I never appreciated the convenience of the dining commons while I was a freshman. Upperclassmen would constantly tell me how much I’d miss the DC, but I’d brush it away with the excitement of cooking for myself in my apartment. I was convinced that I would have time to meal prep and make lots of new, tasty dishes.
Now that I actually do live in an apartment, I have to face the reality: I don’t want to cook, ever. Cooking is time-consuming and buying ingredients for fancy meals can quickly get expensive. I rely on a couple go-to meals to get me through the week without breaking the budget or taking up too much time.
Pasta
My housemate and I probably make pasta more often than any other food. All you need is your preferred kind of pasta and sauce. If you want to be fancy, you can make your own pasta sauce. I hate cooking, and I’m lazy, so I get premade, store-bought sauce.
That’s basically only two ingredients, but a jar of pasta sauce and a box of pasta can make up to four meals. I usually add garlic powder to the pasta sauce, to add a little bit of extra flavor, and adding broccoli or spinach also helps make the meal healthier and more customizable.
Burritos and quesadillas
Burritos and quesadillas are super easy because all you need are tortillas, beans, and cheese, plus any protein or vegetables you want to add. On days I’m feeling especially lazy, I buy seven-layer bean dip from the store, put it in a tortilla, and call it a burrito. It requires almost no effort, and it could taste worse.
Grilled Cheeses
I eat a grilled cheese almost every day because all it requires is bread and cheese. I used to make grilled cheeses in the microwave which, looking back, feels like my peak laziness. I’ve since learned that buttering your bread and cooking your grilled cheese on the stove makes it taste so much better.
If you’re not feeling any of these recipes, there are websites like Supercook where you can input whatever ingredients you already have, and it will provide tons of recipes ranging in difficulty and type of cuisine. And when worst comes to worst, you can always just by some frozen meals. Happy cooking….or in this case, not cooking!
Cover image source: Pexels