I need some foods to cook that are VERY good and low in ingredients..?

Question

I am out of school for three weeks from yesterday, for the past few years all i have eaten is Ramen and microwaved foods. i'm sick of it. i need some easy, low ingredanced food to cook. something that is VERY GOOD but isn't like a tv dinner.

Answer 1

I had a cookbook once called:
"The Impoverished Student's Cookbook"

Lots of things that you can do with, rice, pasta, dry beans & stir fried vegetables.

To get some ideas about what you can do with DRY BEANS, see:
http://www.americanbean.org/RecipeBook/Home.htm

The biggest thing to remember about cooking cheap is to have a well stocked spice rack. Anything can taste good if you use the right spices.

The same thing (rice for example) can taste DIFFERENT if you use different spices each time you make it.

If you are a real MEAT EATER -- get the cheapest cut. You can do amazing things by marinating cheap cuts of meat! If there is a Chinese market in your area, take a look at their meat department. You can do great things with hearts, tongue, kidneys, brains and other offal.

Discounted ground beef & ground chicken (about to reach the expiration date) makes great meat loaf! For meat loaf, store-brand oatmeal is cheaper than bread crumbs!

To find a recipe based on what you have in the house, see:
http://allrecipes.com/Search/Ingredients.aspx
.
One of my favorites is:

PASTA CABBONARA :

Spaghetti,
Crisp Bacon (save the grease)
LOTS of parmisan cheese
LOTS of ground black pepper.
Pour some bacon grease onto the cooked pasta (to make the cheese stick to it.)
Mix well.
Add cheese, crumbled bacon and pepper.
Mix well.
If it looks like you added WAY TOO MUCH cheese and pepper, it's probably just about right.
ENJOY!
.

Answer 2

Baked potato with your choice of broth and butter, broth and butter and cheese, broccoli and cheese, canned chicken and butter or broth, spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese, tuna and cheese, the choices are endless. Onions are also a good garnish on baked (microwaved) potatoes.

Spaghetti with hamburger is always good. Zio Johno's has that as an excellent inexpensive menu item that is great.

Salad. Buy the fresh field greens and add onion, sliced almonds, sliced oranges, sliced apples and cheese.

I have a cookbook called the Four Ingredient Cookbook that you might want to search for. It truly has a huge amount of recipes that call for only four ingredients.

Toast with melted cheese and tuna, or better yet on an english muffin.

Celery and peanut butter. Apples and peanut butter.

Egg in a basket is one of our family's standbys: Put butter in a small frying pan. Break out a hole in the center of a piece of bread and put the bread in the pan. Crack an egg into the hole. Brown, then turn and brown again. You can break the yolk if you want it hard.

Answer 3

OK, here are a few suggestions:

Bake salmon steaks in a tin-foil pouch (just fold it over and seal the edges) along with chopped-up onions and garlic. I did this at college all the time. Try about 350F, and bake about 20-30 minutes - times vary with different ovens, different sized steaks, etc. - just open the pack and cut a bit off and see if it's cooked to your taste.

To go along with it, boil some spaghetti and drain it just as it's done to your taste. In a frying pan, heat some oil with garlic and a pinch of red pepper. When it sizzles, add the spaghetti and mix to coat.

My chief suggestion is to not forgo salt - too many people do, but then wonder why their food doesn't taste as good as the take-out or instant noodles.

Good luck! Remember, it's cooking, not science, so be willing to experiment and change things!

Answer 4

It would be fun to sign up for a basic cooking class. Meet a new set of friends other than those from school. Suggest Heinz Baked Beans on toast as very nutritious, or sardines on toast as very easy food for beginners. Use sardines in water or tomato sauce, and mash with a few dashes of malt vinegar and white pepper, put on toast and heat under grill. Delicious brain food! Buy a good basic cookery book, it's a good investment now.You'll need to know in detail how to boil an egg. Buy basic kitchen equipment, you'll need it later when your cooking becomes more advanced. Good luck. Bon appetit!

Answer 5

buy a yellow rice pack and a bag of frozen veggies such as mixed veggies or corn. I usually do these in the microwave in the same dish. It is wonderful. Really nutritious meal with little work. Hope you like it. :-) Also soups are very quick to cook up...meat veggies and potatoes or noodles...evaporated milk can turn any soup into a cream soup too. Enjoy.

