During my first year at UTSA, I lived on campus, and I always found myself either running to the cafe or going to Chick-fil-a for most of my meals. I’ve always loved cooking for myself, family or friends, so when I came to college, it was a bit of a shock, always having to eat something quickly and easily. Once the pandemic started, I moved back home for a few months, and that’s when I really got into cooking new things. I was always home trying new and easy recipes, and now I’m here to share some of those with you. These are perfect for college students who are always busy because I know it can be hard to find time to cook, even when grabbing something from a restaurant might be a tempting and easier solution.
Pasta
This recipe is definitely one of the easiest you can make for yourself when you’re especially busy. All you need is a pot of water, pasta, sauce in a jar, and whatever spices you want to add to your sauce. Using different spices will help elevate your pasta sauce from boring to amazing. You can also add protein to the pasta to make it more of a hearty meal, my favorite to add is chicken sausage!
Rice Bowl with Vegetables and Protein
This is one of my most favorite things to cook because it’s easy and delicious! All you need is any rice of your choice (I use Trader Joe’s microwaveable brown rice), veggies like bell peppers, broccolini, zucchini, kale greens, and a protein of your choice. All you need to do is cook the rice, veggies, and protein and mix it all up in a bowl! You can top it off with hot sauce or even soy sauce to add some more flavor to it!
Air Fried Salmon with Vegetables
One of the best investments I’ve made was buying my air fryer this past year. I’ve used it over a hundred times already. An easy recipe for college students is to air fry salmon with veggies like asparagus and carrots. All you have to do is season your salmon and veggies and pop them in your air fryer, and it does all the work for you and has minimal cleanup!
All of these recipes are so easy to make and take less than 20 minutes to cook. You don’t have to be a chef to cook something amazing, all you need is a few minutes and a couple of ingredients, and you have yourself an amazing meal. Of course, with all these recipes, you can adjust them to your liking and preferences. Happy cooking!