Gonna second the quesadillas. Throw some salsa on top and you’re good to go.
There are a ton of things that you can cook in less than 20 minutes, and lots in even 5-10. I’m not a gourmet cook and rarely use recipes - we often just throw a few chicken breasts, or a roast beef (good with baby potatoes), or boneless turkey breast in the crockpot, and then add a side salad or a veggie and we call that a meal. Leftover meat can be used for burritos or sandwiches the next day. I basically go shopping and just pick a variety of halfway healthy stuff that we all like and try to combine two or three of them together for each meal. See the stuff listed in #4 and #6. The prepackaged and chopped or sliced veggies are so quick and easy to use and very healthy. I usually don’t just eat one item, I’ll open them all and combine several for a nice healthy salad once a day. I like the big bags of chopped kale, julienne carrot strips, chopped cabbage, broccoli salad, snow peas, etc. Get some chip clips so you can close the bags and keep them fresh for a few days.
My kids get a lot a junk food like microwave taquitos, cup of ramen noodles, mac and cheese etc, but I encourage them to combine them with a healthy veggie or fruit. Same with tortellini, ravioli, and other pasta - we combine it with fresh fruit. I usually just drizzle our pasta with olive oil and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.
Canned white meat chicken with 5 minute rice is quick, as are omelets with bacon bits, mushrooms, cheese. Brown minute rice and refried beans is a healthy combo also.
Using a crockpot is the best! After less than 20 minutes prep you can both leave in the am and come back to a nice cooked dinner. Use a 5 qt size and you’ll likely get two dinners and some lunch leftovers as well. I’m teaching my D how to cook with one this summer so when she returns to her apartment at school this fall she’ll know a few recipes and can treat her roommates to dinner at least once weekly. These are the some of the things she hopes to make: beef stew, Indian chicken thighs with basmati, pasta sauce and meatballs, turkey chili, Coca-Cola BBQ ribs.
You can add fresh or frozen veggies, or spinach to cooked tortellini or ravioli, toss with a drizzle of olive oil and parmesan.
Another favorite with my kids is potstickers. They are good sauteed, served with salad or veggies, or you can add a few to chicken or miso style broth, along with some veggies, then sprinkle with some green onion and cilantro.
If you have more adventurous tastes, there are some good prepared sauces in jars, such as Indian style curry, Thai style red curry, that you can toss with chicken or other meat, or tofu, and whatever veggies you like, and serve over rice or quinoa, etc. I often get these jarred sauces at Trader Joe’s, but I have gotten similar ones at our other local grocery stores, too.
Mac and chese are a good base for canned tuns, left over meat and vegetables, tomatoes whatever you have. Ramen is something you else you can modify with meat, vegetables, soy sauce, egg, etc. Take leftover cooked rice and start warming in a pan, add crushed pineapple, fresh or cooked vegetables, chicken nuggets from the deli in grocery and a jar of sweet and sour sauce from the grocery.
The most forgiving and tasty can in the grocery. Stock cans of Bushes chilli magic. Get a large can of cheep tomato or two smaller (get whatever flavor or cut you prefer). Add cans of hominy, corn, and other things you like in chili. Onion and other fresh vegetables and spices. Get a pound of ground meat that is juicy like 73 per cent hamburger. I found ground pork was too dry. Brown the meat in pain, then other stuff and bring to boil. In ten minutes you have good chilli. I have made CM successfully even when raw meats is put in last and raw. Serve with taco chips, crackers, salsa, sour cream… Eggs, can get boiled and are really good, bagels, good bread, cream cheese, dressings you like. A boneless pork you can microwave or cook in the oven is good and versatile. a turkey breast is easy to roast and use. Cooked wide noodles in tomato soup or scrambled with eggs. gs scrambled eggs is good.
For baking or pancakes, I buy a brand that kooks sorta like Kruntzel. Somewhat more expensive, they are very easy to cook, use free extra ingredients you must buy, last well and taste great. You can find them at Big Lots sometimes.
In terms of taste and speed, my sister and I follow or our mother’s and grandmother’s example by combining foods and spices, tasting and adding what it needs. That way you are finding your own successful recipes.
If you like fish, how about a bag of individually frozen tilapia filets? Put a couple on a plate in the fridge before you leave in the morning, so they can safely defrost. That night, fry in a pan in butter and/or olive oil, sprinkling each side with a little garlic powder, seasoned salt, or cajun spice. Cooks in about 8 minutes.
Bagged salad is a healthy and quick side dish. Yes, it costs more than buying a head of lettuce and washing it, but you won’t waste it, you get a variety of greens in one bag, and it’s a lot less costly than buying a salad out.
Russet potatoes store well, so buy a 5 lb. bag for baked potatoes, which you can actually microwave if time is short. Prick each potato with a fork about 5-6 times, put on a plate, microwave for a total of 9-10 minutes for two medium sized potatoes.
Get a multicooker and your life will get sooooo simple. You just throw anything you have in - vegetables, meet, add rice and you are done - you have mills for a couple of days ahead
For breakfast, try one of the many “egg in a mug” recipes out there. Google them- it’s pretty inspiring!
I used to spend Sunday afternoons cooking up a big pot of soup and then something else that I could put in little containers in the fridge. Then I had lunch and dinner all week. It seems annoying to put in hours on a Sunday but given that there’s no prep or cleanup and you just microwave stuff during the week, there’s a good time savings on class days.
Other than that, I’ll second a rice cooker. And if you like to cook on the stove, get a cast iron skillet and learn how to use it. Those things are so useful. Quesadillas and the like (just cheese, or with beans and canned chilis and such) are SOOOO much better from a skillet than the microwave. And the skillets are easy to clean, you aren’t even supposed to use soap. You can just wipe them out in many cases.
I’m not in undergrad any more but nowadays, Amazon subscribe & save frees up so much time. Some items are definitely more than the grocery store but … you don’t have to go to the grocery store. Or really even have to remember to get certain things, they just show up. Things you know you’ll use no matter what - toilet paper, toothpaste, cat litter, ibuprofen, dry pasta, ketchup, etc - just set it and forget it on Amazon, except to adjust the delivery rate up or down if you run out or end up getting too much.