Cheap, easy, n quick
 

And I don't mean the strippers that work up the street.... :thumbsup: I am a poor poor poor college student and I was wondering if anyone has any food ideas that are cheap, easy, n quick. I have access to a fridge/freezer, stove microwave and lots of cabinet space. PLEASE share.... beef stew and pizza are getting old.

Chili! I used to live on chili as a student, either on rice or over a baked potato. But you have to use raw ingredients as those packets of chili mix are pretty expensive. I used to make a ton of it at once, freeze it and then heat up portions as and when required.

well...one of my favs way back when involved bologna, so if you eat it, here is something interesting to do with it

you'll need
can of chili (I always used Hormel with no beans)(OR you can use homemade)
bologna
bread

toast bread without butter (however many pieces you wanna eat)
fry the bologna
heat up the chili

put bologna on top of the bread and cover with chili

if you dont like bologna ignore the post :lol:

Get a foreman grill, you can make grilled chees, burgers, whatever on those things, and they don't take up much room.

Two words........

TOP RAMIN

I love my Foreman grilling machine! I make sandwiches all the time with it! That's something cheap that'll last you. You can mix up the meat, cheese and condiments for variety if you want. Make a good sandwich and then grill it. Mmm...melty.

Agreed... the Foreman grill has to be one of the best things ever to grace my kitchen (next to my wok, of course). It's a terribly simple idea that just works like a charm!

Bobby, You can always come over for Dinner. Just call about 6 to see when we are eating and what we are having. We usually go out on Thursday.

I was hoping that your Dad would "step up to the plate" and make sure you are fed. I guess he needs more toys. ROFLMAO!

They buy me cereal.... lol but im too cheap to go buy milk so we just eat it dry and wash it down with water... yum yum. Oh well this lacka food will motivate me to take advantage and go work out or something.

You can do a lot with flour tortillas. Get some tortillas and a can of refried beans and a jar of salsa for a decent tasting burrito. Strips of meat and rice wrapped in a tortilla makes a pretty good meal.

RAMEN!!!! And Easy Mac with chopped hot dogs!

I'll mail you some soy milk for your cereal :D It has protein that you otherwise won't get, since you can't afford meat and all. Damn, have I been there.

*reminisces of meatless times in college*

i make meat sauce and noodles, purely because it's easy to make and fairly inexpensive. All ya need is Tomato Sauce, ground beef, noodles/pasta, garlic, and whatever veggies and seasoning you like. I always use garlic, mushrooms and celery, and oregano and basil to season. Make a big pot, and freeze (yay mom for tupperware presents at christmas *chuckle*). If you choose to pursue, PM me for simple directions :)

This is little Bobby's dad and he has plenty to eat :rolleyes: Boo, just because he does not have your 300LB build does not mean the boy is not eating. (AKINS worked?) :thumbsup: Bobby, got several cans of chili you can have if you still remember our phone number.

Have a good day.

For me I like Mac an Cheese mixed up with a can of chili, also pasta/rice sides and throwing in a can of chicken. Stuff like that is easy and not half bad.

mom gave me food money tonight... commisary tomorrow.. then home for laundry... lol college life.

Not sure what area you live in, but you need to find the cheap food stores. Aldi is one chain of them, and I've been t a couple others. Honestly I could go there with 50 bucks and get a months worth of food. A brick of ramen of course, but then there were the cheap frozen burritos, lunch meats were cheap, frozen familysize dinner things like turkey n gravy, chicken n dumplings, fish sticks, soups too, canned veggies for like ten cents a can... yeah, cheap food stores are great.
Tuna caserole is cheap to make, Spaghetti is pretty cheap too. I'm not sure how to make it, but I'm sure theres gotta be alot of cheap things to do with rice that turn into good meals.
/me tosses his two cents in and wanders off.

foodnetwork.com Anything by Racheal Ray. Usually about thirty minutes to cook and usually very cheap to make. They also have an advanced search engine where you can tell it what you have and it will tell you what you can make with it...

<=====College student
the foodnetwork.com meal generator deal is awesome. I use it all the time.

How cheap, easy and quick do you want to go? Fresher is always better, and that is proven in the movie "Supersize Me" - I doubt I'll ever eat at McDs again.
Cheap - shop around.
Quick and easy - look at some of the post here. Or, read some cook books in the library.

instant noodles! Their pretty good for cheap (and really unhealthy stuff... mad MSG's) and quick and easy to make.

Sheperds Pie
 

Make mashed potatoes
fry up ground beef.
Put ground beef in cassarole dish
next canned vegetable soup
next layer green beans
next mashed potatoes
put in oven at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.
you can put it all together and refrigerate to cook later.

