Cooking for college students?

[jrshaul]

I'm a college student, which means long hours, short budgets, and the sort of cooking equipment generally associated with FEMA disaster trailers. I'm a half-decent cook, but most of what I know how to make really doesn't scale well down to single portions, and dorm freezers just aren't suited to freezing lots of leftovers. The ability to do most of the work ahead of time as prep is a major bonus - chicken in various marinades is terrific, though good quality sauces are often a bit spendy.

As a side note, the local Trader Joe's has some fairly affordable swordfish steaks - about $6/pound. They're fantastic sauteed with a little lemon juice and some capers, but there's only so many times you can eat anything before you go bonkers. Suggestions?

[annachan]

Chicken - instead of in marinades, maybe try spice rubs. I make chicken thighs at home all the time. I get the bone-in skin-on ones as they are very economical and have good flavor. There is your standard of just salt and pepper, but sometimes I use add cumin or garam marsala or curry powder or garlic powder or a tandoori spice rub that I got from the farmers market, or a combination of. You don't have to use a lot. To maximize flavor, I also put some seasonings in between the skin and the meat. I always bake them @ 425, 15-20 minutes on the top rack (set @ top 1/3 of oven) and then another 15-20 minutes on the bottom rack (set @ bottom 1/3 of oven).

Another option for chicken is a homemade teriyaki type sauce. I start with soy sauce, then add an acid (various vinegars and/or citrus juices) and then a sweetener (honey/sugar) and mix a sauce to taste. You can add some chili (dried or chili sauce) if you want a kick. You can also add minced/powdered garlic and/or ginger. I generally bake the chicken as is and at the last 5-10 minutes of cooking time, add the sauce and put back in the oven so it glazes the chicken without burning.

On a budget, pasta is your friend. It really does help you stretch your protein. You can add a variety of proteins and/or vegetables to your basic red or white sauce. Sometimes, simple is best. Cooked pasta with a little cheese, a fried egg and some toasted bread crumbs is something that I really love. It's easy, tasty and quick.

[Mel Z]

As a college senior myself...

Not sure where you're living, but I was able to get frozen deveined (but not peeled) shrimp reasonably priced at our local super, and a quick sear on that with a butter-cheese-parsley or wine sauce is great, and requires basically no prep. I like cooking with wine because it adds a lot of depth without needing a huge amount of cook time.

I also ate a lot of eggs, rice, and things made from shredded rotisserie chicken bought on discount (though now I'm fortunate enough to have an almost-normal-sized kitchen). Does your grocery store reduce meat after 8pm? I got a lot of cheap protein that way.

See if you have any other friends in the same predicament who are good cooks...if you gather yourself an armful of tupperware, you can do food swaps--about a dozen of us got together and once a week, one would make enough soup/chili/stew for the whole lot, which we'd then exchange. Meant cooking one night a week was a simple reheat!

[jrshaul]

I'll try the spice rubs. Out of curiosity, have you tried making a spice rub and then freezing the chicken?

Using the soy sauce as a glaze is a good idea, too. Everything I've seen uses it as a marinade, which isn't too economical if you're using the real deal. If I remember correctly, authentic teriyaki is made from soy sauce, honey, and a rather odd Japanese rice wine called Mirin, though I'm told you can substitute cheap sake and a bit of lemon juice for a very similar effect.

I'm curious - what do you pay for a rotisserie chicken? Around here, it doesn't seem to be very economical; not a lot of suepermarkets sell them and for simple food/$ buying Subway makes more sense.

[Fat Guy]

Can you say a little more about the specifics of your kitchen and storage situations, as well as what kinds of meals you need to create? Are you preparing three meals a day for yourself, or are you supplementing with a meal plan, or eating a percentage of meals out?

[judiu]

Take a whole chicken; rinse well; poach in a good bit of water, stock, what have you, add poultry seasoning, Bells seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder (if you have fresh garlic and onions, use them (canned broth, etc.) When done; remove pan from heat, strip meat from bones (optional) and add enough liquid to cook and properly rehydrate about 8 oz. of pasta. Bring to a boil and add pasta; let simmer until pasta is done. Should be moist, but not soupy.

