Does anyone have any recommendations for what to eat when you live on your own?
I'm constantly poor because I can't cook so I eat out a lot and I'm sick of
McDonald's dollar menu at this point
I have a rice cooker/steamer thing and microwave to work with though! Any
suggestions?
Hm...maybe you should learn how to cook. That would be really good because if
you cook things, it will be cheaper. Then again, there's always ramen but that
would get boring after a while. Try to cook things that'll keep you full. Good
luck! Rice is rather filling...
if you are in the UK, go to a nearby Tesco's grab pizza sets, comes in 3 for the
price for 1 at 2.50 or 3 pounds.
or the nearby Sparx 24 hour (7 eleven's equal of UK) and they have the same
thing. It is worthwhile.
Well we all need food! And you can't live off of rice or ramen alone! (although
many would like to )
My suggestions are #1 Learn how to cook! It's not as
hard as it seems, you don't have to be like, gourmet or anything like that o-o
just make food that you like to eat. #2 If you're pressed for money, break out
the coupons and start clipping away! #3 invest in a one burner electric range,
it's the same thing that's on a stove top only it plugs into the wall, that way
you have something else besides a microwave to cook with ^^
If you have a rice steamer, pick up some curry ^^ I recommend S&B Golden
Curry, and I believe they have microwave directions on the box ^^ then you can
have yummy curry rice
What I've done a couple times is gone to a place like Chili's and order the
chips and salsa, which are bottomless. and you get water and ask for extra
lemon. take the sugar and the lemon and make your own lemonade. not much, but
it'll fill you up for about 3 -4 bucks.
Cooking is probably the best option... so quick, easy and cheap
recipes...
Don't you nead a pan and other things ?
There are easy recipes with eggs... and pasta is said to be an usual dish for
students. Eating bread makes also some quick meals (even if I suppose you aren't
in a country where bread is really cheap).
If you like eating fruits and recipes, it will make things easier for
you.
just cook some rice, grab some meat from a butcher like bbq pork, just heat that
and eat with rice, vary between meats, they cant be that possibly hard to cook
(i cant cook either ><") ..or get a relationship going and let them
cook for u!
Hmm... Whenever I was left living on my own I used to eat: a) custom-made
sandwiches (I love to improvise :P), b) French fries, with or without ketchup,
rinsed cheese or mayonnaise (spelling?) on them, c) Onigiri (Japanese rice
balls, very easy to prepare (at least my version, anyway ) - you
just boil the rice a little, add in whatever seasoning you like, make little
balls of it and let it cool off in the fridge for about half an hour before
eating), or d) canned fish (I know that sounds gross, but it's actually quite
tasty when you're hungry
foodtv.com is probably one of your best friends right now. For starters, if you
have a pan, you can cook pretty much anything and everything. All I have at my
apartment is a pot and a non-stick pan. Get some soy sauce, cooking oil,
salt/pepper and any meat you make will come out tasty and filling. You don't
even need to marinade, though it tastes better and is more tender if you do.
The first thing you should do is rinse the rice, it tastes better that way, and
then put in about 1:1 cups of rice to water. Start the rice cooker and then
begin on your meat and veggies. Your rice should finish about the same time you
finish making the others. =P
I start by cutting my meat into strips, then heating up my pan on medium
(non-stick you don't want to put on high or it might mess up the non-stick
stuff). Once the pan is heated evenly, put in about 2 Tablespoons of oil, maybe
more if you don't have a non-stick. Wait about 15 seconds for the oil to heat up
and then place your meat in. Cover the lid and wait about a few minutes and flip
over the meat and cover for another 5 minutes or so. If it is chicken, you'll
probably want to wait longer, around 5 before you turn it and 8 after turn it.
You can also pour in a little water before you close the lid to allow some steam
to cook it quicker. When it's almost done (you can just check by cutting into
the center of the thickest piece), pour in however much soy sauce you want and
stir the meat around. After about a minute of stirring, it should be ready.
