When living by yourself in college, it can be really hard to find time to make food that you will actually like and want to eat. Well, I have a few tips and ideas for you for when you’re stumped on what to eat for the week.
1. Frozen Veggies and Fried Rice
This is always my go to when it comes to meals at school. Everything just stays in the freezer, and it takes about 5 minutes to heat up in a pan with a little bit of oil. If you have the time, you can always cook a protein (like shrimp or chicken) to add in once the rice and veggies are cooked.
2. Premade Salads
Now I’m not talking about the ones that you buy prepackaged that are $8. Go to the supermarket and buy your favorite salad ingredients and cut them all up at once. Portion them out into tupperware and leave them in the fridge for a grab and go meal. If you want to add things like croutons and avocado, I’d recommend saving those until you take the salad out of the fridge because they can go a little soft if they sit in there. Also save dressing for the end too!
3. Overnight Oats
These are super easy, because all you need to do is put instant oats and your favorite type of milk (dairy or not) mixed together in the fridge right before you go to bed. Then when you wake up, you have an easy and healthy breakfast ready to go. Feel free to top with your favorite fruit and granola to make a complete breakfast. Not an oat person? This works with chia seeds too!
4. Smoothie Packs
This is one of my favorite things to do at the beginning of the week so that I have smoothies ready to blend whenever I want. Start with a few ziplock bags (as many as you want smoothies for). Pick your favorite fruits and greens and portion them out and put them in the bags. That way, all you have to do is dump the bag into a blender, add your milk or juice of choice to the blender and then you’ll have a breakfast in no time.
5. Snack Packs
When it comes to having classes from 12:30pm to dinner time, it can be hard to not spend money at a vending machine in between classes. My tip is to make a snack and bring it with you, so that it will be able to hold you over and you will not have to spend more money than needed. I usually do a few pieces of cheese, some nuts, a type of cured meat like sopressata or prosciutto and a bunch of pretzel chips. These can last in the fridge for about 2-3 days too, so you can make a bunch ahead of time.