How To – Make Fast and Delicious Meals without a Recipe

Pretty much every story of the poor college student includes something about surviving off of Ramen noodles. Even as a former college student and a struggling law student, I have rarely eaten Ramen noodles. While there is no shortage of poor college students with the struggling economy, I do not know many people whose diet largely consists of Ramen. Anyways, there are a lot of delicious yet inexpensive food options out there that, like Ramen, take little preparation and do not require printing out a recipe.


Here is a list of some fast, easy, and inexpensive meals for those who are running short of ideas on what to eat:
1. Pasta: This is easy to make and incredibly cheap. If you want to splurge a little, you can add broccoli and artichokes as I have done here.

  
2. Italian Sausages: All you need are some raw Italian sausages, long hot dog style bun, and bell peppers (optional). The raw Italian sausages can be found at any grocery store in the refrigerated meet section (you can get either sweet or hot depending on preference). Instead of getting the long hot-dog buns you can also get dinner rolls and cut it on one side so that the Italian sausage can fit in it like a hot dog. The bell peppers are optional, but add a ton of flavor. Once you have everything just cook the sausages (foreman grill preferred) and bell peppers (you can also grill the peppers or put them over the stove on a frying pan). Put the sausages and peppers on the bun and enjoy! Delicious and easy.
3. Hot Dogs: For an even cheaper and easier alternative to (1) you can make hotdogs. If you do not have hot dog buns, you can use slices of bread instead (makeshift hot dogs).
4. Peanut Butter and Jelly: Well…I assume everyone already knew about this one, but I figured I would mention it just in case you forget the obvious and easy sandwich that takes virtually no time to make.

5. Quesadillas: My life revolves around quesadillas - they are extremely simple to make and delicious.
6. Bean and Cheese Burritos: One can of refried beans makes two burritos using large burrito tortillas. For the cheese, I like buying the shredded cheese that comes in a ziplock back labeled “Mexican,” but shredded cheddar works too (shredded cheese makes it easy to sprinkle the cheese over the burrito). I sometimes add canned green chilies (diced) to the burrito. Salsa of course works great as well.
7. Frozen Pizza: I know suggesting something premade is cheating, but if you are like me sometimes you cannot resist baking a Tombstone pizza. I find that Tombstone, among other brands, makes delicious and cheap pizza. This picture does not do the pizza justice. I meant to take a picture of the whole pie, but it came out looking so delicious that I didn't think to stop and take a picture. By the time I took a photo, I only had one slice left!