Many students have a hard time transitioning from high school to college life. The days they could look forward to a home-cooked every evening after a long day are long gone. They quickly realize that they now have to be responsible for preparing their meals.
While eating at fast foods, joints may seem convenient the first few weeks of college, eating the same foods day in and out soon becomes tiring and also expensive. At this point, many students realize they now have to start preparing their meals to save money.
Before taking upon cooking, ensure you have sourced your ingredients in bulk. You can make a monthly budget and buy food in bulk as it will suit your budget lifestyle. For fresh foods, you can take advantage of the weekly farmers market near your college.
Below are some of the budget-friendly meals you can make in your dorm room.
Ramen Noodles
It is one of the most common foods that students partake. Besides being cheap to buy, it is easy to cook. No experience in the kitchen department is needed to cook noodles. Most noodles come with cooking instructions on the packaging. All you have to do is boil some water in a pan, add the packaged seasonings, and throw it in your noodles.
In a few minutes, your noodles should be ready. To spice up your meal, you can add some vegetables like peas, broccoli, scallions, and even some eggs. In most cases, such a meal will cost you approximately five dollars or less to make.
Stir-Fried Chicken Breast with Vegetables
If you crave some white meat and a healthy meal at that, chicken breast is your go-to meal. Being a tender part of a chicken, preparing chicken breast, will not take much of your time. You can either use broccoli, cauliflower, French beans, snow peas, green beans, or even asparagus for the vegetables. To make your meal more colorful, you can add some yellow and red bell peppers and carrots. Start by frying your chicken breast over hot oil with garlic.
After a few minutes of frying, you gradually add your vegetables, and when the meal is almost ready, you can sprinkle some sesame seeds to make your food more appealing. To make the meal appeal to your taste, you can add seasonings of your choice. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle in college doesn’t always have to be expensive. The cost of making this meal is approximately eight dollars.
Mac and Cheese
Who doesn’t love mac and cheese? This food is a fan favorite among many Americans, and cheese is the standard go-to meals for people feeling too lazy to cook. There are those days one will feel too exhausted to make preparations for a decent meal. Mac and cheese is a meal that can be ready in a few minutes. And the best part is that you don’t have to switch on your electric cooker to prepare this meal as you can use your microwave to make it.
Put your macaroni in a microwavable bowl, add water, your seasonings of choice. Microwave the mixture until the water evaporates. Remove your meal from the microwave and add grated cheddar cheese with some milk. Microwave again for another minute for the cheese and milk to form a creamy sauce. Once this process is complete, your meal is ready. The approximate budget for this meal is five dollars.
Fried Rice
Who doesn’t love a hot bowl of fried rice? Well, fried rice is one of the simplest dishes to make. Take a break from your studies and get professionals like pay someone to do your assignment Australia to work on assignments as you learn to cook. All you need to make your fried rice is cooked rice, steamed vegetables like broccoli or peas, bell peppers, carrots, eggs, and seasonings.
Start by heating your oiled pan, add your onions and garlic; when the onions are translucent, add your steamed vegetables, carrots, and bell peppers. After two minutes, add beaten eggs and scramble the mixture. Follow up with the precooked rice and pour soy source to the mix, and your meal should be ready in a few minutes. The average budget for this meal is ten dollars.
Sandwiches
If you are contemplating whether sandwiches can be considered as dinner or lunch meals, let me assure you that once you are in college, sandwiches will be part of your meals. We have all made a sandwich at one point in our life. Bread is the main ingredient while making a sandwich. Depending on your taste, you can personalize your lunch with fillings of your choice.
The most common fillings include ham, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, chicken strips, sausages, and even beef strips. To make your sandwich, grill your bread with your favorite spread and then add your fillings.
While cooking may seem intimidating for a total newbie, cooking is a necessary skill to suit your college lifestyle. You will probably burn the food and eat uncooked food in the first few months, but once you grasp cooking, you will be glad you decided to take upon cooking. If you are worried about where to start, Google, YouTube, and Pinterest will come in handy to guide you on your meal’s recipes.
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