Easy meals for College kid

[alabamagal]

DS is home for spring break and looking for ideas for easy meals to cook while away at college. He has an apartment with full kitchen and he went away with basic cooking set. He works in college cafeteria for breakfast, gets 5 cafeteria meals for $10 (part of work benefit) that he uses for lunch.  He had a GF for the first year and a half and they used to cook together (guess she had the ideas though) but now he is single again.

He is pretty decent at cooking (he works making omelettes!).  He doesn't eat pork as a main dinner meat (ok with bacon).  Probably not into the cheapo rice and bean meals either.

Thinking of getting a small crock pot, he can do crock pot meals.  He likes beef stew.

[NastyWoman]

I gave both sons the " man, a can, a plan" cookbook when they went to college.  After that there were many, many phone tutorials.  DS1 would call and write recipes and preparation steps down at once.  DS2 would get first a list of ingredients, go shopping and then call for each preparation step.  Both are pretty good cooks now, but they have had many years to practice

[gooddecisions]

Pasta
Hamburgers
Tacos
Fajitas
Pan fried salmon (or any fish)
Steak
Frozen pizza

A george forman makes most meals fast (less than 10 minutes) and comes with a cook book.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

quesadillas

[tcu2003]

Spaghetti, tacos and chili are all easy and filling. Roast in the crock pot. Beef stroganoff in the crock pot served over noodles or rice.

If he can debone a chicken okay, it's easy to take all of the meat off a grocery store deli precooked rotisserie chicken, and use it to make a casserole or chicken spaghetti or soup.

[plugginaway22]

My 19 year makes Hamburger Helper every week at school! Makes 2 meals for him.

He also makes a lot of tomato soup, eats tons of cereal, and tons of peanut butter sandwiches, and apples.

I always send him back to school with a large jar of gummy vitamins, haha.

[Artemis Windsong]

I ate a lot of canned chili and creamy clam chowder.  Lettuce, cheese, and tortilla chips can be added to the canned chili for chili pie or taco salad.  It makes a lot and is filling.

A bowl of apples, oranges and bananas.  If a freezer is available, Great Value bag of frozen fruit.  Greek Yogurt always available.  Jars of mixed nuts.  They are less expensive to buy the individual bags of nuts then make the mix.  I had on GrS that ate a jar of peanuts once or twice a day when he was a teenager.

I would suggest cooking a roast large enough to use the cooked meat in other recipes during the week.  Roast/potatoes/veg, 2 days; sandwiches 2 days; left over stew 2 days.

The cooked roast can be added to refried beans and rice for burritoes.  The roast can be cubed and put in sloppy joe sauce or spaghetti sauce.  

Cooking a number of skinless, boneless chicken breasts that can be used in recipes all week or frozen then quick thawed for meals.  Freshly baked chicken breasts Day 1; chicken tacos or burritoes Days 2 and 3; Ramen Noodle Chicken Oriental Salad Days 4 and 5.  Any other salad that chicken can be added to or as the main meat course.

My GrS has pop tarts and ramen noodles for quick snacks and meals.  These young people need food and a lot of it at odd times so crackers and peanut butter are usually good.

A lot of these choices are not the A+ nutrition foods but they are filling.

[Deleted]

I gave my kids a "cheap easy meals for college students" cookbook when they left. 

Some ideas: pasta, omelettes, chicken breasts / steak, fajitas, homemade hamburgers, meatloaf. I'd tell him to stock up on frozen veggies, then nuke some when he wants an accompaniment to the meat. We always have packages of frozen peas, spinach, green beans, snap peas in the freezer. We buy fresh veggies at the market every week but during the week I often nuke frozen ones.

Soups: my two "go-tos" are vegetable and split pea and ham.

And even buying the occasional ready-meals / convenience foods is cheaper and healthier than eating out, and makes a break from cooking.  

I don't know how far he lives from you. When my two Big Boys were fairly local, I'd still cook for eight and send them home with leftovers LOL. 

[Sharon]

While he is home can you make some meatloaf together, so he can see how it is done, and then freeze them.  Then he just has to thaw and cook.  He can throw in a couple of potatoes to bake at the same time.

