Frugal meal plan for busy architecture student...ideas?

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Hi all,

My dear little sister started college this year in architecture. She lives near university with a girl roommate who is also studying the same but different schedule. Anyway, mom saw that she had all the pantry intact and the eggs intact. My sister only ate bread and cereal apart from eating out or having lunch or dinner with the boyfriend.

As her sister, I wanna help. She says she doesn’t have the time (but I suspect that even if she does have the time, she rather do something else not necessarily important, but I could be wrong). So any ideas on how to make quick and frugal meals for a college student (architecture students architecture extremely busy almost with no energy and they lack sleep)??
 
I think your sister can make up her own mind on what she eats. If she is asking for cooking help that’s one thing, but if not then let her be. Sometimes half the fun in college cuisine is eating what you want when you want it, or enjoying a meal out with friends. 🙂
 
OK, this is going to sound weird, but my family LOVES this and it can be served alone, over noddles, over rice, couscous, over cornbread, any way you want:
It’s called 7 can soup

Dump into a big deep pan,

  1. *]one can black beans
    *]one can kidney beans
    *]one can Wolf brand no bean chili
    *]one can rotel
    *]one can diced tomatoes
    *]one can mexicorn, or any variety of corn
    *]one can pinto beans (whole)

    DO NOT DRAIN ANY OF THESE CANS
    After simmering, add in 6-8 oz. diced Velveeta cheese, and continue simmering until cheese is incorporated.
    Can be kept in the fridge for a week, but it will be gone before then.
    Keep it in a tight tupperware container, and scoop out a serving at a time, zap in the microwave or heat in a small saucepan.

    My husband LOVES this. I like it with tortillas chips and over rice.
    It’s nice for when it’s cold out.
 
She and my parents are broke. She only gets $100 a month for groceries, and starves when she has a full schedule unless the boyfriend (who is attending another university ) invites her. She has no friends yet.

I was thinking that maybe she could get many microwave and freezer safe recipients for each day she has school. She could cook on Sundays and freeze the food separately for each day and just defrost and preheat in the microwave. I texted her that and she replied “ok”. Mom also said that is a good idea.
 
pianistclare said:
OK, this is going to sound weird, but my family LOVES this and it can be served alone, over noddles, over rice, couscous, over cornbread, any way you want:
It’s called 7 can soup

Dump into a big deep pan,

  1. *]one can black beans
    *]one can kidney beans
    *]one can Wolf brand no bean chili
    *]one can rotel
    *]one can diced tomatoes
    *]one can mexicorn, or any variety of corn
    *]one can pinto beans (whole)

    DO NOT DRAIN ANY OF THESE CANS
    After simmering, add in 6-8 oz. diced Velveeta cheese, and continue simmering until cheese is incorporated.
    Can be kept in the fridge for a week, but it will be gone before then.
    Keep it in a tight tupperware container, and scoop out a serving at a time, zap in the microwave or heat in a small saucepan.

    My husband LOVES this. I like it with tortillas chips and over rice.
    It’s nice for when it’s cold out.
Click to expand...

  1. Wow. That’s a lot of beans. 😃 thanks.
 
Google “skillet” and “wonder pot” meals - they are usually very quick, only dirty one dish, and tend to be inexpensive. One recipe usually makes 4-6 servings, which can then be reheated for lunch and dinner. If she has any freezer space at all, she can buy meat on sale and then divvy it up into recipe-sized portions, which will be cheaper in the long run.

You also can’t go wrong with sandwich fixings, or you can premake salad then just add dressing. Hardboiled eggs are easy and keep a few days.
 
Get a 20 pound bag of rice. I lived off that.

At University I lived, for the most part, on jasmine rice, eggs, and cheddar cheese. Sriracha and soy sauce to taste.

Typically the only meat my girlfriend and I could afford was chicken liver, and gizzards/hearts. Thankfully we both liked them. With the ample supply of rice in the apartment it was really easy to turn this into curry. She would occasionally make Mexican rice with ground beef if we were feeling like a treat.

We also had a Walmart grocery store that would sell day-old bread for like, 50 cents. So we would buy up armloads of that and freeze them. When we needed them, we took them out and sawed them in half to make garlic cheese bread.

