Hello!! I'm a grad student who has little time/energy to cook - my diet is largely consisting of things like pasta/Ramen, microwaveable dinners (Lean Cuisine gets expensive after awhile, I'm also poor!!), and other similar FAST meals... so, not only that, I also live alone!! I have trolled the Internet endlessly for easy, quick meals for ONE PERSON, and have not had a whole lot of luck... I also don't like raw veggies, with the exception of salsa/pico de gallo/bruschetta and the like, so salads are pretty much a no-go for me... any suggestions?? TIA!!
I have to admit that I was really bad about this stuff as a student but when I lived on my own, I tried to make a really big dish on a weekend day where I could scrape together the time and then divide it up into servings in microwaveable dishes for the week. It's kind of like making your own Lean Cuisine meals.
I don't know if you are too busy for that even...and I know that that is quite possible but if you do have a free afternoon once a week, it might be worth a try.
Yah, what Sylvied said -- pick something and make a huge batch, and divide it up for the week. It doesn't take long to make, say, beans and tomatoes and rice, and mix it up and pre-portion it. Same with any stew, lentil-type dish, chicken cacciatore, and so on. Your cooking will be minimal and you'll eat well during the week.
Hopefully you are studying engineering, because engineers, like cats, can eat the same thing day after day after DAY...(hahaha! like my DH!)
I don't use raw veggies in my salads, and they're delicious. Greens, an ounce of crumbled feta cheese (in very small crumbles, I use it instead of dressing sometimes, it's very flavorful), half an apple in cubes, a handful of raisins, and cooked cubed chicken breast (I use the Quorn herb flavor fake chicken cutlets, but I'm sure real chicken would be good too). Sometimes I'll put a roasted red pepper vinaigrette on it, the Seeds of Change brand. It's a super tasty and filling salad, though, and doesn't take long to make at all.
I made a mexican casserole the other night, it was great and produced a ton of leftovers. Just throw a can of beans, can of corn, can of tomatoes or salsa, some cooked rice, and whatever fresh veggies you have on hand (peppers, onions, zucchini, squash, whatever) into a bowl, mix with some taco seasoning, then bake 30 minutes in a casserole dish covered with a few servings of shredded cheese. Very filling, low calories (the calories are really just beans, rice, and cheese, and not huge quantities of any of them), and you get at least four big tasty meals out of it.
busy (lazy?) grad student...
