Some Great Cheap College Meal Ideas

Well its summer time and my meal plan is no longer effective, and I am working an unpaid internship and a retail job, so money is scarce, but I gotta eat something. So here are a few ideas to fill your belly without emptying your wallet.

1. Collegiate Spaghetti

This recipe calls for:

-1/2 pound of pasta.
-Jar of spaghetti sauce.
-ground beef (optional).

Dishes to clean: 1-2

First, if you opted for the ground beef, toss as much as you want into a skillet and cook it until its brown all over. Next, you will want to start boiling that pasta in a largeish pot. If the pasta is too long to fit into the pot, just break it into smaller pieces. Once noodles are nice and soft, strain the pasta and then put it back into the same pot. After you have done that, add the sauce (and strained beef if you opted for it) in with the spaghetti and continue cooking until everything is well cooked. then grab a fork and eat it right out of the pot! No need to dirty another plate.

2. Frozen Meals

These are some of the cheapest and easiest meals that you can find in the grocery store. Food Lion just had an offer where one frozen meal was just $1! It really doesn't get much cheaper than that, unless you go with Ramen, which might taste good, but gets really old really fast.

3. Hamburger Helper

Hamburger Helper is probably one of the best tasting meals on this list. With all sorts of flavors and varieties, this is sure to please just about anyone. If you are not in the mood for beef, you can try Chicken Helper. I personally recommend the Chicken Fettucini Alfredo.

4. Hot Dogs and Hamburgers

Every college student should have a George Foreman Grill, no ifs ands or buts. Cooking these should be extremely simple. One way to make this meal even cheaper is to buy a loaf of bread instead of buns, because buns are simply over priced.

5. Stir Fry

These are located in your frozen foods section, and are actually pretty cheap for the amount of food they contain. The best part is that it is extremely easy to cook. Basically pour all of the contents into a skillet and cook for about 10 minutes, and thats it. They come in a ton of different varieties, and boy are they delicious!

6. Ramen Noodles

If for some reason you cannot afford any of the things I have mentioned already, then you must fall to the last resort: Ramen. Don't get me wrong I love Ramen as much as the next guy, but sometimes it gets a little bland. If you are suffering from this same Ramenitis as I often do then be sure to checkout this awesome Ramen Recipe Page: http://www.mattfischer.com/ramen/

Hopefully after reading this article you too can eat hearty even in the tightest of financial pinches.