Here’s what you can be cookin’ for breakfast, lunch or dinner

Cheap and tasty food for hungry college students.

Credit: Beth Rankin

It’s easy to eat cheaply on college campuses, but it’s not exactly easy to eat well. Students forced to budget their money and time find themselves eating quick meals of Ramen Noodles and Easy Mac, but often find that they want more out of their daily diets.

Improvements in some of the on-campus stores have helped reduce campus-wide vitamin deficiencies, but selection is still limited when compared to local grocery stores.

One of the biggest perks of living off-campus is the ability to make your own food rather than limit yourself to on-campus dining with a meal plan.

Even when afforded all of these dining privileges, students off-campus still find it difficult to prepare a quality meal on a budget. While there are certainly start-up costs involved in cooking at home (mostly including cooking oils, spices, utensils), maintaining a stable and varied diet is cheap after the initial investment.

The majority of these recipes were made with ingredients that can be bought from local grocery stores.

Students who are going to be living in the residence halls can also make these recipes, provided that they have access to a full kitchen. Without a considerable amount of space, a stove and a grilling surface, these recipes will be very hard to pull off.

The Asian Shrimp Salad

The Asian Shrimp salad is pretty quick and easy to make, especially for students who are constantly on the go. The dressing is fairly simple to make ­— all you need to do is combine all the liquid ingredients and sesame seeds in a bowl with a metal whisk until everything is homogenized. Then, boil the shrimp for roughly five minutes (you can chop your peppers and scallions while this is happening) or until the shrimp are tender. Combine the dressing and vegetables with your spring mix, and bam — you’re set.

Breakfast Bars

For students looking for a quick meal in the morning, breakfast bars are one option. They are quick and easy to make:

1.) Soak raisins overnight in water. Drain carefully.

2.) Preheat oven to 350°F.

3.) Now combine sugars, yogurt, eggs, oil, milk, vanilla and peanut butter in a mixing bowl. Mix well.

4.) Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a different bowl. Add to bowl of wet ingredients. The batter should be similar to brownie batter before you add the oats. Mix thoroughly, adding oats slowly and fold in raisins. 

5.) Pour batter into an ungreased 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake for 28-32 minutes.

6.) Cool completely and cut into bars.

For students on the go, grabbing a quick bar in the morning will help save time.

Chicken, Veggies and Rice

This dish is best for people looking for something good to eat on a lazy weekend. Brown rice requires much longer to boil than white rice, so make sure you boil the rice for roughly 22 minutes and add water as needed while simultaneously stirring the rice. Chop the asparagus, squash and red onion into small pieces and place the Cajun chicken skewer on a grill for 8 to 10 minutes. Combine the liquid ingredients with the basil and mix until it is homogenized. When the chicken and rice are done, start by plating the rice. Add the chicken and veggies on top of the rice. Drizzle the glaze on top. You’re done!

Fruit Shortcake

As long as fruit is in season, this delightful dessert will please your taste buds:

1.) Follow the cupcake directions on the cake mix box. After the cupcakes are finished baking, allow them to cool thoroughly.

2.) Slice and peel one nectarine and one plum. Put them into blender with 1/5 of the raspberries. Blend with sugar to make syrup. Slice up the rest of the fruit and marinate in a little bit of the syrup while you prepare the rest.

3.) Combine pudding mix and milk and refrigerate. Allow pudding to chill for 10 minutes.

4.) Whip whipping cream with vanilla and sugar.

5.) To assemble shortcake, put a cupcake on a plate and break open carefully. Fill crack in cake with pudding. Cover cupcake with the marinated fruit and pour syrup over top. Add a dollop of whipped cream. Serve the shortcake right away, or the whipped cream will deflate. If you get distracted after dinner and can’t eat dessert right away, everything will still taste fabulous.

Contact general assignment reporter Ben Breier at [email protected] and copy desk chief Katie Mallady at [email protected].

Recipes:

Asian Shrimp Salad

➤ 20 small shrimp

➤ 1 red pepper

➤ 5 scallions

➤ Fresh Express Spring Mix

➤ 1/4 cup sesame oil

➤ 1/2 cup olive oil

➤ 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

➤ 1/6 cup soy sauce

➤ 1 Tbsp. basalmic vinegar

➤ 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice

➤ 1/2 Tbsp. honey

➤ Approximate cost: $12

Breakfast Bars

➤ 1 cup raisins or other dried fruit

➤ 3/4 cup brown sugar

➤ 1/2 cup granulated sugar

➤ 8 oz. plain or vanilla yogurt

➤ 2 eggs

➤ 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

➤ 2 Tbsp. milk

➤ 2 tsp. vanilla

➤ 1/2 cup peanut butter

➤ 2 cups flour

➤ 1 tsp. baking soda

➤ 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

➤ 1/2 tsp. salt

➤ 3 cups rolled oats

➤ Approximate total cost: $3 

Chicken, Veggies and

Rice with BBQ Glaze

➤ 3 pieces of asparagus

➤ 1 small yellow squash

➤ 1/2 red onion

➤ 1 Cajun chicken skewer

➤ 3 cups long-grain brown rice

➤ 1 tbs. lime juice

➤ 1 tbs. basil

➤ 1/5 cup BBQ sauce of choice

➤ 2 tbs. Lea and Worchesshire Sauce

➤ Approximate total cost: $10

Fruit Shortcake

➤ 1 box white cake mix

➤ 1 1/4 cup water

➤ 1/3 cup vegetable oil or applesauce

➤ 3 eggs

➤ 5 nectarines

➤ 5 plums

➤ 1 package raspberries

➤ 1 small package vanilla pudding mix

➤ 2 cups cold milk

➤ 8 oz. whipping cream

➤ Vanilla

➤ Granulated Sugar

➤ Approximate total cost: $10