For my greens, which I have rinsed and cut, I use the same pan and allow the
flavor from the meat to get into the vegetables. Pour in another 1-2T of oil and
let it heat up. After the oil is heated, put the vegetables into the pan and
stir it around a bit to spread the oil. Pour in a little water to help the
vegetables cook an cover the lid for about 3-4 minutes. Your vegetables will
turn darker than when you first put them in, which means they're pretty much
done. season it with some salt and you've got yourself a decent, cheap meal. Any
left overs just cover and store in the fridge. When you want to eat the
leftovers, microwave it in a microwave-safe container for about 2-3 minutes and
you've got yourself another quick meal.
Well I hope this helps. If you would like more help, you can message me through
AIM or send me an e-mail (both found in my profile page). I've got a few
home-brewed recipes since I started living on my own for college.
If you're on a budget and have low cooking skills then some simple college meal
plans include:
-Spam - just slice and pan fry
-Eggs - Scrambled, omelettes, sunny side-up, all are easy to make
-Hot Dogs - just boil in water
-Throw in the Oven Foods - Pizzas, fish/chicken foods, etc.
-Macoroni & Cheese
-Corn Beef Hash - Needs a can of corn beef pan cooked in whatever veggies you
like (diced potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, etc).
-Fried Rice? Add pre-cooked rice (day old will work), sliced cooked hot dogs
(into coin-shapes, or slanted), veggies (any of these in whichever combination
you like: canned corn, peas, diced carrots, sliced green onions, etc), and add
some scrambled eggs in a big pot. Turn to low heat to warm it up and slowly add
in some soy sauce (to the flavor and color you like) while mixing the entire
thing.
The quality of microwavable burritos is inversly proportional to thier price...
So go to your local Kroger or other grocery store and buy a bunch of whichever
brand of frozen burritos have the lowest price. If it cost more than a dollar
per burrito, you're getting the wrong stuff. Should be around 20-30 cents per
burrito. That's the good stuff.
Starting with buying or borrowing a cooking book would be a good one.
Meals that are easy to make are for example a tuna salad.
If you have some tortellini cook it in hot water then let it cool down.
Wash and chop your vegetables and mix them all together, now put in the
tortellini and tuna (preferably canned, because it's much easier) and add some
mayonnaise to it.
Another thing easy to cook with your ricecooker is rice with chinese sausage and
salted duck (which I don't know in english).
Just wash the rice and put it in the rice cooker, then put in the sausage and
the duck, press the button and voilà dinner is server.
Instead of the duck or sausage, you can also have salted fish, egg or something
else.
-pasta..really easy and cheap to make.
-use meat left overs for fried rice.
-san choi bao: fried minced meat+rice in lettuce leaves..
yeah..when you're frying stuff, make sure the pan is HOT before you put in the
oil (or anything for that matter). otherwise it'll be slower to cook, stick and
get that half mushed, half fried texture. but you'll have to work the food
pretty quickly..
The hardest part of living on your own (at least it is for me! Maybe not for
everyone else) is having to do your own washing up after cooking something! I
really hate doing that, especially since I often make a mess while preparing
food
Cereal is cheap. Usually things that are carbohydrates are filling but they can
get tiring fast. If you can manage to use a pan then you can cook food from the
grocery store which is actually cheaper than eating out. Learning to cook isn't
easy, but it isn't that hard as many others think. If you can cook you can
control what you get to eat and you can save money if you shop wisely.
Like many have said, the best investment would be to learn how to cook. Trust
me, it will save you A LOT of money! And whenever you cook, do more than one
portion, especially when you need to bring food to school/work instead of buying
at the cafeteria/restaurant. Just freeze the food after you've prepared it, and
then just heat it up with a microwave when you want to eat it.
Does anyone have any recommendations for what to eat when you live on your own? I'm constantly poor because I can't cook so I eat out a lot and I'm sick of McDonald's dollar menu at this point
I have a rice cooker/steamer thing and microwave to work with though! Any suggestions?
Ahh living all by yourself, welcome to the real world.
Since you have a rice cooker, I guess you should start first
by cooking some rice.
If you have not used a rice cooker before, just read
their manual and it should tell you exactly what to do.
