MEAL PREP FOR THE BUSY STUDENT
By Julia Giannotti
For many of us, that hardest part of eating healthy is incorporating that into a hectically busy lifestyle. Grocery shopping takes time, and unhealthy typically cheaper and more easily accessible food is always just a drive thru away. Quite frankly, the system is totally rigged against us. This being the case, knowing how to whip up a series of affordable, well rounded, and down right delicious meals is truly an invaluable skill.
Therefore,
You’re welcome!!
Tacos: Who doesn’t love tacos?
What You’ll Need:
-Corn tortillas (or flour, but corn tortillas have less calories)
-Meat of your choice: beef pork and/or chicken can usually be purchased in bulk and almost entirely pre-cooked from most grocery stores.:
-Topping of your choice, (we recommend the basics):
-2 large tomatoes, diced
-2 avocado, sliced
-1 head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
-Sour Cream, dolloped
At last, a -Salt and pepper, but we’d like to encourage you to try some new spices here, if you're into that. We suggest chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, or cumin. You can add roughly ¼ of a teaspoon of each one you choose.
If you have purchased a raw meat, have it mostly thawed and add some oil to your pan before cooking it on the stove top on medium heat. As you stir and cook, add your chosen spices. Once your base meat is prepared, get crazy with those toppings and enjoy!
An easy option to store in your fridge separately, and then throw together quickly for a meal as you’re rushing out the door, — or if you’re just not feeling up to getting crazy in the kitchen.
Don’t eat meat? Substitute for bell peppers, corn, or tofu.
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Pasta: SO DANG (and I cannot emphasize this enough) EASY
The noodles alone are incredibly affordable , and they come in many variety of shapes to keep yourself at least mildly entertained.
Boil water when at a rolling boil, add pasta of your choice. The time needed to be boil will always be obviously displayed on the front of the box. Usually about 8-10 minutes. Set aside once done.
Assuming you don’t just buy ready-made sauce from the store (which is totally fine, no judgement) Here’s a quick homemade recipe for basic tomato sauce
What You'll Need:
- 2 cans tomato puree (you can puree your own as well, we recommend two cups of San Marzano tomatoes)
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 cup water
- 1 red onion
- 1 head of garlic
- ½ cup of fresh basil
- A sprig of oregano
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Dice the entire red onion and place in a saucepan with a splash or two of olive oil,; stir occasionally and let cook until golden. Once it’s almost golden, dice up about 4-5 cloves of garlic and let cook with the onions for a few minutes. Once the onion and garlic have made your entire kitchen smell amazing, drop in the puree and paste. Mix together and slowly add in the cup of water. Put your heat to a low or medium low (depending on the aggressiveness of your stove) and let simmer for 50-60 minutes with a lid on the pan.
Give it a stir every 10 minutes or so.
Once you are about 40-45 minutes in, add in your herbs and spices. Ideally you want the basil to go in last to preserve it’s flavor. The salt and pepper can be done at any point really, I just end up remembering to do it at the end.