When I’ve researched ‘easy college recipes,’ I always get recipes that call for weird ingredients that I personally don’t keep handy or require appliances I don’t own. When trying to find new things for lunch, it took me years to get a good handful of recipes that were not only simple, but could be eaten cold, since I keep kosher and cannot use the microwave at work. Additionally, I hate sandwiches. Now, I’m knocking the ease of the sandwich, but here are some things to try that have few ingredients, and will fit into your college budget.
1. Israeli Salad
Salad is perfect for an on-the-go lunch. The trick is to make sure it has everything you need in it to give you energy. What you’ll need is a cucumber, diced tomatoes (canned or fresh), some frozen corn (soak it in water to thaw it out), lemon juice, and salt (I like kosher salt, it brings out the flavor better).
Now, that gives you a good amount of vegetables but that won’t keep you full. Couscous is a personal favorite. While it is more expensive than rice, it cooks in about 5 minutes which makes it the perfect busy-person starch. Chill it overnight if possible, and just mix it in with the salad. Another way to add starch is to use a pita pocket and fill it with the salad. For a fat, buy some pitted canned olives or fetta cheese (or any cheese). And for protein, add some tofu, chicken, or extra cheese. Add an apple on the side for a fruit and you have a well-balanced meal ready to eat.
2. Pizza Bagels
This is less balanced, but also inexpensive and very versatile. All you need are some bagels, a toaster oven (or oven), pizza sauce, and cheese. Anything else is up to you. Add olives, mini-pepperoni, bell peppers, sliced tomatoes, or anything else you’d like on there. The bagels give you a good starch, cheese for protein or fat, and anything else to add what-ever you need. Heat the bagels at 425 F. and you have a great easy lunch. They’re even good when they’re cold, but, of course, they can be heated up easily in a microwave.
3. Sushi
For a long time, I thought that sushi could only be made by people who happen to be in the know about how to make it and that rolling it was extremely difficult. Not so, it turns out. What’s great about sushi is, other than purchasing the seaweed rolls, it’s very inexpensive. You need rice and some thinly sliced long pieces of vegetables, but that’s pretty much it. I like to add some white fish or tuna, but it’s optional.
Cook about 3 cups of short grained white rice (or sticky rice, or sushi rice). Then mix ½ cup rice vinegar ½ cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt and put over heat until sugar dissolves. Let cool, and then pour over the rice. Allow it to cool before putting with sushi. After that, cut up whatever vegetables you want. Cucumbers, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and avocado are all common vegetables in recipes. Make sure to cut vegetables into thin, long strips. As thin as possible. Take Nori (the seaweed sheet) and spread out a good layer of rice, leaving a little over an inch of uncovered area on the edge furthest from you. On the end closest to you put your ingredients along the edge. Take the sushi, roll it, and then take a little bit of water on your finger running it where you want your roll to seal together. Next, take a (wet) knife, and cut up your rolls. Keep refrigerated. You’ll get a lot of rolls out of one batch, so you can easily get 4-5 days of lunches out of this recipe.
(Recipe for rice from sushirecipes.org where you can find a bunch of specific things to do with sushi.)
What I like most about these recipes is that they all work cold, which is a must for me. They are also all easily adapted for different diets. A vegan can easily swap out vegan cheese for regular cheese for the pizza bagel, and the Israeli salad is great because I can make it meat or dairy, which provides a variety. Also, all of these can be made more complicated, I just kept all recipes to things that a college student would have in their kitchen. Get creative, and happy lunching!
