As a college student, you may be shocked when I tell you I have more than condiments and beverages in my refrigerator. However, being a busy person who likes to cook means keeping my fridge stocked with food to last me through my weeks.
Recently, thanks to social media such as Instagram and TikTok, I have been on a meal prep kick. Since I am an education major, I spend most of my days in clinical experiences, or I am at work, which means I have no time to make lunch during the week. I also have several night classes, so it’s simply not feasible to cook every day and night of the week. Unfortunately, I also get sick of eating the same item more than a couple of times a week, so I must keep versatile ingredients to switch my weekly meals up.
For breakfast, my go-to’s are hard-boiled eggs or protein yogurt cups with protein granola. I typically wake up around 4:30 am for clinical, and the last thing I want to do is make a huge breakfast. With eggs, I can boil a bunch at the beginning of the week, and then rotate them into my breakfast and snack rotations, and they are excellent to throw on a salad for added protein. You may sense a theme, but this semester I learned that protein is life-changing to remaining satisfied during such long days. I am also a big ALDI shopper, so my favorite kind of yogurt is their Mixed Berry Protein Greek Yogurt Cups paired with their Oats and Honey Protein Granola.
When it’s time for lunch, I love making pasta or chicken. I typically make a large batch of pasta at the beginning of the week, usually with a protein source added, but you can even use chickpea pasta for the protein- I think it doesn’t taste much different than regular pasta, and for a few dollars more, your belly will remain full. It is easy to pop in the teachers’ lounge microwave to reheat during my long days. Chicken is nice because not only is it a healthy, lean meat, but there are several ways you can change it up to taste different. My favorite ways to make it are to coat it in lemon pepper seasoning and grill it on my George Foreman, or coat it in Italian-inspired herbs and bake it (my mom’s recipe that came with me to college). The options are endless when it comes time to eat it, but my favorites are adding it to salads, dicing it and putting it in a pita as a sandwich, or simply eating it alone. The best part about the chicken is that I typically buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts, then slice them in half vertically, so I get four perfectly portioned servings out of just two chicken breasts.
For dinner, recently, I have been into any form of Crockpot meal, and tortillas have been a staple. Crockpot meals are great for the times I have night classes, because not only can dinner cook while I’m away, but also, they typically make plenty of freezable leftovers to eat later in the week or semester. I get most of my inspiration from TikTok, but I have made recipes from chicken tacos, to potato soup, to garlic butter steak bites. The options are endless. Tortillas have become a recent essential of mine. I discovered their versatility when trying to use up a pack of 20, and they are great for anything from taco shells, to wraps, to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, to even pizzas. I don’t remember the last time I bought a frozen pizza because I can top a tortilla with some leftover marinara sauce and cheese, and have dinner piping hot out of the oven in five minutes.
For snacks, I try to keep fresh fruit like apples, strawberries, and bananas on hand. If I am out, I will have hard-boiled eggs, as mentioned above, or Chocolate Brownie Clif Bars and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Larabars are great at satisfying my mid-afternoon sweet tooth.
While it may be difficult, the best advice I can recommend to avoid the condiment-only fridge is to plan your meals out well in advance. It has tremendously helped me to avoid impulse purchases when grocery shopping, spend less money on eating out, and eat healthier overall.