Quick Recipes to Cook During School

Tina

I am someone who loves cooking: it's therapeutic, fun, and tasty. That being said, cooking takes time and when you're in the midst of studying, working, and managing extracurricular activities, its easy to forget that eating is important. Reaching for snacks becomes more convenient than breaking out the pots and pans, but it's not always healthier. So how does one make time to eat healthy foods? The answer: meal prepping!

Meal prepping is one of the best ways to save time during the semester because you have a large amount of food that can last for a long time. Personally, I spend three-four hours a week to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner, leaving plenty of time to study. Here are some of my favorite recipes for each meal of the day:

Breakfast

Vegan Chocolate Chip Pancakes (45 min - 1 hr)

The best thing about these pancakes is that you can make 20 at once, freeze them, and quickly pop them in the oven for a quick meal in the mornings. The Pretty Bee has a great recipe for these pancakes, which can be found here.

Egg White Mushroom Spinach Omelet (15 min)

Omelets are perfect for days when you just want something hot and comforting. They aren't the best for meal prepping but its quick to make when you want something fresh.

Ingredients:

• Egg whites

• Mushrooms

• Spinach (Fresh is great but frozen is more convenient for shelf life)

• Salt

• Pepper

• Oil

• Optional: Cheese, tortilla (if you want to turn this into a burrito instead, it freezes well!)

Instructions:

1. Set pan on medium heat. Pour in enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

2. Pour in mushrooms and cook them. Then take the mushrooms out and cook your spinach. Take the spinach out and set it aside.

3. Pour in more oil into the pan.

4. Add your egg whites -- the amount you want to add depends on how big an omelet you'd like.

5. Cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat down to medium-low so the bottom of the omelet does not burn.

6. Once the omelet starts to look like it is puffing up, uncover the lid and add in the mushrooms and spinach. At this point, you could also add the optional cheese. Also add in the salt and pepper. Cover the pan with the lid again so that the cheese has time to melt.

7. After covering for ~2 minutes, check the omelet again to see if everything has cooked through. Fold the omelet in half using a spatula and serve onto a plate. Enjoy!

Instant Oatmeal (5 min)

Perhaps the quickest breakfast option of the three; instant oatmeal is cheap and you can customize it to your preference.

Ingredients:

• Instant Oatmeal

• Hot Water

• Optional: Milk, Brown sugar, egg* (don't knock the egg in oatmeal until you try it, it's tasteless if brown sugar is added to the oatmeal - plus it's an easy way to sneak some protein into your diet for the day)

Instructions:

1. Boil enough water for your oatmeal and pour in your oatmeal.

2. Add in milk and brown sugar to preference.

3. Crack an egg in towards the end of the cooking process and mix it around the oatmeal with a fork. Make sure that the egg is cooked in the oatmeal before taking it off the stove.

Lunch

Pesto Bowtie Pasta w/Zucchini and Mushrooms (35 min)

This easy recipe makes enough pasta for about 3-5 meals depending on how much you like to eat. Although pasta is a good meal prep food, I wouldn't recommend keeping it in the fridge too long otherwise it starts to get stale.

Ingredients:

• 1 jar of Trader Joe's Pesto Sauce

• 1 box of Walmart Great Value Bowtie Pasta

• 1 container mushrooms

• 1 zucchini

• Optional: Cheese

Instructions:

1. Boil your pasta.

2. In a separate pan, cook the mushrooms. Cook the zucchini afterwards.

3. Mix the pasta, zucchini, and mushrooms together.

4. Add the pesto sauce to your liking.

5. Enjoy!

Stir-fried Soy Sauce Noodles (30 min for larger batches)

I think noodles are perfect for meal-prepping because they take a short amount of time to cook and soak up sauces and cling to any spices that get added to them. My favorite recipe for noodles is from Tiffy Cooks, which can be found here. If you are wondering where you can locate Asian ingredients in Binghamton, I recommend Kim's Oriental Grocery Store on Vestal Parkway, Hang Phat Market on Main Street in Westside, or Uncle's Asian Market, which is right by Decker.

Wraps (15 minutes)

Wraps are super easy meals to make and they are extremely customizable. Here are examples of different wraps I like to make:

• Turkey, mozzarella, arugula

• Turkey, mozzarella, avocado, lettuce

• Roast beef, pepperjack cheese, lettuce, avocado

• Egg salad, lettuce, cheese

Dinner

Chicken Thighs, Breast, or Drumsticks (1 hr - 1.5 hr)

I like chicken because its a versatile protein that can be cooked in a lot of different ways. If you are someone who isn't too keen on making your own seasonings, the good news is that it's easy to purchase an affordable sauce or seasoning mix to flavor the chicken. I like Trader Joe's Peri Peri Sauce, Kinder's Fajita Sauce, and Spicewalla brand seasonings. There isn't one exact recipe for this but I will provide general techniques for cooking chicken that you won't get bored of!

Ways to cook your chicken:

• Cube them, cook chicken (breast or thigh) WITH salt and pepper (sauce alone will not provide the saltiness desired; always taste though!), and toss them in a sauce afterwards

• Cube them, marinate chicken (breast or thigh) in sauce or sauces, and cook afterwards. If marinating, keep in mind that marinades do not need to be that long, no longer than 30 minutes

  • *Bonus: one of my favorite marinades: light soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper, salt, sugar, sesame oil. Some cooking wine to pour over the chicken after it has mostly cooked through will add an extra depth of flavor.

  • *Bonus #2: One time I marinated chicken breast in a mustard sauce for 2 hours and pan fried it afterwards. The smell of that chicken was amazing.

• Brining: Brining allows the salt to penetrate the inside of the chicken well so you can get enough of that flavor throughout. It definitely takes a lot of time though. Chicken breast is the best option for this method.

• Baking: A great way to cook a lot of chicken at once! Make sure if you do this, you lather the chicken in enough oil so that it crisps well and that it is seasoned appropriately. I like baking chicken drumsticks -- they always turn out crispy and delicious!

Pan-fried Tofu (3 hr 15 min prep*, 15 min cook*)

I am a huge fan of tofu and I love how flavorful this recipe from Chef Lucas Sin is. Here is the link to that recipe here. I usually make double the recipe because of how much I love tofu.

Easy Noodle Soup, Fuzhou Style (10 min)

The soup base for this recipe is a staple of Fuzhou cuisine, and it's perfect for days when you are too tired to cook an actual meal.

Ingredients:

• Any kind of noodle - I usually use some type of rice noodle but something like spaghetti could be used as a substitute

• Scallions

• Light Soy Sauce

• Vinegar - If possible, use black vinegar for a stronger flavor but white vinegar is fine too

• Chicken bouilllon

• White Pepper

Instructions:

1. Fill a pot with enough water to cover your noodles. Toss in the noodles once the water boils.

2. While the noodles are boiling, pour in some light soy sauce and vinegar in a bowl. Add some chicken bouillon and white pepper to taste. Add your desired amount of scallions.

3. Once the noodles finish boiling, take the noodles off the heat and pour the boiling water into the bowl - the contents of the bowl are now a flavorful broth.

4. Add the noodles to the bowl of broth and stir the contents a little.

5. Enjoy your easy noodle soup.

Final Words: Please take care of your health during nursing school. There are more important things than studying and when you physically feel healthy, you can be a better nurse for your patients and coworkers. In my opinion, one always feels better when they are feasting on tasty food!