[Mjx]

I found myself in the same position as yours for a long time (even after uni), and what helped was pooling; other students/starving artists/etc. are usually more than happy to put some cash into a pool for a meal. Once we had a cash pool, we'd decide what was going to be on for a given meal or meals, divvy up the shopping (sometimes), then I'd do the cooking. We'd get together for the meal (again, sometimes: other times, if I felt like eating on my own with a book, it'd be a takeaway deal for the others, but no one seemed to mind), and split up any leftovers.

I know this isn't recipe help, but the thing about doing things this way (and this goes for two or three people, too) is that it makes it possible to make all those 'serves 4 to 6' recipes without having lots of leftovers, and it also simplifes shopping, since it can sometimes be difficult to find convenient portions for one (besides, items packaged for four or more generally cost less per pound than smaller amounts).

[jrshaul]

Can you say a little more about the specifics of your kitchen and storage situations, as well as what kinds of meals you need to create? Are you preparing three meals a day for yourself, or are you supplementing with a meal plan, or eating a percentage of meals out?

I'm actually moving in about four months. I'm currently stuck living at home again for financial reasons and commuting to school, but should be able to rectify that shortly.

Of course, because I can't afford an on-campus apartment, I'll likely be far enough out that I won't be able to share too many meals, and too broke to be able to eat out very often. I've found from past experience that I can get along just fine on breakfast cereal for two meals a day, but I'd hesitate to call it enjoyable.

Does anyone here have any experience with freezing chili or soup? I've seen some chili recipes that were completely unfazed by freezing and thawing, and others that gained the consistency of wallpaper paste. Between canned beans and hominy, chili is an extremely affordable food, but I'd rather not have to learn to make it through trial and error.

[Mjx]

. . . .

I'm actually moving in about four months. I'm currently stuck living at home again for financial reasons and commuting to school, but should be able to rectify that shortly.

Of course, because I can't afford an on-campus apartment, I'll likely be far enough out that I won't be able to share too many meals, and too broke to be able to eat out very often. I've found from past experience that I can get along just fine on breakfast cereal for two meals a day, but I'd hesitate to call it enjoyable.

Does anyone here have any experience with freezing chili or soup? I've seen some chili recipes that were completely unfazed by freezing and thawing, and others that gained the consistency of wallpaper paste. Between canned beans and hominy, chili is an extremely affordable food, but I'd rather not have to learn to make it through trial and error.

My experience is that chilis and soups--everything from thin broths to thick, stand-alone stews--freeze really well.

The one caveat is that you should avoid including in them anything that breaks down when heated/chilled a lot, like broccoli (basically, if it turns grey and mushy when boiled, count it out; otherwise, you're good). If you want to include anything delicate, add a bit of it fresh to your reheated soup.

The Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Cook's Illustrated has a recipe for chili that looks really promising; if you can get your hands on a copy, give it a look. I hope this doesn't sound like a shill, but in terms of delivering what they promise, CI has yet to let me down even once.

[nakji]

If I remember correctly, authentic teriyaki is made from soy sauce, honey, and a rather odd Japanese rice wine called Mirin, though I'm told you can substitute cheap sake and a bit of lemon juice for a very similar effect.

I make my teriyakiwith equal parts of soy and mirin and a bit of sugar. Mirin is supposed to be subtly sweet. Sake and a bit of sugar would make a better substitute than sake and lemon, I think. But a normal bottle of cooking mirin can probably be had as cheaply and conveniently as sake at your local Asian market. I love having some in the kitchen to add at the end of sauteing vegetables like carrots or pumpkin.

I've worked in kitchen conditions like yours for most of my adult life - two burners, no oven, an odd collection of pots I've picked up from people trying to empty their flats before leaving the country, a fridge the size of a large box of cornflakes, and one cupboard.

Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cuisines have helped me deal with the limitations. It's time consuming - I have to shop daily to get vegetables fresh, and plan my week accordingly, but two cooks have helped me a lot. Anything by Marcella Hazan (I picked up my first Marcella book in a used bookstore, I can't imagine what fool gave it away - maybe they'd memorized everything in it?) and Harumi Kurihara will help you plan meals that serve one or two, use a minimum of pantry ingredients, and can be cooked with simple equipment.

[gfweb]

Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is a great thing to have in a new cook's kitchen. Lots of simple (as well as complex) recipes. And its a good read too. It'll give great info about general techniques that will let you improvise with whatever the market has for cheap.

