College survival cuisine

[NativeOkie]

Okay, I remember while in Grad school money was tight.
What college survival food did you eat to get by?

Top Ramen noodles was a big one with the guys 8 cents each package.
Campbell's Cream of "anything" soup with a cup of rice mixed in.

[nik4411]

Well, I'm still on that food.
PB & J's are a steady supplement. So is tuna.
Also, canned chili and mac and cheese mixed.

[PennyQuilts]

Rice and beans, for sure.

Tuna helper without the tuna.

Husband got C-rations (the ones in cans) at the the army surplus store.

He also grew his own alfalfa sprouts in his dorm window. To eat.

He lost a LOT of weight in college.

He also bought cheap breadsticks at Pinocchios for a dollar (near OU).

[Karried]

Top Ramen is the only way to go.. how many other things can you eat that cost 15 cents a meal? lol

When we bought our first condo in CA about 20 years ago (800 sq ft - $84K) we ate Top Ramen every meal to save up our down payment.. ahhh, those were the days. Of course, we sold it 7 months later for $122K - went out to some great dinners for a bit.. until we got into our next house!

[kevinpate]

I have not yet discovered all the meal variations possible for ramen, but I long ago discarded any notion it's meant to be served as a soup. ramen + X de jour is an entree

[Karried]

lol... so true! When I didn't have to worry about just looking at food and gaining weight... we used to drain the water and drown the ramen in butter.... sheesh, I'm probably a walking heart attack!

[kevinpate]

For every 4 pkgs of ramen, drained after boiling -
stir in 3 of the flavor packs (all 4 is usually too intense for some of my fams,)
flip in a touch of butta
Flip in some already heated veggies
fold in whatever pre-cooked (or renuked) meat is available, if some is
cover for 3 minutes to pretend you're flavor blending,

Eat, enjoy, spend the $ saved on something fun, or on the light bill, depending on how your month rolls.

[metro]

I have not yet discovered all the meal variations possible for ramen, but I long ago discarded any notion it's meant to be served as a soup. ramen + X de jour is an entree

How to Eat Ramen:
http://www.okctalk.com/food-restaura...n-noodles.html

[westsidesooner]

So......everyone ate ramen noodles except me I guess. We (my 4 roommates and I) survived on Bread and every concievable way to fix Mac and cheese. With Bologna, Hamburger, Tuna, even Spam once or twice. (gag reflex) We always shopped at the little grocery store at 2nd and boulevard in Edmond.....dont know if its still there. The bread we could buy for 4 loaves per dollar and the M&C was about10-25 cents a box. To this day I can't stand tuna casserole. Hot shredded mushy fish substance. Im making myself sick thinking about it. On a good day we raided one of my roommates mothers fridge......she was a lifesaver.

[OKCMallen]

I ate a lot of Ramen toward the end of law school...

[NativeOkie]

I used to go to the Sams or Costco and get free samples at lunch time from the ladies. Hit it right and you had a smorgasbord.

[tuck]

Happy hour: Large beer, $1.00 and tons of free wings and cheese tots. Could usually get out of there for 8 bucks....

[Midtowner]

Westside--I never had Ramen in college. In fact, I've never had ramen. And I intend to keep it that way!

I ate well in college. I won't lie; I ate Hamburger Helper and various boxed meals but I also did my fair share of real cooking. But I didn't live in the dorms, either

[AFCM]

I'd stay away from Ramen if possible. While cheap, those things are loaded with saturated fat and sodium, while empty in nutrition. I'm actually glad this question was asked because I'm always looking for an opportunity to pump beans.

What's not to say about beans? Pound-for-pound, beans are the undisputed champion of antioxidants, with just over 13,000 milligrams of antioxidants per serving (compare that to your green tea, hippie). Additionally, legumes are ladened with fiber (14 grams of dietary fiber per serving) and protein (seven grams per serving), while laying goose eggs in the fat and cholesterol content. Oh, and you can buy one pound of beans (about 13 servings!) for less than a dollar almost anywhere in the metro, which comes out to about $0.07 to $0.08 per serving. In addition to being extremely cheap, beans consists mostly of protein and fiber, which means you will feel satisfied longer while filling up on one of the healthiest foods known to man. Lastly, they're remarkably easy to prepare and recook for a quick, microwaved snack. Simply boil the beans in hot water for about 10 minutes, drain and repeat. (The more you boil and rinse, the more you will soften the beans and purge them of their "gassy" carbohydrates) Afterward, place the beans in a slow-cooker, add your favorite spices and ingredients and cook overnight. That's it!

From experience, I would highly recommend stocking up on beans. For less than 10 cents per serving, you can load up on protein and carbs/fiber while virtually eliminating unnecessary fat and cholesterol from your diet. So sing along...let's have beans for every meal!

[HSC-Sooner]

After AFCM's post, global emissions of methane increased by 200%.

Kidding aside though, beans are cheap and nutritious.

[Jon27]

Ramen, Pizza Rolls, Hot Pockets, Spaghetti O's, Natty Light

[AFCM]

After AFCM's post, global emissions of methane increased by 200%.

That may be, but now some college guy can attend class on a full stomach and maintain enough ammunition to request everyone in class pull his finger. If that's not a college experience, I don't know what is.

[bristolscene]

Still on this diet haha.

Of course, cost-wise nothing beats Ramen. However, I love to cook and eat so I am willing to spend a bit more but still keep it cheap.

Right now I don't have a kitchen which makes things harder, but I asked for one of those Xpress 101s (from the infomercials---I know! haha) b/c I was curious if they were good or not and I was really surprised! I love it.

I buy eggs and make omelettes or sandwiches with bagels. I also buy tortillas, Bar S sausage links and barbecue sauce to make some good wraps.

Every once in a while if I'm at a friend's house I'll cook up something a bit more fancy. Soon I'll be at my own apartment, though which will make things ten times easier.

I'm a huge fan of pasta. I fix a lot of that. And I am a sucker for Spanish food so I fix that too.

[HSC-Sooner]

I found that one of the best ramen ever is Shin Ramyun. The soup base is spicy but the best part is the thick noodle. You can find them at the asian market on Classen. My old roommate got me hooked on them and in turn, I got a few of my friends hooked on them.

Shin Ramyun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

These are great when you add an egg to the noodles while cooking for poached eggs and ramen.

[NativeOkie]

No one has mentioned SPAM O LOT.
must have been a different time.

[NativeOkie]

I forgot the all you can eat buffet, or filling the stamps on the subway card. whoo hoo pay day!

[bristolscene]

No one has mentioned SPAM O LOT.
must have been a different time.

Oh, man! I forgot! I actually do eat SPAM hehe. It's actually really good; it just tastes like rather salty ham.

I make nachos with it. I put some ground up SPAM and cheese on top of tortilla chips and microwave. It's really good.

[Richard at Remax]

Lots of rice and grilled chicken. And taco bell.

Gotta love the foreman grill though. One can come up with very interesting ideas with one of those and some time.