FOOD

[Deleted]

So a lot of us wanderers are growing up now and living on our own or pitching in at home. Since this is an issue I encounter on a daily basis I was wondering- what kind of food do you guys cook? I'm on a budget and cooking for one most of the time, so I'm usually trying to buy inexpensive things that I can cook in large portions so I can have leftovers and avoid cooking for a night or two.

For those of you who don't know, I'm living in Europe at the moment, so there's a lot of food options that I'm used to in North American that don't exist here. They're a lot bigger on preparing foods from scratch and buying products raw, which is nice but it also makes preparing food more challenging since I grew up in a house where when my parents were cooking, they had a lot of semi-prepared ingredients. For me, I usually buy chicken or ground beef to work with because it's cheap and easy. A lot of chicken; stir fries, indian food, mexican, or baked chicken with veggies/potatoes/rice. I've taken a few Danish inspirations; salt/pepper mushroom sauce, Danish meatballs, soup- not so much their seafood. And of course the North American basics for lazier days; pizza, spaghetti, fries, chicken nuggets. I'm always attempting to do new things so I'm a little obsessed/curious. I've had friends from mexico, denmark, norway, turkey, france (ugh the french baking/food i've had, i can't even tell you, so good), russia and a few other eu countries cook me dinner, and I'm always trying to learn from them.

(I had a particularly delicious dinner made by one of my friends last night which may have triggered this- the best rare steak i've ever had, baked potato slices, carrots with mandarine sauce, and baked mushrooms with tomatoes- and a wonderful assortment of wine.)

So I'm wondering- what kind of food do you guys make? What are some of your favourite recipes or foods that you like to buy?

[mercy]

So I'm not going to be able to help much because I also don't cook. I learned how to make an egg this year (and only actually made one on my own once and I forgot that it was important that you crack the egg near the pan and don't let it drop from a high distance) and outside of that I pretty much only make noodle dinners like mac & cheese or spaghetti. Max is the one that can actually cook.

However, I do follow a tumblr called no-more-ramen.tumblr.com/ and it's supposed to have very cheap and also very yummy recipes (I haven't tried any yet but a lot of reviews are extremely positive). They have a vegan, gluten-free, and vegetarian tag as well if you'd like that. So perhaps that could help with cheap and yummy foods!

[athena]

I'm also not sure how helpful this will be for you since I do live in America and groceries and such are different.

I usually buy several frozen dinners (like Bertolli or pot pies), especially when they're on sale. They are great single serve meals for those nights when I'm out working really late. I know they can be kinda there, but I usually spice it up with some bread (my grocery store bakes big loaves and sells them for like a buck) and some salad. I've discovered salad bags here for like 3 dollars. They usually have lettuce, carrots, kale, and then some toppings like sunflower seeds and includes dressing. I can get three meals out of those, so they last me most of the week. I also get some chicken breasts and freeze them. For something quick and easy, I'll de-thaw it and then put it in a marinade of olive oil, garlic, lemon juice a few herbs. Eat with some rice and veggies. Easy.

Planning meals ahead also helps save money when you go to the grocery store. I do occasionally make big meals and freeze them for myself. As of now I have some homemade soups (chicken noodle and minestrone). They are great for those really cold days. I also have some meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, chicken and dumplings, chili, spaghetti sauce, ribs, chicken wings, and breaded chicken. Really almost anything can be frozen. I usually make a big meal once or twice or moth and freeze leftovers. My mom also brings me stuff to freeze from time to time so my freezer usually stays pretty full. You can get really creative. I have several cookbooks for make and freeze dinners and all kinds of stuff. If you're interested just shoot me a PM and I can send you a whole bunch of stuff.

[Ange Keating]

One of the best things I've picked up from a vegan diet is that the upkeep is surprisingly inexpensive. I mostly buy loads of fruits and vegetables at the farmer's market and incorporate those into my meals. I've made it a ritual to blend up a 32-34 ounce smoothie in the morning and that keeps me full through lunch. After that I'll just munch on fruits (a lot though, otherwise I'd starve haha) until dinner. For dinner, I really load up on my calories by eating pasta or potatoes. Other times I'll try and get creative. The other day I made a veggie soup from scratch and paired it with a piece of baguette. Super delicious.

A few of my favorite blogs:

ohsheglows.com/
www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/

[cat.]

I'm huge on "easy-but-healthy" food. Both my parents are pretty athletic, so they've emphasized the importance of being able to cook a healthy for yourself.

Eggs are my personal favorite, regardless of what meal it is. They're cheap, quick to make, and packed with protein. My favorite breakfast right now is spreading pesto on toast, putting an egg over-easy on top, and drizzling the whole thing with Siracha (I actually just made it for an early dinner, too). If you want to make scrambled eggs, adding a bit of milk to the eggs makes a hell of a difference.

I also live in SoCal, so homemade pico (tomatoes, onion, and cilantro) with rice, beans, and chicken is common for me to eat for either lunch or dinner. Nothing beats the smell of opening your fridge when it has pico in it, especially when you know you make it yourself (pride makes things smell better--fact). Also, brown, spicy mustard and thyme as a combo are really tasty on any sandwich. As always with me, Siracha goes on everything. Once you learn to love the burn of hot sauce, it becomes quite addictive. <3

I get hungry a lot though, so I make sure to drink a lot of water to try and combat overeating. The correct formula is your weight in pounds, divided by two, then converted into ounces. So for me, I drink 96 ounces of water a day (I don't weigh as much as that number would suggest, but drinking three whole 32-oz bottles is easier than measuring out everything precise). Unless it's the morning coffee or tea, I don't drink anything else--contrary to living in SoCal, I don't own a juicer, and I rarely drink smoothies. I do like eating healthy, but I hate cleaning up dishes and appliances more!