Would he eat stir fry?  You can get the bags of frozen stir fry veggies and then just add chicken.

[alabamagal]

Mar 16, 2014 15:14:06 GMT -5 plugginaway22 said:

My 19 year makes Hamburger Helper every week at school! Makes 2 meals for him.

He also makes a lot of tomato soup, eats tons of cereal, and tons of peanut butter sandwiches, and apples.

I always send him back to school with a large jar of gummy vitamins, haha.

He does that. Tired of Hamburger Helper

[Tennesseer]

College Survival Guide Part I: 50 Amazing Ramen Noodle Recipes

RAMEN NOODLE RECIPES College

100 AWESOME RAMEN RECIPES FOR STARVING COLLEGE STUDENTS


You get the idea.

[tcu2003]

Mar 16, 2014 16:05:49 GMT -5 @debthaven2 said:

I don't know how far he lives from you. When my two Big Boys were fairly local, I'd still cook for eight and send them home with leftovers LOL. 

My mom did this for sis and I whenever either of us were home from college. Now that it's just her, sis and I do it for mom so she gets a break from cooking for one.

[marvholly]

Other quick & easy

Tuna salad
salmon salad
salmon patties
Pasta w/veggies and a protein (chicken, fake crab....)
whole roast chicken = at least 4 meals (or meat for other dishes: soup. stir fry, fajitas, salad plate)

I have a local market that has 4 oz portions of various fish (sole, salmon, talapia) they sell for $1 each. Quick saute in a fry pan works. Check around your area & have him do the same. Several of my local ethnic markets sell prepared or at least marinated food items. Again a quick saute.

[sarcasticgirl]

I ate a lot of ramen noodles and kraft mac n cheese in college... supplemented with gummy bears and vodka. 

When I transferred to a university closer to my parents, my mom would bring me some homemade dishes that she froze. my roommates loved that! 

Maybe you and DS could work on some "Cassarole" type dishes that would freeze well. Lasagna, pot pies, etc. And he could take them back with him (frozen) 

Otherwise, like others have mentioned, things like tacos, burgers, quesadillas, pasta

we have a lot of wraps in our house... tortillas and chicken can be changed up quite a bit depending on what you put with them.  tex-mex, buffalo, mediterranean, ceasar, etc. easy peasy to change it up. 

[milee]

Not that it will be at all applicable for most boys or people who have good eating habits, but it's funny to think about what I ate in college. My friends said that I ate from the 4 main food groups. And the 4 main food groups were:

Yogurt

Tater tots (you could get that single serve microwave box for $.49 and that was - IMHO at the time - an awesome meal.)

Spinach (again, a single box of frozen spinach was $.49 and I thought that was a good, quick meal)

Bagels

I'd have a small stock of those foods and one of them would be a meal. But then again, I'd just moved out of a house that didn't always have food in it, so that seemed really decadent and living large... I could eat a meal whenever I wanted it and after eating one of those things I'd feel really full. Woo hoo! It's no wonder I weighed less than 100 pounds at my wedding. Sheesh. If I ate like that now, I'd be so hungry and grumpy, my family would put me out on the street.

Anyway, back to the OP.  If he has a small crock pot, check out some of the crock pot website and see what appeals.  Here's one with some recipes we liked:  crockpot365.blogspot.com/

[Tiny]

There's also the:
Student's Vegetarian CookbookQuick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegetarian Recipes (Paperback)
Author: Carole Raymond

Not that your kid is vegetarian - but the recipes are based around a few ingredients - often something in a can and something 'fresh'. You can easily figure out which recipes can have an animal product added to make it not vegetarian.

For example: It's easy to make chili - a couple cans of diced tomatos, a couple of cans of beans, a chipolte pepper and some of the adobo sauce (canned - freeze the rest from the can) some chili powder or cumin. Add in a diced onion, a diced green pepper, and some minced garlic if you have it.     Sour cream and cheese optional. 

You can easily add some browned ground beef (when you are saute ing the onion/pepper/garlic) and viola it's Carnivore food!

The book's author assumed the student had access to a microwave, a microwave safe covered dish/casserole and maybe a small fridge - if there was access to a stove and a pot you would be golden.