It tastes good and you feel like you just ate something oh so healthy.

One of my favorites was make your own pizza. Get the pizza crust mixes in the bags - you just add water. They're less than a dollar. Sauce is like $.50 - $1. Cheese is a little expensive. Put stuff you have at home on top (got sandwich ham?) It feels like a super treat and it's cheap.

Eggs you can make in a thousand ways and they are filling. Rice is super cheap and goes with everything. can't go wrong with peanut butter and jelly. I used to live on those lipton noodles in the bags. Add water and butter and you're good to go. Can you find a job where they feed you lunch? I worked in assisted living and we had full kitchen privileges. I wouldn't eat all day and then just go to work.

OK, this is gonna sound gross, but they're actually pretty yummy. Get some premade pizza dough in a can (or make your own if you know how), some BBQ sauce, some hotdogs, and some mozarella. Prep the dough, dice a couple of hotdogs, and assemble it like a Calzone. MAKE SURE YOU SEAL IT GOOD. Bake @ around 375 until golden and everything's melted. Iff'n you want to get fancy, lightly brush the top with EV olive oil about 8-10 minutes before it's done. I started eating these in college, and DAMN if they weren't addictive.

Another good and CHEAP way to go is ersatz tuna casserole. Get 3-4 cans of tuna, a big package of egg noodles, a couple of cans of cream of mushroom soup, a can of cram of onion soup, a big can of sliced mushrooms, and a can of peas. Boil the noodles until they are halfway done, drain. Drain tuna. Throw everything together in a big casserole pan except the peas, and add a couple of soupcans worth of milk and water, and stir the hell out of it. Once it looks pretty well mixed, stir in the peas. Bake until it looks crusty on top. This used to feed me for a week per recipe.

As you may be able to tell, I cook by the "keep throwing stuff into it until it smells good" method. And I had a cast-iron stomach. ;)

i dunno who bobby or his dad is..but his dad seems angry and scary...and i'm sorry if someone already posted it..but meat loaf (or veggie meatloaf)..it can be frozen..serve with canned gravy (can also be frozen) and mashed potato and some random veggie..old fashioned and wholesome

I often made the following, which was easy to make and lasted for several meals:

Easy to make taco salad

Brown about 1 lb. hamburger, then drain the grease.
Cut up one tomato, some lettuce, onion and black olives
Buy a bag of tortilla chips, open the bag and throw in all the above-mentioned ingredients plus some shredded cheese and one bottle of catalina salad dressing.
Shake the bag and enjoy.
I dunno if it's really less messy to make than normal taco salad, but I always thought it was handy to just make most of it right in the bag.

I hate my Forman grill. It never gets used.

Grilled cheese sandwiches
The roasted chicken from Albertson's or something (last a couple of days)
Rice - woot!
Beef Panang - all time favorite http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Rshow.asp?C='Thai'&R='Beef%20Panang'

can someone post a direct link to the foodnetwork's meal generator ?
I've looked all over the site, can't find it :(

thanks.

eggs!!!

eggs are realitively cheap.
you can do all sorts of wonderfully yummy things with eggs.
boiled, scrambled, omelets, fried, deviled, etc.
you can make egg salad sandwiches or even add a can of tuna fish.

"Tuna Glunk"
Make a pot of Mac & Cheese, stir in a can of sweet, young peas and a drained can of tuna. Presto!

I will also second DJ Happy and say that Chili was one of my, and all my friend's, staples during college. It does take a little of an investment though. To really "live" on chili you'll need to make a LOT of it and that requires a large stockpot. I got lucky and got one for X-mas one year.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=39322

worked for us and kept for ages

First, get a rice cooker. Then get some NikoNiko rice, tuna, and your choice of miracle whip or mayonaise.

Cook the rice, mix the tuna with the miracle whip or mayonaise, then add the mixed tuna to the rice.

Add soy sauce if desired.