Answer 6

try this web site there are 400 5 ingredient recipes
http://busycooks.about.com/od/fiveingredientsorless/a/500fiveingredie.htm
here are a couple
Creamy Italian Chicken
Use your own Italian Salad Dressing Mix in this super easy recipe to control sodium content.
INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup butter, melted
8 oz. container cream cheese with chives, softened
10 oz. can condensed golden cream of mushroom soup
0.7 oz. pkg. Italian dressing mix or 1-1/2 Tbsp. Homemade Italian Salad Dressing Mix
1/2 cup water
PREPARATION:
Cut chicken breasts into strips and place into a 3-4 quart crockpot. In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, softened cream cheese, soup, Italian dressing mix and water and stir until blended. Pour over chicken in crockpot.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir well, then serve over hot cooked pasta or rice.
You could add vegetables to this recipe to make it a one-dish meal. A package of baby carrots, or a cup of chopped onion should be placed under the chicken and cooked for the full time. Add sliced mushrooms to the crockpot in the last 2 hours. And add sliced bell peppers or zucchini during the last hour of cooking. Serves 4-6


Old Fashioned Goulash

This simple and old fashioned five ingredient recipes is delicious and quick to make.
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups rotini pasta
1 lb. ground beef
2 onions, chopped
10 oz. can condensed tomato soup
2 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with garlic, undrained
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain. Meanwhile, cook ground beef and onion until meat is browned and onion is tender, stirring to break up meat. Drain well.

Add soup and diced tomatoes and cook for 3-5 minutes until blended, stirring frquently. Add pasta and pour into 3 quart glass casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes until bubbly and hot. 6 servings

Answer 7

here are two.

MAC AND CHEESE WITH A TWIST
all you need is
>one box of macaroni(whatever kind you like)
>one can of tomato soup
>milk
>shredded cheese(whatever u like mozzarella/chedder)
>breadcrumbs
>butter
Boil the macaroni till done, drain it and set it aside.
Pour the soup into a microwavable bowl. Fill the empty can with milk and add it to the soup. Microwave for 2 minutes and then mix it together.
Get a glass dish for baking. Put a layer of macaroni in the bottom, Sprinkle cheese on top, then pour some soup on the cheese. Keep doing layers like that until everything is used up. On the top, sprinkle a light layer of breadcrumbs and put some chunks of butter on the breadcrumbs. Bake at 350* for about 20 minutes or until its hot and bubbly. It's VERY good and SUPER simple.

YUMMY RICE
>2 cups of rice( 4 minute brown rice is best...it comes in a bag and is 2 cups and cooks in 4 minutes ..cheap, easy and yummy)
>soy sauce(u can use leftover packets from take-out food)
>veggies(frozen or fresh doesnt matter-i use onions, peas and broccolli but u can use carrots, celery, mushrooms WHATEVER u like)
>one egg(beaten)
Boil the rice, drain it and set aside.
In a frying pan, heat a little bit of oil and cook the veggies you have(frozen or fresh....doesnt matter) cook for about 4-6 minutes or until they look hot. Add the BEATEN egg and mix it around as it cooks...it will cook in under one minute...and will end up as small pieces of egg scattered throughout the veggies. Add the soy sauce(about one quarter cup/or 3 packets) you can always add more later if you'd like. Add the rice, mix together sauce and veggies and rice on LOW heat for about ONE minute. DONE yum yum YUM!

OMELETTE
>2 eggs-beaten
>milk
>sour cream
>veggies
>oil
Heat a frying pan with a little oil(like one tablespoon).
Mix the eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, one tablespoon sour cream(makes them fluffy ;0) all in a bowl. Add veggies if you like. Once everything is mixed, pour into the frying pan. dont mix it once its in there...let it cook for about 3 minutes or until the edges look like they are almost done. once the edges look cooked, lift one side of the egg and fold it over so its folded completely in half. let cook for another 2 or 3 minutes. This should be enough time for the two halfs to cook together. Flip it over, cook the other side for a few minutes...DONE! you can add cheese to it, too.

Answer 8

baked potatoes with cheese, brocolli, chopped veggies, sour cream, etc.

pasta with pasto/red sauce/etc

veggie burgers

rice mix with added beans, veggies, etc.

make a big pot of fresh hearty vegetable soup and freeze in single servings.

Do the same with lasagne. follow the directions on the box. super easy and delish. and if you make a big pan and freeze it in single servings you have home cooking for weeks!

cubes of hard cheese, sliced fruit and grapes, veggie sticks and whole wheat crackers are one of my favorite lazy but still healthy meals.

check out Rachel Ray and her 30 minute meals. The more you cook the easier it will be for you to do easy creative stuff instead of microwaving all your food. :)

Answer 9

Bake a chicken -- just put the bird in a pan at 350 for about 1.5 hrs (depending on how big the bird is).
Put a couple of sm/med potatos in there at the same time (washed and wrapped in foil).
Bagged salad w/favorite dressing.

Very simple and gooood.

Answer 10

I would suggest you make spaghetti :)
All you need to do is boil spaghetti noodles. & heat up some tomatoe sauce. That would be the simplest way. Or if you want it a little let simple, You could chop up some ground beef & olives, mushrooms & onions & put it in the sauce for more variety & flavor.
I love spaghetti!
Bon Appettite! :)