When you’re a student who lives in a dorm, eating healthy in your own room is a rarity. Students either load up on the dining hall meals, junk food, or spend an arm and a leg going out to eat each night. This makes cooking a decent meal in a dorm room quite the challenge, especially one that is halfway healthy.
The first step to remedy this is to buy a slow cooker right this second. My personal savior has been my Crockpot. The Crockpot is a slow cooker that saves me lots of time and money along with the frustration of cooking. With my favorite recipes, the most work that is required is maybe browning the ground beef before throwing it into the slow cooker. Just be mindful to drain the extra grease off before adding the ground beef to your new food creation.
I’m going to share a few of my recipes for the slow cooker that are great go-to meals on chilly November days:
First is my favorite, vegetable beef soup.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb of ground beef
- 2 cups of beef broth
- 1 can of diced tomatoes (drained)
- 1 can of corn (drained)
- 1 can of green beans (drained) — (I like the French cut)
- 1 can of diced potatoes (drained)
- 1 can of peas (drained)
- 1 beef bouillon cube (optional)
Steps:
- Before you add anything to the slow cooker, you need to brown your ground beef in a skillet.
- Once that is done, add everything to the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
This recipe will give you about 6 servings worth, and if you buy all store brand like I did, the total cost will only be about $8.00!
Chili Mac is another easy and filling recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of macaroni noodles
- 2 cans of chili beans
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 2 cans of crushed tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups of beef broth
- 1 lb of ground beef
- Hot sauce
Steps:
- Before you add anything to the slow cooker, you need to brown your ground beef in a skillet.
- Once that is done, add everything but the noodles to the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
- Add the noodles to the slow cooker 15-20 minutes before finishing.
- Add some hot sauce for a little extra heat!
Enjoy by yourself for about six meals, or share with others for about 2! I bought store brand for everything, and the total cost was about $7.00.
Taco Soup is a fun recipe to give a try!
Ingredients:
- Shredded cheese and sour cream to top (optional)
- 1 packet of taco seasoning
- 1 packet of dry ranch dressing mix
- 1 can of white hominy
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 1 can of black beans
- 1 can of pinto beans
- 1 can of corn
- 1 lb of ground beef
Steps:
- Before you add anything to the slow cooker, brown your ground beef in a skillet.
- Once that is done, add everything to the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
Yield: about 6 servings. Once again, I bought store brand for everything, and the cost came out to about $9.00!
All of these meals can be made in a slow cooker that cooks all day where you can put it on before you go to class in the morning, and it will be ready for you once you get back in the evening! These are super cheap and healthy meals for busy college students!
My fellow HC/Murray State writer Simon wrote an article on how to grocery shop as a college student, so feel free to check that out as well!
Happy eating!