Healthy College Eating

jaybrez3890 · August 2009

I'm going into my Sophomore year of college, and I'm really looking to eat healthy. Not necessarily low-cal, just super healthy. I DO have a kitchen (stove and microwave), I'm just looking for relatively cheap and fast meals to make... I can't take an hour or two to prepare dinner. The faster the better!
Any suggestions?

Zara11 · August 2009

I generally make some basic chicken (put herbs/soy sauce on, toss in pan) and slice a potato and toss it in the pan, too and then steam veggies (asparagus, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, etc).

If I'm really rushed, I have the steamed veggies with some frozen main course form trader joes.

It comes out to around five bucks, 300-400 calories depending on portion size and doesn't take more than an hour to set up, make, eat, clean, and put away.

Don't forget to experiment over the weekends with new stuff so that on weekdays you can make more variety and be faster at it too due to practice. Also look into making large amounts, because food in bulk is cheaper, and it also means you can microwave it and be done in a few minutes on really rough days,

ittybittybadonkadonk · August 2009

I'm going into my Sophomore year of college, and I'm really looking to eat healthy. Not necessarily low-cal, just super healthy. I DO have a kitchen (stove and microwave), I'm just looking for relatively cheap and fast meals to make... I can't take an hour or two to prepare dinner. The faster the better!
Any suggestions?

turkey or roastbeef wraps ....lean cuisne meals with a salad and fruit (fills me up) soups with a salad
those are just a few hope that helps

Zara11 · August 2009

Also - i'm far too lazy to do this, but consider getting some fast-meal cookbooks from the library / finding stuff online and, while it's not still too rough, finding your favorites and making a binder of all recipes you want.

But as someone else says, soups - you can make a giant pot and eat from it for at least half a week.

jlefton1212 · August 2009

I highly recommend a George Foreman grill or something similar. I feel like it allows me to cook chicken, steak, etc. with no added fat, and cooks it much faster than on the stove top.

One of my favorite recipes is for chicken and black bean burritos. I mix black beans, green onion, cumin, and some lime juice, and throw that in a burrito with shredded chicken (grilled on the george foreman) and low-fat cheese and bake it for 20 minutes. The great thing about these burritos is that they are really filling and healthy, and they reheat very easily. I'll usually make 10 small burritos at a time (3 chicken breasts and one can of black beans with 10 small whole wheat tortillas) and then keep them in the fridge. They heat up in the microwave very quickly.

songbyrdsweet · August 2009

Whole wheat pasta, ground turkey or lean beef, and pasta sauce (find a natural one without corn syrup). It takes 20 minutes total to boil pasta from putting water in the pot to draining your pasta, and while that's boiling you can brown up your meat and warm up your pasta sauce. I drain the meat and then throw the sauce in with it.

katrana · August 2009

Make things with leftovers, leftovers, leftovers!
You can make some homemade soups (I really like vegetable beef) or chili and freeze it in individual serving containers. Then, just heat and eat!

Similar to the chicken burritos, here is a veggie burrito recipe. I really like this recipe. You can make this ahead of time on a weekend, and then freeze them in individual baggies and have a healthy quick meal anytime (just pop into the microwave!). Some of the ingredients sound a little weird, but they work really well together.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Addictive-Sweet-Potato-Burritos/Detail.aspx

INGREDIENTS

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 onion, chopped
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 6 cups canned kidney beans, drained
* 2 cups water
* 3 tablespoons chili powder
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 4 teaspoons prepared mustard
* 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
* 3 tablespoons soy sauce
* 4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
* 12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
* 8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash. Gradually stir in water, and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.
3. Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style, and place on a baking sheet.
4. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, and serve.

DETAILED NUTRITION
Serving Size 1/12 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe 12
Amount Per Serving
Calories 513
Calories from Fat 76
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 8.4g 13 %
Saturated Fat 4.3g 21 %
Cholesterol 20mg 7 %
Sodium 1174mg 47 %
Potassium 747mg 21 %
Total Carbohydrates 79.3g 26 %
Dietary Fiber 13.6g 54 %
Protein 19.6g 39 %
** Sugars 7.6g
Vitamin A 309 %
Vitamin C 33 %
Calcium 36 %
Iron 51 %
Thiamin 59 %
Niacin 33 %
Vitamin B6 19 %
Magnesium 29 %
Folate 98 %

SHBoss1673 · August 2009

-My wife and I buy a couple of rosted chickens every week, and strip them on sunday, put the meat into single serving containers, and we have lunch for the week.
-Buy some veggies, cut them up, throw them in a large container and you have a salad to go, I use peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, and field greens to make a great salad any time. Thow in some kidney beans, some shredded cheddar cheese, and add a piece of whole grain bread, and you have pretty much a perfectly balanced, 350 calorie meal.
-Haddock is pretty cheap, and bakes in about 15 minutes.

-If you have (or can borrow) a crockpot, you can make a great low cal ground turkey chilly, freeze individual portions, and 5 minutes in the microwave is a perfect quick meal.

those are a few that we keep around, most of our other things take longer to cook.

Healthy College Eating

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