So tastey, healthy, and so so cheap.

just remember that cheap shouldn't be totally unhealthy! you don't wanna end up in debt because you were malnutritioned and ended up in the hospital!
firstly, get a multivitamin, take it every day- that'll help with overall health.
invest in a water filter, cause if you're drinking city water that stuff is nasty and will make your food taste wierd. i get water from my local organic grocery store, it's a BYO container and it's 39c a gallon- not bad

anyway, i say go with rice and pasta- hit up the Zataran's when they go on sale, they're cajun rice mixes and they're usually about 79c a box- one box is usually two meals and they're good! i like the beans and rice one- tastes good, and is filling. with plain rice you can add butter and soy sauce and you're good to go- invest in fresh veggies (which are usually cheap) to liven it up, and to get your nutrition. pasta is a no brainer- get some tomato sauce, add some garlic and some dried herbs (you can get those really cheap at Family Dollar, make sure you crush them up a little bit before adding them to the sauce to release their flavor). big pots of spagetti sauce last forever and can be frozen. also, hit up the cheapie groceries. i didn't see where you were from, but if you know of Family Dollar stores they sell cereal/poptarts/ boxed goods cheap and personally i think their offbrand pop tarts are better than the real thing! mac and cheese with hot dogs is also good. another thing i would recommend is save up some money, like take your pocket change and put it in a jar or something, then every week or two treat yourself to a "high class" meal, like get some ground beef and make tacos or invest in going out somewhere and just getting an appetizer. it's small things like that which will let you know you love yourself even when faced with being a poor poor poor college student :)

Chicken pot pies - Easy to make and so so tasty! This recipie makes about 6 servings.

2 (9 inch) deep dish frozen pie crusts, thawed
1 (15 ounce) can mixed vegetables, drained
2 cups cooked, diced chicken breast
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 -Roll out the pie crusts and line the bottom of whatever you are using to cook them. We have these little pie dishes, but anything that it will fit in should do. If you really want you can just use what the pie crusts come in, they also work fine.

2 -In a bowl combine the mixed vegetables, chicken and the cream of chicken soup. Pour this into the pie crust. Place the other pie crust on top of the mixture and make sure you seal the edges and poke holes in top crust. Or it'll get REAL messy

3- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

4- Enjoy!

Chili made from hot dogs is pretty good. "Specially if you slice them up & fry them first. Mac & cheese can be a little more appetizing with chopped onion & tomatoes.
And potatoes! Make hash browns & sprinkle on montreal steak spice. Good stuff!
Or cut into wedges, and yop with italian dressing & parmesan cheese. Bake until done. Apples are usually pretty cheap, I remember eating a lot of apple crisp after moving out of the house.

Here's what I lived on for a few months in college. It doesn't get any cheaper or easier than this.

1 package ramen noodles
1 kraft single (or store brand equivalent american cheese)

Cook noodles, drain, put in big plastic cup, add torn up american cheese slice and 1/2 of the seasoning pack from the ramen. Stir. Ta-da! Instant really poor man's macaroni and cheese!

Well, it seems as if everyone has already mentioned spaghetti and chili. Those were my staples for about a year. A pot of chili would last at least 4 meals. Variations are serve it over tortilla chips with cheese or french fries.
When I first moved out on my own my grocery budget for the month was $100. I would buy the family size of chicken and hamburger, then split it up into single servings and wrap in freezer wrap and bags. It is cheaper to buy on bulk and on sale. Vegetables are also very cheap. Buy veggies for stirfries and serve with rice. All you need is soy sauce, corn starch for thickener, and garlic. The garlic is also handy for spicing up a can of tomato sauce and serving with pasta. The cans of Hunt's are cheaper than the jars of Ragu or Prego. You can also buy a jar of pesto. A little bit goes a long way when tossed with pasta.
Canned soup and Ramen noodles are also cheap meals. My husband likes to scramble eggs and put them in the Ramen noodles. I guess it gives variety.
Hope some of those help you out.

I hope this doesn't gross anyone out, but I've found mac & cheese with a bit of pasta sauce mixed in after the M & C is done makes for a absolultely wonderful flavor. Cheesey and yet flavorful. I still to this day mix in some pasta sauce with my mac & cheese when I get the urge.

Learn to love the potato, and learn the many many ways to cook the potato. At ten pounds for dollar, it's way cheaper than ramen, and probably a little healthier.

Baked potatoes (can be done in the microwave)
mashed potatoes,
hashed browns,
potato wedges (just like french fries, except not quite as good),
scalloped,
potato soup
potatoes IN soup
potato pancakes
potato salad

And if you make a lot of something, I like to freeze it directly into a zip lock bag. It's easier to defrost, and makes a convenient one serving.

Also, I've found that buying veggies at a farmers market is a great deal cheaper than buying them at the grocery store.

Don't buy anything unless it's on sale.

Drink more water.

Since pasta is so easy, but can get boring pretty quickly, you can try this thing I made. It is like a baked spaghetti(or whatever noodles you got) type thing. Just put sauce, cooked noodles, cheese, and an assortment of vegetables, spices, and possibly chicken if you want it together in a oven safe container.

Make sure there is plenty of cheese so when it melts if kind of holds it all together.

It is surprising good and quick and can take a variety of different flavors depending on what you put in it.