[Hayley]

Fooooooood! My college diet is weird because of lack of time and funds, but here's the type of food I eat on a daily basis:

Breakfast: I do the same things with my eggs, Cat! Except for I don't use pesto, but now I want to try that. I try not to eat eggs every morning so I'll either have plain greek yogurt with Bare Naked granola or oatmeal with a mashed banana. Once in a while I'll make a chocolate and banana protein smoothie. (If you Google that it's one of the first results! Super good, questionably healthy.)

Lunch: On the days that I actually remember to bring a lunch, I'll make a salad with a cut up bell pepper and a light dressing and anything else I can remember to throw in there. From time to time I'll have a tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat, but I would never bring that to work because that's evil.

Dinner: I eat sooo much chicken. Probably too much. Two of my favorite chicken recipes are here and some Martha Stewart recipe for sautéed chicken and mushrooms. Occasionally I'll be lazy and just salt and pepper the chicken and eat it with barbecue sauce because Texas, y'all. If I'm going to bread the chicken in any way, I'll forego quinoa or brown rice and focus on a vegetable, like snap peas, asparagus, bell peppers and onions, or brussels sprouts. This is my go-to sauce recipe when I have time because it's super easy and yet tastes like you've been slaving over the stove. Once in a blue moon I'll hit up Trader Joe's for shit I shouldn't be eating, like thai potstickers.

Other: Water is obviously an essential and I drink tea frequently to curb my appetite! Sometimes I'll take a handful of almonds, coconut flake, raisins, and/or chocolate chips if I'm craving sweets.

P.S. FoodGawker is my HOLY GRAIL. It's like Pinterest, but just for recipes.

[Tiara]

I do 99% of the cooking At my house, and I am usually the only one who likes to try new things. Which means I usually make myself something exciting, and everyone else has something like paprika chicken, hamburger gravy or whatever. Lol so I am use to the one serving meal with leftovers!
The one thing I can say is have a good variety of spices! They can change a dish so much.
Like with a little bit of chicken, peanut butter, curry powder, garlic and chicken broth, you can make a really quick curry that tastes good over rice or even noodles.
Another quick, simple recipe is shrimp and lobster sauce (which is Chinese takeout staple at my house). It is just shrimp, soy sauce, peas, carrots, and egg whites. You can add cooked crumbled sausage if you'd like too.

If you have a hand mixer, you can whip up a quick and cheesy soufflé. They are supper easy to make and basically consist of flour, egg whites, cheese some butter and some quiet time in the oven to rise. They are not hard at all! Plus, they loom super pretty and impressive when they first come out of the oven all puffed up!

On the Mexican front, you can make a really satisfying Spanish rice with some tomatoes, rice, cheese, a little chicken stock (instead of water), and some cumin, coriander, garlic, and onion. Just put everything in a pot, cover, and when the rice is cooked through, just fluff with a fork and enjoy! If you can get your hands on some salsa and taco seasoning, it makes it even easier!

And if there is ever a seasoning mix you need (such as taco seasoning or whatever) you can find a recipe online that will tell you the individual spices.

[Mikkay]

I live on sandwiches, chips, canned soup, macaroni and cheese, these Thai peanut pasta bowls, apples with granola and peanut butter and Nutella and chocolate chips, whatever fruit we have lying around the house, and cereal. I have zero energy to cook and no enthusiasm for most vegetables, so I'm probably going to keel over when I'm thirty. You're all invited to my funeral.

But I love stir fry. Broccoli, peas, chicken, sesame seeds, carrots, baby corn, green beans, sometimes mushrooms, bit of orange sauce here and a dab of butter and lots of rice... mmm... I would eat stir fry more than sandwiches, I think, if I wasn't so lazy.

(Seriously, sometimes I can barely bring myself to slice up an apple because it just isn't worth the effort. Maybe instead of keeling over from bad nutrition, I'll die of starvation because I'll be too apathetic to walk to the kitchen. It's not that I don't like food or don't want to make good things, it's that I want the good things to appear in front of me in all their delicious glory. I'm awful.)

[cat.]

^lazy cooking forever. if not-cooking was as healthy as cooking, i would not-cook all the time. not cooking is certainly easier.

[Aly]

I have no contribution to this thread; as an example, for lunch today I had gum and a whole box of fig newtons, but I do like reading what you guys are saying. Gives me hope that some day I might actually cook things.

[cat.]

Dec 4, 2014 16:43:58 GMT -8 Aly said:

I have no contribution to this thread; as an example, for lunch today I had gum and a whole box of fig newtons, but I do like reading what you guys are saying. Gives me hope that some day I might actually cook things.

if you put a pack of fig newtons in your glove compartment at 10 a.m. during an LA summer, you can pull them out at noon exactly and make believe they are "fresh from the oven."

[Tiara]

I feel the need to cook for all of you now!
Dinner at my house, 6pm est. I am making roast beef, mashed potatoes and candied carrots.