For rice, you can try Kokuho Rose by Koda Farms.
Rice
Next just think of some dishes that goes good with
rice, look into cookbooks, the Foodnetwork website and also try asking
your parent for advice.
Here one dish that might sound fun, try to make some
sushi. You already got one ingredient:rice.
pot noodles!
Hm...maybe you should learn how to cook. That would be really good because if you cook things, it will be cheaper. Then again, there's always ramen but that would get boring after a while. Try to cook things that'll keep you full. Good luck! Rice is rather filling...
if you are in the UK, go to a nearby Tesco's grab pizza sets, comes in 3 for the price for 1 at 2.50 or 3 pounds.
or the nearby Sparx 24 hour (7 eleven's equal of UK) and they have the same thing. It is worthwhile.
Well we all need food! And you can't live off of rice or ramen alone! (although many would like to
)
My suggestions are #1 Learn how to cook! 
It's not as
hard as it seems, you don't have to be like, gourmet or anything like that o-o
just make food that you like to eat. #2 If you're pressed for money, break out
the coupons and start clipping away! #3 invest in a one burner electric range,
it's the same thing that's on a stove top only it plugs into the wall, that way
you have something else besides a microwave to cook with ^^
If you have a rice steamer, pick up some curry ^^ I recommend S&B Golden Curry, and I believe they have microwave directions on the box ^^ then you can have yummy curry rice
What I've done a couple times is gone to a place like Chili's and order the chips and salsa, which are bottomless. and you get water and ask for extra lemon. take the sugar and the lemon and make your own lemonade. not much, but it'll fill you up for about 3 -4 bucks.
Cooking is probably the best option... so quick, easy and cheap recipes...
Don't you nead a pan and other things ?
There are easy recipes with eggs... and pasta is said to be an usual dish for students. Eating bread makes also some quick meals (even if I suppose you aren't in a country where bread is really cheap).
If you like eating fruits and recipes, it will make things easier for you.
just cook some rice, grab some meat from a butcher like bbq pork, just heat that and eat with rice, vary between meats, they cant be that possibly hard to cook (i cant cook either ><") ..or get a relationship going and let them cook for u!
Hmm... Whenever I was left living on my own I used to eat: a) custom-made sandwiches (I love to improvise :P), b) French fries, with or without ketchup, rinsed cheese or mayonnaise (spelling?) on them, c) Onigiri (Japanese rice balls, very easy to prepare (at least my version, anyway
) - you
just boil the rice a little, add in whatever seasoning you like, make little
balls of it and let it cool off in the fridge for about half an hour before
eating), or d) canned fish (I know that sounds gross, but it's actually quite
tasty when you're hungry 
The most Inexpensive foods for a college student it would be EGGS.
rameeeen! and adding stuff to it...like...eggs, vegetables...that stuff... =)
foodtv.com is probably one of your best friends right now. For starters, if you have a pan, you can cook pretty much anything and everything. All I have at my apartment is a pot and a non-stick pan. Get some soy sauce, cooking oil, salt/pepper and any meat you make will come out tasty and filling. You don't even need to marinade, though it tastes better and is more tender if you do.
The first thing you should do is rinse the rice, it tastes better that way, and then put in about 1:1 cups of rice to water. Start the rice cooker and then begin on your meat and veggies. Your rice should finish about the same time you finish making the others. =P
I start by cutting my meat into strips, then heating up my pan on medium (non-stick you don't want to put on high or it might mess up the non-stick stuff). Once the pan is heated evenly, put in about 2 Tablespoons of oil, maybe more if you don't have a non-stick. Wait about 15 seconds for the oil to heat up and then place your meat in. Cover the lid and wait about a few minutes and flip over the meat and cover for another 5 minutes or so. If it is chicken, you'll probably want to wait longer, around 5 before you turn it and 8 after turn it. You can also pour in a little water before you close the lid to allow some steam to cook it quicker. When it's almost done (you can just check by cutting into the center of the thickest piece), pour in however much soy sauce you want and stir the meat around. After about a minute of stirring, it should be ready.
