Easy homemade college dinners

BY REESE KEELING / Art Director 

One of the hardest things for college students to do is find easy and cheap meals. It’s hard to maintain school, work and health while living off campus.

I have made the perfect grocery list for breakfast, lunch and dinner that has saved me so much time and so much money. These dinner dishes have also been my roommate’s favorites.

First off, breakfast is the most important part of the day and there’s so many different things you can make easily.

I normally buy eggs, bread, peanut butter, bananas, cereal, milk and fruit. I make peanut butter toast with eggs or cereal with fruit and milk. These are my favorite two things for breakfast because they are easy and don’t require many ingredients.

Sometimes lunch can seem hard especially if you’re on the go all day so here is my go-to lunch grocery list. I start with lunch meat, cheese, mini salads, tortilla wraps and frozen raviolis. It’s easy to put together a sandwich before a long day or carry a wrap with you wherever you’re going.

Making dinner can be one of the most challenging meals but when you find the right recipes it can be so much fun.

My favorite thing to make is baked pasta which includes pasta, red sauce, cream cheese, ground beef and mozzarella cheese. It takes about 20 minutes and is so delicious and best served with garlic bread.

Another thing that my roommates and I rave on is Taco Tuesday but with a twist. Taco potatoes are easy and delicious.

These tacos include potatoes, ground beef, tortillas, cheese blend and any type of taco seasoning you wish. This is also super easy and only takes about twenty minutes and all you have to do is boil the potatoes and cook the meat.

The last easy meal and my favorite is ranch chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. All you need is ranch seasoning, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, chicken, green beans and instant mashed potatoes.

Chicken is honestly one of the easiest things to make and spice it up with a sauce and whatever sides you want.

Cooking for my roommates is one of my favorite things to do and it shows that there’s many quick and easy things to make even when you’re on a budget in college.

Cooking is also such a fun way to explore and create new things. I like to experiment and make new meals weekly and my roommates are the ultimate taste testers.