Tired of eating ramen noodles out of a Styrofoam cup again? I know as college students we are always way too busy or way too lazy to cook dinner for ourselves. Plus, cooking can get pricey and let’s be honest, we are all broke college kids. I used to feel that way too, but slowly I have found cheap, easy, and quick recipes that are college approved. These recipes are all fairly low cost and require a pretty low skill level. So, let’s get started.
#1: Homemade Mac n Cheese
What you will need:
1 box of elbow macaroni
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons of butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups shredded cheese of your choice
4 cups water
Directions:
- Cook the elbow macaroni according to directions on box then drain and return to pot.
- Add butter, salt, heavy whipping cream, and begin to stir.
- Add cheese slowly adding more cheese as it melts. Continue stirring until all cheese is melted.
#2: Pesto Pasta
What you will need:
1 cup of fresh pesto (I prefer Trader Joe’s but any fresh pesto will do)
1 lb pasta of your choice
¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese
Directions:
- Cook pasta according directions on box. (Make sure to salt water first.) Then, drain pasta and return to pot. Reserve about a cup of pasta water.
- Mix pesto in with the pasta stirring slowly.
- Add pasta water little by little to help mix pesto evenly.
- Add parmesan cheese to taste.
- Enjoy!
#3 Veggie Stir Fry
What you will need:
1 package of stir fry vegetables (fresh or frozen)
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cups cooked brown or white rice
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Add olive oil to pan and turn stove to medium/high heat
- Mince garlic
- Add garlic to oil and stir. Be careful to not burn the garlic!
- When the oil is heated add your veggies stirring frequently
- Continue stirring veggies for about 15-20 minutes until soft
- Place cooked rice in a bowl and top with veggies
So there you have it! Three quick and easy meals that are also super low cost. My biggest piece of advice when cooking is to take things one by one. Don’t try and cook multiple things at once because that’s when you get forget about something and don’t realize until it is way too late. And by too late I mean too late as in your whole apartment is filled with smoke and the fire department is already on their way. Well on that note, happy cooking and good luck!