In college, finding easy meals to eat can be hard especially if you are an off-campus student, but also sometimes even as an on-campus student. The dining hall closes at a time when, if you have class from six to nine, you won’t have the opportunity to eat. Also, if you live off-campus groceries can be expensive.
For my house mates and I, we have found that buying things that are on sale works best for us; we buy most of our meats in bulk, that way they last a while. We also like to plan out our meals for the week in advance, so that we can find things that are on sale easily.
One meal that I believe is super easy to make as a college student is grilled cheese. Even though it might not be the healthiest, there are ways to incorporate healthy foods into it. For example, you can make grilled cheese and have a side of salad, or a side of vegetables; this helps to balance everything out. If you are feeling too lazy to cook something extravagant or are in a rush because of a class, this is a meal you can make super quickly.
Another meal that I believe is to be healthy and easy is chicken and rice bowls. You can customize this meal to be anything you want. You can also cook the chicken any way you want, this means that you can pan fry it, air fry it, or grill it. Then, all you have to do is cook the rice. If you are looking for it to be super quick and easy you can buy the minute rice cups and cook the rice that way. I love to add sauteed corn, peppers, pineapple, and avocado lime dressing to mine, but you can make it anyway.
Next, you can pair your leftover chicken with your choice of bread and a caesar salad. You can make a sandwich out of this, which I recently discovered is super good, or you can eat it separately. This meal is super easy and simple as well as healthy.
Pasta is also a healthy meal and it is super easy to make. You can make it anyway you want with any type of sauce or vegetable. Most pasta only takes about ten minutes to cook, plus the time of boiling the water. This makes this meal so versatile and so easy to make. Additionally, it is a meal that you don’t need to be an amazing cook to make!
Wraps are also very easy meals to make because you can honestly make them with anything and everything. They can be made with chicken, sausage, steak, rice, vegetables, or even leftover salad. This is something that can be made so easily and quickly and you can make it anyway you want.
Being a college student is especially hard because sometimes you are limited to what you can make, but being at Monmouth and having the “make your own” station is something that allows for versatility in your diet. The dining hall’s “make your own” station has a lot of options such as rice, eggs, pasta and chicken along with a few vegetables. You can make things like fried rice, pasta and chicken, and so much more. This spot is so convenient and easy, especially as a student with a meal plan and no kitchen to cook with.
Overall, there are endless options for healthy and easy meals that you can make, and the few that I mentioned in this article are just the tip of the iceberg! But, don’t let your exploration of new recipes stop here, social media is also a great way to find awesome meals. Go on apps like Tiktok or Instagram and find endless amounts of recipes that you can make quickly and easily!
