes with most things. Try adding cinnamon and garlic to boneless skinless chicken thighs. Green tea is also a great way to give your metabolism a jump start!

My daughter is in the same place that you girls are. We have found Tyson make fresh pre-seasoned boneless skinless chicken breast that have great flavor and don't add a bunch of extra calories like so much of the seasoned or packaged meals etc do. We find them at Safeway in our area.

Gordon Ramsay had a ton of cheap, easy foodie recipes. If you can spend a little money up front on spices, they can help you transform staples like fish or chicken into all kinds of delicious dishes!

Chicken, peppers, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes is a winner. Add some basil, garlic and oregano. Serve with pasta. It was one of the main dishes I made at uni. The herbs and spices will never be wasted if she get a few essentials in.

Get a crockpot, add 4-5 chicken breasts, water, and seasoning. Let it cook for 6-8 hours and now you have meat for the whole week and you can do lots of things with shredded chicken from salads to enchiladas.

Eggs, roasted veggies, chili, (soups in general), fresh fruit, healthy casseroles. (I make a zucchini enchilada casserole sometimes that's adapted from skinnytaste.com), stir fries, rice and beans... The possibilities of cheap and healthy food are endless! I am largely into simple meals as well and if it's low maintenance, all the better. I've always bought my grains in bulk and it helps to buy dried beans and cook them. I usually boil them all in water and then freeze them in gallon sized bags until I need them, I usually have two or three different kinds in my freezer at a time.

Im a graduate student. I gained my freshman fifteen twice, once when I moved to undergrad and another fifteen when I moved to grad school.

Now I'm really focused my diet. I buy bulk boneless skinless chicken breast and freeze individual servings in bags. Through out the week, I defrost and prep it. For me, the simplicity makes up for the lack of variety.
Usually, I stir fry it ( no oil, but in a ceramic fry pan!) With whatever veggies I've got on hand. I've got a lot of spices that I add to it to create variety. Curry, chipolte, carribean jerk, Italian. Spices have helped me break my cheese addition. Before, i used to smoother everything in cheese if i didn't like flavor. But now, spices changed everything.

Often, i put the stir fry over brown rice or lettuce, or cabbage and mung bean sprouts ( so cheap and easy to grow yourself. Seriously. I mostly hate diy but i love the sprouts) sometimes, i use uncle bens rice mixes because they already have great flavors.
The best part is I can easily double the "recipe' and save half for lunch the next day.

A crock pot is also really helpful. Sometimes, I throw chicken and veggies together at night, keep it in the fridge overnight, and put it in the crock pot in the morning so it's ready for me after class 8 hours later.


For quick foods, steel cut oats, Greek yogurts with added frozen fruit, chocolate rice cakes, canned tuna, eggs, and peanut butter have been great for when I'm too tired to cook.


Good luck! Healthy cooking is a journey, not a destination.
Let us know how it goes

Soo this has nothing to do with dinner, but I just made breakfast quinoa cups (found on Pinterest) and they were super helpful for when I have early classes or just don't feel like making breakfast. You could eat them for lunch or dinner too if you'd like. You just mix cooked quinoa with eggs, meat, cheese, veggies and pop them into a muffin pan and bake! My boyfriend even enjoyed them!

Steam your vegetables or if it black cabbage consume it raw (chop it up into small pieces) mixed with some rice and cheese. Cooking kills a lot of the B-vitamins so basically a lot of people do not know they are killing the nutrients in the food so they are killing the key part of a food.

Ok here is one of my favorites - you can adjust it based on your calorie needs. I use the grams when I weigh stuff but I can't remember the conversion on this off the top of my head and in the database it is listed as oz (most packaged foods will give you both)

2 oz pasta - I use Barilla Plus for the added protein
1.5 oz fresh mozzarella (I use the smallest balls so no cutting but you can cut it up to smaller pieces - around the same size as the tomatoes)
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (or if they are really big quartered)
1-2 garlic cloves, through a garlic press or finely chopped
2-3 green onions, chopped (whites and greens)
1/2 oz parmesan cheese - I grate it off the block but you can buy the pre-shredded (but not the green container - it has it's place but this isn't it)
Salt - about a pinch

Cook the pasta as directed and while it is cooking, cut up the tomatoes and combine with the garlic and onions and then mix in the salt - salt will draw out some of the juices. Drain the pasta, add the pasta to the fresh tomatoes then add the fresh mozzarella and the parmesan. Toss all together and voila - pasta with mozzarella and fresh tomatoes. Simple, tasty and healthy.

Easy easy recipe. Very fast to prepare. You can keep whole ginger in the freezer and just grate what you need.

Inside Out Egg Roll
soupspiceeverythingnice.blogspot.com/2013/12/inside-out-egg-roll-re-post.html
Serves 3-4

Ingredients

1 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 a roll of reduced fat pork or turkey breakfast sausage
1 or 2 garlic cloves, grated
1" piece of ginger, grated
1 bag (16 oz.) Cole slaw mix
Soy sauce (reduced sodium) to taste
1/8 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
Salt, white pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Optional garnishes:
Green onions, sliced
Toasted sesame seeds
Fried Chinese noodles

Directions

Sauté sausage in oil until brown. Add garlic, ginger, and slaw mix; saute until it starts to reduce in size. Add soy sauce, five spice powder, salt and peppers to taste. Sauté a little longer and serve. Garnish with any or all garnishes from above.

Here are 3 of my favorite soup reipes. It's easy to make a pot of soup and eat from it all week.

Roasted Tomato Soup
5 lbs tomatoes, cored and quartered
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Toss together and roast at @ 450 for 20 min or until very soft.
1 cup diced onion
2 TBSP olive oil
Sauté in large pot till onion is soft
2 cups water
2tsp sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 red pepper flakes
Roasted tomato mixture
Add to pot with onions and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 min then purée.
Finish with
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 TBSP pestopesto

Corn and Poblano Chowder
Saute in 2 TBS unsalted Butter
1 cup white onion
1 TBS minced garlic
Add
2 lb (6 cups) corn kernels
4 cups chicken broth
2 tsp sugar
Pruee
Stir in
2 poblanos roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced (how to roast peppers)
1/2 cup heavy cream
up to 1.5 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cayenne

Black Bean Soup
1 lb dry (or 4 15 oz cans) black beans
4 cups chicken (or veggie) broth
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
simmer till beans are tender (about an hour) if you use canned beans cut simmer time in half.
puree half the beans and broth (remove and discard the bay leaf)
in a skillet sautee in 2 TBSP olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 TBSP minced garlic
1 TBSP paprika
11/2 tsp ground cumin
11/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne
pinch each salt and sugar
Deglaze with 1 TBSP red wine vinegar
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes and juice.
mash tomatoes slightly then add to pot with beans and broth and simmer 5 min.

Serve with pico de gallo. Also good with a few grilled shrimp thrown on top.

Flat Bread Pizza! It is fast, easy, delicious and the options are awesome!