School is tiring enough on its own; adding in independence and the need to cook for yourself, students barely have enough energy to even bother feeding themselves. Personally when I have found myself too tired to cook, I’ll instead settle for snacks or fruits in lieu of meals. What I often do is make a big enough of meal to last me until the next day, that way I can rely on leftovers and don’t have to cook too often. Lucky for me, a lot of the recipes I know don’t involve the stove or actual cooking, more so a lot of knife work and assemblage or mixing.
Below are just some of the meals I make myself that don’t take me long to make and are actually appetizing to eat.
Bean Salad
Ingredients: kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, canned corn, cilantro, onion, lime juice, tortilla chips
Time: 10-12 minutes
This is a fairly simple meal to make, and according to the friend who gave me the recipe, vegan as well. It requires three types of beans mixed with diced onion, canned corn, and minced cilantro. I usually get a can of tri-blend beans and add half a can of corn into the mixture, but this salad is really about the maker’s preference. Perhaps you enjoy less corn to the beans, or an equal amount, either way, the measurements are really up to you, but I would strive for a good equal measure of all ingredients. This quick-to-make salad pairs well with tortilla chips and is even better with lime juice and some olive or avocado oil.
Tuna Salad
Ingredients: canned tuna, cilantro, onion, lime juice
Time: Less than 10 minutes
Similar to the bean salad, but not exactly, this simple meal is a delightful bite of food. The canned tuna I prefer to use is the one stored in water, instead of oil, because it’s easier to drain. Then, I add diced onion and minced cilantro to the tuna, mix it together, add lime juice, and maybe a little bit of salt. Although I have paired it with tortilla chips, I don’t always eat it with chips, sometimes I just eat it as is.
Guacamole Tacos
Ingredients: avocado, tomato, onion, tortillas
Time: 10 minutes
Before avocado toast was ever a thing, I ate guacamole tacos. It’s a fond childhood meal of mine. All you need to do is slice an avocado into cubes, so that it’s easier to mix, and add diced onion and tomato to make guacamole. Warm up a tortilla and spread your guac, sprinkle some salt, and voila! You have yourself an appetizing meal. If tacos aren’t your thing, you can always eat it with tortilla chips. Also, feel free to add a little lime to your guac if you feel like it.
(I know I’ve mentioned lime juice a lot, but I honestly feel like it makes the difference in these meals. Then again, my mother would say otherwise but who’s to say who’s right?
Me. I’m the one that’s right.)
BLT
Ingredients: bacon, lettuce, tomato, bread
Time: 10-15 minutes
The hardest part about this meal is cooking the bacon. If you’re like me and you’re scared you’ll burn your bacon, don’t simultaneously try slicing the tomato into slices or even toasting your bread. Just pay attention to the bacon and make sure it’s cooked to your preference, whether that be super crispy or barely crispy, and set the bacon on top of a napkin to soak up some of that extra grease. Then, toast your bread, slice your tomatoes, and cut your lettuce. For a little extra flavor, feel free to spread mayonnaise on the bread or even add avocado. Altogether, the BLT is a simple but yummy meal.
Cold Pasta
Ingredients: rotini pasta, red onion, cherry tomatoes, sliced black olives, Italian dressing
Time: About 30 minutes
While this meal takes the most time to make, it is still fairly easy since the most time-consuming part of the recipe is boiling the pasta. While I said rotini pasta, feel free to use a different pasta type (so long as it isn’t long pasta like spaghetti or fettuccine). As the pasta cooks, get to cutting up your cherry tomatoes into halves, or quarters if you feel halves are still too big, and dice a good amount of red onion. In a container or bowl big enough to store the pasta and its accompanying ingredients, empty your chopped cherry tomatoes and red onion. For the sliced black olives, I usually get the canned ones, so all I have to do is open the can, pour out the stored juice, and pour the slices with the tomatoes and onion. Once your pasta is cooked to your preference (I prefer my pasta to be firm enough not to break easily by a fork, but still soft enough to eat), drain the water and mix the pasta into the ingredients already in the bowl. After everything is properly mixed, add the Italian dressing. While not much dressing is needed, I sometimes add more just to give it a little extra zest, but it’s better to start off with a small amount just in case. You do not want to make the pasta unpalatable if you find the dressing to be too overpowering.
I’ll admit, these aren’t the most inspired of recipes, but all the creative ones take time, which is the opposite of this list’s purpose. Still, I’ve always been of the opinion that simple is best, and these meals are certainly the best when you take into account the small amount of time it takes to make them.