I did a bunch of budget cooking in my student days. Some things I found useful....

A cavaet- meats sold cheap because they expire soon should be used quickly or frozen. Poultry in particular. Seems obvious I know, but....

Cheap flavor can be added to dishes with reserved bacon fat, a few drops of soy, garlic powder, parmesan.

Eggs are relatively cheap considering all that they can do. A fritata can feed a number of people for not much.

Bread pudding is an easy dessert, you can put all kinds stuff in it, and outside of the spices eg vanilla and cinnamon, isn't a bank breaker.

[gfweb]

I'll try the spice rubs. Out of curiosity, have you tried making a spice rub and then freezing the chicken?

Using the soy sauce as a glaze is a good idea, too. Everything I've seen uses it as a marinade, which isn't too economical if you're using the real deal. If I remember correctly, authentic teriyaki is made from soy sauce, honey, and a rather odd Japanese rice wine called Mirin, though I'm told you can substitute cheap sake and a bit of lemon juice for a very similar effect.

I'm curious - what do you pay for a rotisserie chicken? Around here, it doesn't seem to be very economical; not a lot of suepermarkets sell them and for simple food/$ buying Subway makes more sense.

Uggh. Rot. chickens are usually overcooked and overpriced. Convenience food for rushed parents. Subway isn't all that cheap either.

Some Italian sausage and pasta is much cheaper than a rot chix and tastes better too.

[kayb]

Do you have a slow cooker? A small one (four-quart) should handle everything you need, and is usually around 10 bucks at a discount store. It can be your best friend to both save on time and effort, as well as making cheap cuts of meat taste wonderful. You can braise beef or pork in it, make soups, even cook desserts. One of my favorites is white bean and sausage soup -- you could cut the recipe in half, freeze portions, and have three or four good meals out of this one.

1 pound navy beans

1 pound smoked or Italian sausage

4-6 carrots

1 medium onion

3-4 cloves minced garlic

1 28-0z cab diced tomatos

dried basil and oregano to taste

Soak the beans overnight. Saute the onion, garlic, carrots and sausage. Drain the beans, and put them, the herbs and the sauteed ingredients in the slow cooker; add the tomatos, and enough water to come about 2 inches over the top of the beans. Cook 8 hours on low. This will make 6-8 servings.

Lentils and ditalini pasta in a tomato-based sauce is another good one. Cheap, plenty of protein, filling, tasty.

[baroness]

Lentils and ditalini pasta in a tomato-based sauce is another good one. Cheap, plenty of protein, filling, tasty.

Substitute chickpeas (canned okay here) for the lentils for another quick and tasty meal. Top with cheese if you desire.

[Foodietopo]

I spent many years cooking in a dorm kitchen when I was studying abroad. My best suggestion would be to try to find some people to cook with and split the cost. Buying in bulk can save you a lot of money. I remember buying a huge bag of rice at a ridiculous low price, but it all made sense since we were splitting it in four.

[ChrisTaylor]

Too, if you're skint, dried lentils and etc are good. Filling and very cheap.

[sclemmons]

Full gourmet dinner with simple ingredients from a toaster oven. With guidance from Eric Ripert.

http://aveceric.com/wp/recipes/get-toasted/

[jrshaul]

Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is a great thing to have in a new cook's kitchen.

Sounds....all-encompassing.

I'll try and find a copy.

Bread pudding is an easy dessert, you can put all kinds stuff in it, and outside of the spices eg vanilla and cinnamon, isn't a bank breaker.

I love bread pudding, but my attempts haven't been to successful. Suggestions?

[HungryC]

How To Cook Everything is available as an app, if you're so inclined. So is Michael Ruhlman's Ratio, another good source of info for a novice cook. Beans & rice are your friend....beans freeze beautifully, and they're easy to cook. Just put them on when you have hours of homework, and they'll do just fine with little attention. Portion out into 2-cup freezer containers, and you've got a month of suppers ready to go. Cook a pot of black beans, and you'll be ready to turn them into soup, burritos/soft tacos, bean dip, refried beans, etc. And don't overlook the egg as a tasty, inexpensive, versatile source of protein.

Find the local food co-op or natural foods store: these places often sell from bulk bins, allowing you to buy small quantities so you will waste less if cooking for one. On the other hand, large, discount-store bags of rice will keep forever, if stored in an airtight container.