What should I make for dinner?

[Aqualung]

I am a college student who no longer relies on the cafeteria for dinner. :cover: Unfortunately for me, I grew up in a family where we basically recycled the same four dinner ideas every week, so I don't really have a vast library of ideas to draw upon. What are some of your favourite easy-to-cook don't-take-many-ingredients dinners or entres? YOu don't have to post the entire recipe - a link to a recipe would suffice. :drool:

 

[jonny]

Visit the frozen food section and fill up your shopping cart.

"Cooking for one" doesn't really make much sense financially. You really end up wasting a lot of food. It either goes bad before you can eat it, or you end up cooking on one day and eating the same thing for an entire week. If you don't eat it fast enough, you end up throwing it out anyway.

If I want a meal that isn't out of the freezer, I usually go out.

 

[Quagmire]

You can never go wrong with pancakes.
*sits and waits for my proslytising infraction*

 

[Aqualung]

Visit the frozen food section and fill up your shopping cart.

"Cooking for one" doesn't really make much sense financially. You really end up wasting a lot of food. It either goes bad before you can eat it, or you end up cooking on one day and eating the same thing for an entire week. If you don't eat it fast enough, you end up throwing it out anyway.

If I want a meal that isn't out of the freezer, I usually go out.

Yeah, but frozen dinners cost like five bucks a pop. I could buy pounds of beans and rice for that much and eat for months. It wouldn't taste good, though...

 

[MaddLlama]

Chicken breasts stuffed with couscous. Take a whole boneless chicken breast and slice the thickest part from the side, about 3/4 through. Make flavored couscous, throw in some garlic and scallions, stuff chicken breast, and cook in 1tsp olive oil in pan, about 6 minutes each side. Eat with remaining couscous on the side
^_^

Stir fry's are good also, since you can mix and match what you want, and buy only the veggies and meat you need (and you can freeze the leftover meat for later). Shake & Bake is awesome too.

 

[Comet]

There is a ton of stuff you can make for cheap! Since you are in college and not using the cafeteria, I take it you are in a dorm? Do you have a stove, microwave, etc???

They make flavored rice packs now. You just stick them in the microwave and BAM! Fry up some chicken or something and you'll have "better than cafeteria" food for a couple of meals with that!

They also make cheap stews and stuff that aren't frozen any more. You just microwave them, etc....

Or my cheap favorite: TACOS!

 

[lunamoth]

Comet took my suggestion: tacos. Or burritos, and anything stuffed into a corn or flour wrap. White rice on the side. Don't forget the avacados in season!

Another good one is the "big salad." Like the tacos, put in what you like, always keep some cooked chicken or ham or something around to thow in, and some shredded cheese. Yum. :drool:

 

[jonny]

Yeah, but frozen dinners cost like five bucks a pop. I could buy pounds of beans and rice for that much and eat for months. It wouldn't taste good, though...

In my experience, with all the perishable food that gets thrown away it turns out to be about the same amount. You can get some dinners for around $3 or so. Frozen burritos are pretty cheap (and delicious) too!

 

[FFH]

I ordered a nice fry slicer off Amazon.com for about 10 bucks..

All you need is a large pot of vegetable oil, potatos (peeled or unpeeled) fry until golden brown (on 7 burner setting, adjust if they cook too fast, the right heat setting should take about 20 minutes) and serve with fry sauce (ketchup, mayonaise and lemon juice mixed up together, lemon juice optional)...

Careful when working with oil, it's highly flammable and will catch fire spontaneously in the pot if heat is too high and oil level is too low...

Don't let the oil in the pot get too low and use a LARGE pot so the oil can't splash onto the burner and flame up.

FRY SLICER AMAZON LINK

Progressive International Vegetable/French Fry Cutter
by Progressive International

Buy new: $12.99 $11.49
15 Used & new from $6.26
Comes with two slicers/dicers (thick or thin)

www.Target.com sells the same one, but only on their website..

TARGET FRY SLICER LINK

 

[Willamena]

Instant fried rice. Stir some veggies and/or meat bits in a pan with a bit of olive oil until veggies are soft. Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce and one of olive oil, some pepper and ginger powder, stir. Add a cup of cooked rice. Stir it all together, and instant fried rice.

 

[Panda]

Noodles and soy sauce, nothing else that is it. Best food in the world

 

[Aqualung]

Thanks, guys, for all the great suggestions so far! I think I'll just try these one at a time.

 

[methylatedghosts]

Don't cook for one... cook for 3 and you have lunch and dinner sorted for the next day too!

Stir-fry veges - esp ones in season because they're cheaper then and put on rice.

Bulk the veges out with cheap things like beans and taters.

Add a few spices or pre-mixed flavour sachets or the like and you have a dinner that really isn't too shabby.

You might be sick of stir-fry after a month or so but the money you have saved by not buying frozen dinners/eating out can buy you a nice juicy steak every now and then!

 

[methylatedghosts]

Another idea:

Noodles

Tuna/salmon (canned with some kinda flavour is best)

add tuna to cooked noodles.

add soy sauce.

sweet as!