For my greens, which I have rinsed and cut, I use the same pan and allow the flavor from the meat to get into the vegetables. Pour in another 1-2T of oil and let it heat up. After the oil is heated, put the vegetables into the pan and stir it around a bit to spread the oil. Pour in a little water to help the vegetables cook an cover the lid for about 3-4 minutes. Your vegetables will turn darker than when you first put them in, which means they're pretty much done. season it with some salt and you've got yourself a decent, cheap meal. Any left overs just cover and store in the fridge. When you want to eat the leftovers, microwave it in a microwave-safe container for about 2-3 minutes and you've got yourself another quick meal.
Well I hope this helps. If you would like more help, you can message me through AIM or send me an e-mail (both found in my profile page). I've got a few home-brewed recipes since I started living on my own for college.
If you're on a budget and have low cooking skills then some simple college meal plans include:
-Spam - just slice and pan fry
-Eggs - Scrambled, omelettes, sunny side-up, all are easy to make
-Hot Dogs - just boil in water
-Throw in the Oven Foods - Pizzas, fish/chicken foods, etc.
-Macoroni & Cheese
-Corn Beef Hash - Needs a can of corn beef pan cooked in whatever veggies you like (diced potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, etc).
-Fried Rice? Add pre-cooked rice (day old will work), sliced cooked hot dogs (into coin-shapes, or slanted), veggies (any of these in whichever combination you like: canned corn, peas, diced carrots, sliced green onions, etc), and add some scrambled eggs in a big pot. Turn to low heat to warm it up and slowly add in some soy sauce (to the flavor and color you like) while mixing the entire thing.
-Edit: Found a website with some really easy to make recipes
College Recipes Website
2 minute noodles - water + microwavable container = too easy
sausages
eggs
pasta
and it goes on
just the simpler stuff, you can do cool things when u combine stuff
The quality of microwavable burritos is inversly proportional to thier price... So go to your local Kroger or other grocery store and buy a bunch of whichever brand of frozen burritos have the lowest price. If it cost more than a dollar per burrito, you're getting the wrong stuff. Should be around 20-30 cents per burrito. That's the good stuff.
Also, ramen is good.
Starting with buying or borrowing a cooking book would be a good one.
Meals that are easy to make are for example a tuna salad.
If you have some tortellini cook it in hot water then let it cool down.
Wash and chop your vegetables and mix them all together, now put in the tortellini and tuna (preferably canned, because it's much easier) and add some mayonnaise to it.
Another thing easy to cook with your ricecooker is rice with chinese sausage and salted duck (which I don't know in english).
Just wash the rice and put it in the rice cooker, then put in the sausage and the duck, press the button and voilà dinner is server.
Instead of the duck or sausage, you can also have salted fish, egg or something else.
Frozen foods if you're lazy (like Pizza, frozen fish, oven chips (french fries) etc), and learn to cook if you're not
-pasta..really easy and cheap to make.
-use meat left overs for fried rice.
-san choi bao: fried minced meat+rice in lettuce leaves..
yeah..when you're frying stuff, make sure the pan is HOT before you put in the oil (or anything for that matter). otherwise it'll be slower to cook, stick and get that half mushed, half fried texture. but you'll have to work the food pretty quickly..
The hardest part of living on your own (at least it is for me! Maybe not for everyone else) is having to do your own washing up after cooking something! I really hate doing that, especially since I often make a mess while preparing food
Cereal is cheap. Usually things that are carbohydrates are filling but they can get tiring fast. If you can manage to use a pan then you can cook food from the grocery store which is actually cheaper than eating out. Learning to cook isn't easy, but it isn't that hard as many others think. If you can cook you can control what you get to eat and you can save money if you shop wisely.
Like many have said, the best investment would be to learn how to cook. Trust me, it will save you A LOT of money! And whenever you cook, do more than one portion, especially when you need to bring food to school/work instead of buying at the cafeteria/restaurant. Just freeze the food after you've prepared it, and then just heat it up with a microwave when you want to eat it.