Also, when I was in a particularly poor phase of my life, my roommate had a bread maker. You could buy the ingredients in bulk and have fresh fair-quality bread for months. We would start in a crock pot slow cooker whatever we had in the pantry and fridge to make a thin stew/soup and dish that out with the bread maker bread. Also, a little peanut butter went well with that bread quick and easy.
 
That is sweet of you to worry about your sister.

When I was single and much younger:

Hot meal - I would make hamburger helper – very fast and easy. Could last for a few days for a quick meal. I used turkey but any type of meat will do, or go for the vegetarian type.

Cold – sandwich with chips and fruit.

Winter.
 
When I was broke and in college, I lived on beans, rice and lentils (mixed together) and ramen noodles, which were 10 cents each. I also used to go to SAMs club with a friend and buy a massive pack of bagels and freeze them.

This certainly isn’t a healthy meal plan, but it was all I could afford.
 
E_7 said:
Hi all,

My dear little sister started college this year in architecture. She lives near university with a girl roommate who is also studying the same but different schedule. Anyway, mom saw that she had all the pantry intact and the eggs intact. My sister only ate bread and cereal apart from eating out or having lunch or dinner with the boyfriend.

As her sister, I wanna help. She says she doesn’t have the time (but I suspect that even if she does have the time, she rather do something else not necessarily important, but I could be wrong). So any ideas on how to make quick and frugal meals for a college student (architecture students architecture extremely busy almost with no energy and they lack sleep)??
Click to expand...
I lived mostly on beer and cereal for 4 years… and Ramen… 😛
 
Regina7 said:
I forgot about beer! That replaced milk for me:D
Click to expand...
I once (or a dozen times) poured a cup of refrigerated coffee into my cereal for my morning energy meal… oh, and never forget pizza - fresh, frozen, leftover, almost stale 👍
 
For the “quick & easy” part, she can brown up a large amount of ground turkey one night and then use it for quick meals during the week: use it to make tacos or burritos, make “sloppy joes,” stir it into spaghetti sauce and serve over pasta are just a few ideas. A crock pot is a great idea too - you can use cheaper cuts of meat and they become very tender.
 
E_7 said:
Hi all,

My dear little sister started college this year in architecture. She lives near university with a girl roommate who is also studying the same but different schedule. Anyway, mom saw that she had all the pantry intact and the eggs intact. My sister only ate bread and cereal apart from eating out or having lunch or dinner with the boyfriend.

As her sister, I wanna help. She says she doesn’t have the time (but I suspect that even if she does have the time, she rather do something else not necessarily important, but I could be wrong). So any ideas on how to make quick and frugal meals for a college student (architecture students architecture extremely busy almost with no energy and they lack sleep)??
Click to expand...
Pinterest - crockpot freezer meals.
 
Right now, I am very poor and cannot afford food either. I go to and recommend going to the local food bank for help. There I get tuna fish, spaghetti, bread, canned sauce, canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, etc.With whatever little money I have, I buy non food pantry items with such fresh fruits and vegetables and lunch meat.

A lot of people at the food bank are the working poor. They just lost their jobs, etc.
 
Rhubarb said:
Get a 20 pound bag of rice. I lived off that.
Click to expand...
Very good advice. As a high school grad present I give rice cookers plus a 20# bag of rice. Also, potatoes can be boiled ahead of time and kept chilled in the fridge. Eaten as is as a snack, make a quick potato salad, dice and fry up with onions and peppers or shred for hash browns. Slice in half, scoop out the insides and mix with bacon, cheese, or chili, refill the shell and nuke in microwave. Very versatile like the rice.

Keep pasta and fresh and canned veggies for a quick dish. Always have on hand condiments, parmesan, sriracha, soy sauce.
 
If your sister is just cooking for herself, I find it really helpful to make one or two meals on Sunday night and then store them in individual serving sizes to grab out of the fridge/freezer every day. I personally don’t mind eating the same thing several times in a row, so the convenience factor is huge for me.

There’s also an excellent cookbook by Leanne Brown called “Good and Cheap” that you can get as a free pdf. She creates meal plans for eating well on $4 per person per day, and they’re good. 👍
 
Lentils are inexpensive and filling. Eat them with rice and some steamed vegetables on the side.
 
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