 

[Panda]

Another idea:

Noodles

Tuna/salmon (canned with some kinda flavour is best)

add tuna to cooked noodles.

add soy sauce.

sweet as!

*gasp* how dare you ruin good noodles with fish

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Methylatedghosts took my idea...........experiment with leftovers, and you'll save big bucks while enjoying a variety of meals.

Meal #1) Have a protein source as your centerpiece for the meal, whether it's meat, soy, or another legume - but something that can be reheated again. Serve only a quarter of the protein with your meal and veggies. Divide the centerpiece protein into three already-cooked servings and store in the fridge.

Meal #2) Make one serving of the protein in a casserole.

Meal #3) Toss one protein serving in a delicious salad.

Meal #4) Use last protein serving in either a stew, soup, or chowder with potatoes, carrots, celery, some chicken/veggie stock............or if you can, experiment with topping it on a new kind of pizza. What do you say to a pizza with lamb and mint sauce or a pizza topped with seitan, caramelized onions, and shredded carrots?

These kinds of leftover meals take a little planning, but the only meal that would take a little bit of time to prepare is the first meal. Usually, I can whip up the other meals in less than 20 minutes. And methylatedghosts is absolutely correct - leftovers give you other options for lunches, too, in the following days.

Just remember to label and to keep a store of plastic food storage bins to keep the leftovers.

Or, if nothing else fails, invest in a CrockPot and a recipe book for slow-cookers. Ours has saved my day a number of times. :yes:




Peace,
Mystic

 

[Valjean]

For a quick, easy meal, take a can of chili beans, a can of corn (maize) and a can of mixed vegetables. Pour into bowl, eat. For you gourmets, you might add some margerine &/or spices, maybe even microwave it.

 

[SoyLeche]

Visit the frozen food section and fill up your shopping cart.

"Cooking for one" doesn't really make much sense financially. You really end up wasting a lot of food. It either goes bad before you can eat it, or you end up cooking on one day and eating the same thing for an entire week. If you don't eat it fast enough, you end up throwing it out anyway.

If I want a meal that isn't out of the freezer, I usually go out.

Prepare a decent amount of food and then freeze it in single serving packages (zip top freezer bags are great for the freezing). It may take some up-front investment to get yourself a variety, but then you only need to restock a meal or two per week. Freeze the bags on a sheet pan and they will end up in a better "stacking" shape.

Some favorites:

Taco soup:
hamburger (browned)
tomato juice
corn
pinto beans
taco seasoning
onion
(really, anything "taco"y that you want to throw in)

Serve over fritos corn chips with sour cream and cheese


Shepherd's pie:
hamburger (browned)
green beans
tomato soup (combine these together, put in a baking dish)
Cover with mashed potatos (the instant kind works just fine for this - the Potato Pearls from the dry pack cannery, even better)
cheese

Bake at about 350 for 20-30 minutes (this one won't freeze as well in zip top bags - you'll have to find some freezer friendly tupperware)

Curry:
You can find a curry sauce mix in the ethinc food isle at the grocery store (or, at least I've found it in Virginia and Utah, I would imagine it's pretty much everywhere). It kinda looks like a chocolate bar when you open it up. Follow the directions on the box (we usually put in carrots, celery, green peppers, onions, and chicken).

On a blog my wife reads there was a recipe for burritos that can be frozen - I'll see if I can find it (this recipe was huge - it makes 24 burritos, I think).

There's always your basic hamburger/tomato sauce/elbow macaroni stuff. Add whatever sounds good at the time (I usually add corn, tomatoes, onions, and probably more that I can't think of at the moment).

Canned/bottled pasta sauce works pretty well if you aren't making a whole lot. Cook up some noodles and just poor in the already prepared sauce. Add some kind of meat - or anything else you really want.

I've got some more, if you want them, but they will require more work (and I'll have to look up the recipes cuz I don't have them memorized). Let me know.

 

[SoyLeche]

I ordered a nice fry slicer off Amazon.com for about 10 bucks..

All you need is a large pot of vegetable oil, potatos (peeled or unpeeled) fry until golden brown (on 7 burner setting, adjust if they cook too fast, the right heat setting should take about 20 minutes) and serve with fry sauce (ketchup, mayonaise and lemon juice mixed up together, lemon juice optional)...

Careful when working with oil, it's highly flammable and will catch fire spontaneously in the pot if heat is too high and oil level is too low...

Don't let the oil in the pot get too low and use a LARGE pot so the oil can't splash onto the burner and flame up.

FRY SLICER AMAZON LINK

Progressive International Vegetable/French Fry Cutter
by Progressive International

Buy new: $12.99 $11.49
15 Used & new from $6.26
Comes with two slicers/dicers (thick or thin)

www.Target.com sells the same one, but only on their website..

TARGET FRY SLICER LINK

I have a mandolin that I prefer to something like this. Performs the same basic function, but you are less restricted in the size of things you can put through it.

 

[dawny0826]

I know it's packed with sodium but when I'm in a hurry...I like the Chicken Helper, Chicken Fried Rice. I skip adding the egg and make it with the box of Chicken Helper and two packages or cans of chicken breast. Fast and easy and I think it tastes good.