cooking for a college student on budget

i suggest that you cook casseroles, salads, soups and bread. Do not cook meat only, just always add veggies; potatoes, lettuce, cabbage and some cheap greens to make you healthy while studying. Remember to drink water only, not juice or any carbonated drinks. Stretch your budget without defying yourself to eat. Also, eat your food with cheap breads; French bread, white bread, etc..etc..And, don't forget the dessert, fruits of the season.

Hello friend, good decision. Home cooked food is cheaper than if you buy it already prepared. I like cooking, loved it before, but the passion is lower lately, may be because i cooked every single day and cooking cheap dishes made me tired. What i cook often is white beans, potatoes stew, mince stew and we also eat sandwiches sometimes. I make home made bread, it's not cheaper than the normal bread in the shops, but i can fry a part of the dough and the other half to be baked as bread, that's variety in some ways. We live two people at home and we don't have exact budget, but i'm watching all the time how much money we have and what will I be able to cook for such money. I make good investment sometimes, when i have something like 20$ or more, i buy melted cheese and bake it with potatoes (that's cheap, because i always have potatoes bag in my kitchen). Chicken livers are also something cheap in our country, it's something like 1.5$ for one kilogram, so i fill the fridge sometimes with cheap stuff for future days. What i also did before is to freeze vegetables like carrots, mushrooms and other kinds in the freezer and to put parts of them in different meals, because here we put carrots in every dish - for taste. What i always had at home before - rice, bag of potatoes, onion (whole bag, or half bag), little mushrooms, carrots, flower oil and yeast, yogurt for the bread, butter and things like that - long term products. If we don't have money at all, i'll be able to make bread, for everything else like potatoes, rice, white beans or cabbage i had to buy only some meat, mince, cheese or something else to include to the dish. That was making my daily expenses for food lower and i usually had plans for a week or so what will be cooked with what i have.

A lot of it depends on the type of food you like to eat. If you enjoy hamburgers, buy some ground beef and make your own. It's cheaper than eating out. For $200 a month, you shouldn't have much of a problem buying groceries unless you're in a very expensive area like California. Do you like soup or stew? Those are very easy to make and with a little practice you can make them from anything you have on hand. Eggs are always good to have on hand. Eat them fried, scrambled, poached, in omelets. Cheese can go a long way to making simple dishes taste better. Bake a potato, cut it open, add a little butter, salt and pepper and then some grated cheese, or just a slice of cheese and put it back in the oven or microwave until the cheese melts. Eat whatever fresh food is in season where you are. Learn what the prices are so you'll know when there's a real sale, and eat what's on sale.

There are lots of cheap yet wonderful dishes if you are willing to learn and try new things. Buy dry legumes instead of cans, soak them overnight (I place them in lukewarm water) and cook them. I cook all of them at once and place them in the freezer in portions. I use for that recicled small icecream buckets or plastic bags. With beans, lentils and garbanzos there are endless posiblities of nice dishes. Rice is easy to make but NEVER throw away 2 or 3 tablespoos of leftovers (and don´t overeat either thinking of not throwing them). Cooked or fried rice will be helpful in soups, lentils and omelettes. Leftover pasta can be used in omelettes and if you don´t mix it with the sauce, you can also use it for a minestrone. Odds and ends in the fridge, boiled together with a broth or cube can be made into a wonderful soup. Id you add some grated cheese it´s better. It´s worth it to buy a blender, even if it´s second hand. PM me for recipes.

Learn some vegetarian recipes. It sounds boring if you are not actually a vegetarian, I know, but vegetarian food is really much cheaper, and some of it is really good too. So learn all about vegetarian cooking to get started.

Hi, Jmwalsh! Years ago when I had to start cooking for my husband I took my mother's old recipes book. As I was learning how to make the basic meals I began to improvise and after a while - to invent my own meals. So feel free to make meals of your imagination. And don't forget to make fresh salads and soups!

Ah college food... Stock up on Ramen. It's like 15 cents a pack & you can add your own sauces, meats, etc to it to get different flavors. It's the go to item for the financially impared.

Well there are a lot of meals which you can cook. It would actually be good to start with canned stuff too. Tuna is awesome, that is all I can. Try searching the internet for quick and low cost food that you can cook.

A lot depends on what you have in the kitchen already - if the oven is functional, what kind of appliances do you have - a blender, for instance, can save you a lot of time and add some flavor to your home-cooked meals. For beginners, I always recommend Jamie Oliver recipes - I know that he's a bit over-rated, but his recipes are so simple and easy to follow, and there's a good chance you'll find some videos of him cooking online as well, so it's worth giving a try. You'll need to figure out what you use most, so you can buy in bulk (flour, oil, vinegar, dried herbs, etc.) - you won't be needing everything, it depends on your style, you'll figure out in a couple of months or so.