There's things like Beer Pancakes, Dirty Rice (includes Beer), and a couple of other recipes that include beer.   Just incase you think vegetarian food is boring.

There's some tofu recipes - which you can substitute chicken OR if the tofu is being used as 'eggs' then substitute in eggs. Easy peasy.

[alabamagal]

Ex-GF of 1 1/2 years was a vegetarian. I think he is looking for more meat recipes....lol

He is still a minor, so I don't think I'll skip the beer recipes. Not that he won't have beer, just not going to encourage that.

[sheilaincali]

I made DS and I steak fajitas last night- took like 10 minutes.  Cooked the steak strips in a pan until they were nearly done, threw in some frozen, pre-cut bell peppers and onions. DS had his on tortillas and I had just the meat and peppers.

Fried Rice. We buy those bags of the pre-cooked frozen chicken strips. You just throw them in the microwave for 4 minutes. frozen veggies (peas and carrots) in a pan until cooked, add an eggs and scramble it. Mix in a cup or two of cooked white rice. Add cooked chicken strips and soy sauce and you are good to go. We'll make this up on a Friday and have leftovers for lunch on Saturday.  Add as much rice as you want to get the finish amount that you want. We do 2 cups of cooked rice and it's a ton of food. For a single person I'd do like 1/2 cup to a cup.

Meatloaf muffins are easy.  Hamburger, egg and whatever you want in it. We used to make it with breadcrumbs but since I don't eat gluten anymore we mix in diced veggies (mushrooms, peppers, zucchini) seasonings etc. Put in it muffin tins and it bakes much faster that way. Reheats pretty well for leftovers.

[Iggy aka IG]

Mar 16, 2014 16:27:20 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

College Survival Guide Part I: 50 Amazing Ramen Noodle Recipes

RAMEN NOODLE RECIPES College

100 AWESOME RAMEN RECIPES FOR STARVING COLLEGE STUDENTS


You get the idea.

My favorite was ramen noodles, a can of VegAll, served w/ shredded cheese. 

[sarcasticgirl]

www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/lifechanging-quesadillas?bfpi

29 life changing quesadillas 

[Iggy aka IG]

Mar 17, 2014 16:04:29 GMT -5 sheilaincali said:

I made DS and I steak fajitas last night- took like 10 minutes.  Cooked the steak strips in a pan until they were nearly done, threw in some frozen, pre-cut bell peppers and onions. DS had his on tortillas and I had just the meat and peppers.

Fried Rice. We buy those bags of the pre-cooked frozen chicken strips. You just throw them in the microwave for 4 minutes. frozen veggies (peas and carrots) in a pan until cooked, add an eggs and scramble it. Mix in a cup or two of cooked white rice. Add cooked chicken strips and soy sauce and you are good to go. We'll make this up on a Friday and have leftovers for lunch on Saturday.  Add as much rice as you want to get the finish amount that you want. We do 2 cups of cooked rice and it's a ton of food. For a single person I'd do like 1/2 cup to a cup.

Meatloaf muffins are easy.  Hamburger, egg and whatever you want in it. We used to make it with breadcrumbs but since I don't eat gluten anymore we mix in diced veggies (mushrooms, peppers, zucchini) seasonings etc. Put in it muffin tins and it bakes much faster that way. Reheats pretty well for leftovers.

Sheila, I use crushed up pork rinds in lieu of bread products. 

[tskeeter]

Mar 16, 2014 14:13:49 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

DS is home for spring break and looking for ideas for easy meals to cook while away at college. He has an apartment with full kitchen and he went away with basic cooking set. He works in college cafeteria for breakfast, gets 5 cafeteria meals for $10 (part of work benefit) that he uses for lunch.  He had a GF for the first year and a half and they used to cook together (guess she had the ideas though) but now he is single again.

He is pretty decent at cooking (he works making omelettes!).  He doesn't eat pork as a main dinner meat (ok with bacon).  Probably not into the cheapo rice and bean meals either.

Thinking of getting a small crock pot, he can do crock pot meals.  He likes beef stew.

