Easy to make recipes for a college student?

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Easy and cheap, preferred. I'm not a very picky eater at all, but I haven't really cooked anything before.

No particular diet, either. Just low calorie, healthy foods work just fine!

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  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,779 Member
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    What equipment/storage do you have access to?

    Lean meat/vegetable/carby side like beans or potatoes is an easy meal to cook and log.
  • ebbingfat
    ebbingfat Posts: 117 Member
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    One super easy thing I do is go to the deli and buy a rotisserie chicken, and after it cools I pull all the meat off the bones. Then I use it throughout the week to make chicken salad. Today I mixed 3 oz of chicken with a tablespoon of tzatziki, and stuffed it into a whole wheat pita pocket. Super good and somewhere under 250 calories.

    Mixing canned tuna with some garlic, onion, an egg, and a tiny bit of flour, then making little cakes out of them on the stove top is really good and easy too. Look /fit/ tuna patties in google images, you'll see the recipe. They're super easy and super delicious.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    ebbingfat wrote: »
    One super easy thing I do is go to the deli and buy a rotisserie chicken, and after it cools I pull all the meat off the bones. Then I use it throughout the week to make chicken salad. Today I mixed 3 oz of chicken with a tablespoon of tzatziki, and stuffed it into a whole wheat pita pocket. Super good and somewhere under 250 calories.

    Mixing canned tuna with some garlic, onion, an egg, and a tiny bit of flour, then making little cakes out of them on the stove top is really good and easy too. Look /fit/ tuna patties in google images, you'll see the recipe. They're super easy and super delicious.

    Cheaper than rotisserie chicken............buy a whole chicken and bake in a crock pot.

    Place 2 balls of foil in the bottom of the crock pot. Place seasoned chicken (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder) on top of foil balls. They also sell a seasoning called "rotisserie chicken." Cover and cook on high 2.5 hours. The foil creates a "ledge" so your chicken isn't swimming in grease. If you don't have basic seasonings, check your local dollar store.

    Crock pots are super easy cooking methods. Low on energy use. Crock pot recipes are typically.....throw everything in there and turn on. If you don't have a crock pot.....invest in one, or look for one at a thrift store.

    I bought my niece a Cooking Light 5 Ingredient cookbook "Fresh Food Fast" for college...this is a whole series. I'm sure there are lots of sample recipes on-line.
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    Canned beans (just rinse) on top of a bagged salad. easy and cheap - Hard boiled eggs are fairly easy to make also and can be breakfast (over instant oatmeal), lunch (sliced on bread as a sandwich) or snack (just peel and eat).
  • Kandierinc
    Kandierinc Posts: 18 Member
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    ebbingfat wrote: »
    One super easy thing I do is go to the deli and buy a rotisserie chicken, and after it cools I pull all the meat off the bones. Then I use it throughout the week to make chicken salad. Today I mixed 3 oz of chicken with a tablespoon of tzatziki, and stuffed it into a whole wheat pita pocket. Super good and somewhere under 250 calories.

    Mixing canned tuna with some garlic, onion, an egg, and a tiny bit of flour, then making little cakes out of them on the stove top is really good and easy too. Look /fit/ tuna patties in google images, you'll see the recipe. They're super easy and super delicious.

    Cheaper than rotisserie chicken............buy a whole chicken and bake in a crock pot.

    Place 2 balls of foil in the bottom of the crock pot. Place seasoned chicken (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder) on top of foil balls. They also sell a seasoning called "rotisserie chicken." Cover and cook on high 2.5 hours. The foil creates a "ledge" so your chicken isn't swimming in grease. If you don't have basic seasonings, check your local dollar store.

    Crock pots are super easy cooking methods. Low on energy use. Crock pot recipes are typically.....throw everything in there and turn on. If you don't have a crock pot.....invest in one, or look for one at a thrift store.

    I bought my niece a Cooking Light 5 Ingredient cookbook "Fresh Food Fast" for college...this is a whole series. I'm sure there are lots of sample recipes on-line.

    This..
    If you go on www.skinnytaste.com there are loads of great recipes for healthy and tasty crock pot recipes, I use mine at least once a week and can easily get 6-8 meals out of one dish, the chill chicken taco is super easy, really filling an no pre cooking required.

    I usually cook up big batches of 2 different recipes each weekend so you can alternate lunches and dinners to prevent boredom of eating the same meals.

    Gina who runs skinnytatse has great ideas and works out all the nutritional breakdowns too, plus as she is so popular in here you can find almost all her recipes already loaded to add to food log.

    Highly recommend investing in a crock pot - one with a timer is great too so you can leave it if you are out all day but only need say 6 hours of cooking time.
  • jadowns
    jadowns Posts: 167 Member
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    I am a broke college student. I am not a big cook either, but I try to only shop in produce at the grocery store. Veggies are so cheap. Also if you have a rice cooker (that just plugs into the wall), rice is a super cheap food. I get a whey protein or vegan protein powder (more $) and stir it in coffee every morning and that's my cheap *kitten* breakfast... If you have a fridge, get some veggies, babybel cheese (in the wax), and you should be good.
  • jadowns
    jadowns Posts: 167 Member
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    Also, I shop at Grocery Outlet, which is California's Bargain Market..
  • piheart
    piheart Posts: 122 Member
    edited August 2015
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