Quick and cheap cooking ideas for college students?

[Bakemehappy]

Would you guys recommend any sauce that could go well with the cauliflower? Something that would not require a few ingredients and it quite easy to pull off. For a college student I think they will appreciate something store bought -- is this a good idea if you are a bit under your budget?

 

[winterybella]

If you have a little more time but want REALLY simple take a couple of pieces of chicken place in a baking tray surround with a few small potatoes, slices of onion, pepper [anything you fancy really] sprinkle with oil and a little pepper / salt / [garlic if you fancy - but not too much] and put it in the oven for about an hour. About as easy as it gets really and it looks so impressive.

I would definitely go with chicken breasts if that falls in the cheap bracket. It definitely is quick and a lot of times if I want to be out of the kitchen in a hurry, I'll pan sear the chicken with any combination of spices. In no time you have some pan seared chicken and you add a salad easy peasy.

Pan searing in my books is lightly oiling the pan and leaving the temperature quite high before adding the meat. Some people like to add butter to the oil but I am no big fan of butter although it adds great flavor sometimes. Meanwhile I am adding some minced garlic, thyme, garlic salt pepper (if more is needed as I would have already seasoned my breast well) and like I suggested before whatever tickles your fancy. Once the meat hits that hot oil it's cooked in no time. In the oven it's going to be much longer for sure.

 

[cookwaresets]

I've always made it with flour. That runny paste has to be thin with no lumps in to start off with, but if you stir constantly as the milk comes back to the boil, there has never been an issue with it going lumpy. I can't explain why, but it never did.

Hi morning glory,
Yes I agree, a runny paste well mixed until the flour is totally mixed in. When the paste is to thick you will get lumps in your white sauce.

 

[MyExWasAChef]

When I was in college I ate a lot of french toast, scrambled eggs with tomatoes and garlic, fried rice with vegetables and anything I can stir up, mix or fry. It's pretty good when you have a lot of leftovers from the night before. I make a lot of mushroom and vegetable stir-fry because I wanted a healthier lifestyle. Don't go buying a lot of canned goods if you don't want to get cancer early. LOL.

 

[OhioTom76]

Another thing that comes to mind is that places like Amazon sell sets of food portion trays with lids - they could possibly make their meals in advance for the following week, so they only have to cook them at once and can just warm them up in the microwave as needed. In particular, I've noticed a lot of bodybuilders doing this on Youtube, they will buy some chicken breasts in bulk from their local butcher, then marinate them and throw them all on the grill at once. Then they will assemble them into these portion containers with something like baked sweet potatoes, and perhaps a topping like some salsa or some roasted vegetables. In fact, one of the other benefits they mentioned about using these trays is that due to their size, no matter what you put in there it's generally only going to be around 300-350 calories. Of course if you fill the whole tray with something like mayonnaise, that's not going to be the case, but I'm talking stuff like pasta or a sandwich, etc...