I wonder if the answer is to get your DS started on the cook on weekends, reheat during the week process.  Or, the cook over night approach, where, as one meal is heating up, you are doing the vegi chopping and other preparation for a meal that is going to spend the night in the crock pot.  This eliminates a lot of the waiting time associated with roasting meat etc.  Might as well let things cook while you sleep, study, or do other things. 

You might also explore techniques for quicky heating up delicious meals.  Many of us don't make use of the defrost function to gently reheat meals.  I figured out that if I reheat baby back ribs using full microwave power, the ribs become tough and dry.  Reheat using defrost, and the ribs are tender and moist.  So, my choice for reheating tender, tasty ribs is 15 minutes in the microwave, or 40 minutes or so in a low oven.  As a result, defrost has become my reheat method of choice.  Another approach is to steam things to reheat them.  Or to reheat food stored in vacuum seal pouches in hot (not boiling) water, because hot liquids transfer heat much more quickly than hot air.

If your DS becomes the crock pot gourmet, more than one crock pot, or additional inserts for the crock pot may be in order.  That way one crock pot can be tied up cooking or reheating a meal while the second insert can be in use in the preparation of the next meal, and the third can be in the dishwasher.


Warning, I think kitchens should be equipped to allow cooking and baking to be a bit like an assembly line.  Most home kitchens don't have five half sheet pans, 7 rubber spatulas, three wire whisks, 10 large spoons, four pair of tongs, three sets of measuring spoons, two sets of measuring cups, three basting brushes, three eight cup glass measuring pitchers, eight cooling racks, three eight quart stock pots, or three waffle irons and five crock pots.  Nor do most home cooks shop for cooking utensils at the restaurant supply store.  But, all that equipment comes in handy when you're preparing Thanksgiving dinner for 30 (three turkeys, to ensure left overs), baking 20 dozen cookies, or making 15 pounds of Aunt Jeanette's Microwave Peanut Brittle for Christmas gifts.  Obviously, this is the cook once, cook lots theory of food preparation.   

[tskeeter]

Mar 16, 2014 14:13:49 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

DS is home for spring break and looking for ideas for easy meals to cook while away at college. He has an apartment with full kitchen and he went away with basic cooking set. He works in college cafeteria for breakfast, gets 5 cafeteria meals for $10 (part of work benefit) that he uses for lunch.  He had a GF for the first year and a half and they used to cook together (guess she had the ideas though) but now he is single again.

He is pretty decent at cooking (he works making omelettes!).  He doesn't eat pork as a main dinner meat (ok with bacon).  Probably not into the cheapo rice and bean meals either.

Thinking of getting a small crock pot, he can do crock pot meals.  He likes beef stew.

Most any casserole is easy to prepare, requires minimal ingredients, reheats well, is tasty and filling, and requires minimal clean up.

For example, boneless chicken breast (3 or 4), frozen vegetables, cream of chicken soup, noodles, milk (even reconstituted powdered milk) or cream, pepper, a small pinch of cayene pepper, and bread crumbs or crushed potato chips.  Cut chicken into bite sized pieces, mix with acouple of hand fulls of frozen vegis, one can of cream of chicken soup, a can of milk or cream, about 1/3 bag of noodles, pepper and cayene.  (The soup should provide enough salt.)  Spread in a 9X13 baking pan and top with bread crumbs or potato chips.  Bake at 325 until casserole reaches 165 degrees.  Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes or so to cool slightly and set up.  (Might require a bit more liquid than one can of milk.  I haven't tried this.  I'm just making it up on the fly.) 

Or that plains states pot luck staple, Tater Tot Hotdish.  One pound ground beef, browned and seasoned with salt and pepper.  Layer in casserole dish (or the pan the meat was browned in, it it doesn't have plastic handles, such as a paella pan), ground beef, a two or three handfuls of frozen mixed vegetables, one can of cream of mushroom soup (most any cream soup will do), top with Tater Tots.  Bake at 350 until casserole reaches 165 and Tater Tots are crisp and golden, about 1 hour.  For some variety, throw in about a dozen pearl onions on the ground beef.  A layer of frozen hash browns could be substituted for the Tater Tots.