Cheap Meals for when You're in a Crunch
Credit: Biomedical Odyssey
By: Jes Cates
When you move out of your parent’s house, your life will most likely be completely turned upside down—stressing about budgeting for food, clothes, rent, and debt. Luckily, I am here to ease your transition, at least for food, so you don’t end up like the person in our cover photo. I will give you several recipes to make good and quick food for under $5–some for breakfast, lunch, and dinner–and critique some of the recipe’s taste. You will need access to at least a stove/microwave for these meals.
Breakfast:
Pancake in a Mug, Credit: Spaceships and Laser Beams
There are many easy “in a mug” recipes that are super fast: you can prepare your meal in and eat your meal from the same dish, and all you need to cook it is a microwave. I will teach you how to make a pancake and an egg in a mug. For the pancake, the prep and cook time is about two minutes. The ingredients include:
¼ Cup Flour
1½ Tsp Sugar
3 Tbsp Milk or Water
½ Tsp Vanilla
½ Tsp Baking powder
You could also add chocolate chips, blueberries, etc.
Alternatively:
Use ⅓ cup of pancake mix and 2-4 tbsp of milk/water
Process:
Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in your mug
Add vanilla and milk, and mix til there are no lumps
Put in microwave for 60 seconds.
Remove and top with syrup/honey/etc.
If you’re looking for more about this recipe, go here!
Egg in a Mug, Credit: Cooking Classy.
If you’re looking for a healthier breakfast, you could instead make an egg. The ingredients are simple:
One egg
Splash of milk/water
Salt and pepper
Additionally, shredded cheese, hot sauce, any way you like!
Process:
Grease mug
Crack and scramble egg
Add milk, salt, and pepper as preferred
Microwave for 30-40 seconds then stir the edges inward
Microwave again for 10-20 seconds, then 10-second increments until fully cooked
And, if you’re looking for a little extra, you can remove the egg and put them on a bagel, or toast and add bacon, avocado, or whatever you have on hand.
If you’re looking for more about this recipe, go here!
Lunch, when you’re in a crunch:
Sometimes you need to grab a nutritional pick-me-up between classes! The meals below provide a perfect mid-day meal.
Tortilla wraps are an excellent alternative to bread; they keep longer in the fridge. Foods that you make with these depend on your preference for meats and veggies and give you variety in your diet. You can have them grilled with cheese or beans, or cold with deli meat and veggies–the choice is yours!
Baked potatoes require nothing more than a microwave. The recipe calls for a bag of potatoes, which only costs $5-10 apiece; the potatoes can also be used for other starchy foods. It only takes four minutes in the microwave to get a hot steamy potato, then you can add toppings as you like, such as:
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Bacon bits
Chili
Potatoes are very versatile, cheap, and can be paired with almost anything. If you’re looking for something sweeter, you could use a sweet potato, topped with marshmallows, brown sugar, etc.
As a healthier alternative to a soggy PB&J, you could have an open-faced avocado and hummus sandwich. Prep time should only take a couple of minutes to slice the avocado and spread the hummus, and toast the bread if you want that extra texture.
Most of these lunch ideas can be found in the third link, on the “It’s Always Autumn” website!
Snack:
During the day, if you’re not always hungry enough for a whole meal, or willing to spend all the time to make something, here are a couple of snacks that barely take any to make and taste good too!
Homemade Lunchable (1 Min):
Homemade Lunchables, Credit: Shelf Cooking.
Looking for something nostalgic? To remind you of childhood foods that also taste good? Try these homemade Lunchables, just slap some deli meat, veggies, and cheese on two crackers and you’ve got yourself a Lunchable.
Chips and Cheese:
You might hate me for this, but microwaved chips and cheese isn't the worst, and it's easy! Just sprinkle shredded cheese and meat on tortilla chips and put in the microwave until the cheese is melty, then add your toppings (veggies, sour cream, etc).
Dinner:
If needed, you could just rinse and repeat lunch, using different meats or veggies, but you could also mix it up with ramen. Ramen is cheap, less than $0.50 a package, and easy, but this can get boring. I recommend adding vegetables (carrots, spinach, chili peppers), shredded/ground meat, soy sauce for flavor, and even an egg for more protein.
I promise this will be the last “in a mug” recipe you’ll be reading about, and totally not just because this is our last recipe. Anyways, mac and cheese in a mug take about five minutes for one serving, for this you’ll need:
½ Cup of Macaroni
½ Cup of water
½ Cup Shredded cheese
Optional: Salt, pepper, hot sauce
Process:
Place macaroni and water in a large mug and put in the microwave for one minute
Remove and stir
Repeat
Noodles will then be microwaved for 30-second intervals until cooked, add small amounts of water if noodles begin to dry out
Quickly add cheese and spices until cheese is fully melted
For more info on this recipe go to Kirby Craving’s website!
One of the biggest struggles of your adult life is figuring out what to eat every day, 3 times a day, for the rest of your life. With this story I sought to relieve some of that stress. Even though some of you don't have to worry about that for some time, it's good to be prepared and to be thinking about ways to alleviate the stress of future struggles. Go, and keep finding ways to make your future life easier and more convenient!
Helpful Resources:
Easy Meals for College Students - This link is definitely worth checking out, she has a lot of advice as a mom of three who’s cooked plenty of food.