Cheap meals I ate in college | Cook with me on a budget

My name is Christine, and welcome to Frugal Fit Mom! Today we are doing a throwback to the cheap foods I ate in college. I hope you enjoy this stroll down memory lane!

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[sherlynpatterson]

Fun video idea: give each child a five dollar meal challenge they have to plan and cook for the family dinner. Will be interesting to see what they have learned and how they succeed.

[maggiepasour]

This is late but I’m on a frugal fit marathon. I am currently a senior in college and here are my go to meals.

Boiled or scrambled eggs on toast. (You can scramble an egg in a mug and microwave it for a minute if you don’t have a stove) add salt and pepper, and it’s amazing


Mac and cheese (I usually get Annie’s but I also sometimes get the 34 cent boxes at Walmart when I’m real short on money) I literally always have milk and butter so this is my lazy meal. Sometimes I eat it with chicken nuggets or bbq meatballs but mostly I just eat it by itself tbh

BBQ meatballs and mashed potatoes. I have instant mashed potatoes and you can literally just throw the meatballs in the oven, air fryer or microwave with bbq sauce and grape jelly. It’s great, add caned green beans or steamed broccoli if you are craving a veggie

Breakfast sandwiches, microwave one egg for a minute (add a slice of cheese for the last like 20 sec), get the already cooked bacon that you microwave and then toast an English muffin or bagel. It’s amazing

Grits are a staple when I’m super low on money. I always eat it with eggs and toast and it’s very filling

Pasta! I eat so much pasta. I have an apartment with a kitchen so I usually just make Alfredo sauce from scratch with chicken and broccoli. You can also use jarred pasta sauce

Chicken Parmesan with frozen chicken nuggets. Just nuggets, sauce, and cheese; throw it in the oven, cook some noodles and there’s dinner.

Cream of chicken soup pasta. Egg noodles, a can of cream of chicken soup and chicken if you have any. Serve it with a veggie

Biscuit tacos. Brown hamburger meat, drain it, and add taco sauce. Bake biscuits on the bottom of a muffin tin to create cups. Put your meat in the biscuits and top it with cheese. Melt the cheese in the oven and it makes like 2-3 meals. (1 can of biscuits and 1 lb of hamburger meat)

[jaredfromhr]

Frugal fit kids: if you're doing any camera work or helping in a video, make sure to put on your resume "interned with local entertainment company" (Frugal fit Cinematic Universe?) and write down all the tasks aka skills you learned. It's really good for college/honors program applications as well as jobs and whatnot!

[thesweethunnybunn]

I’m currently in college and 4 of us rent a 3 bedroom house. I grew up cooking with my mom so all of us split the cost of things like flour, eggs, and milk and then I make things like bread or waffles and then freeze them. It’s cheaper and healthier than eggos and we know all the ingredients in it. We also frequent the clearance isle and discount store down the street.

[IsabellaGracen]

When I was growing up and we'd go through a time when things were super tight, my mom fed us cocoa and toast for breakfast. The cocoa was homemade, and was always a very special occasion type thing...so we always thought it was a magical special breakfast, when in reality we were out of food.

[Aubxee]

Thank you for the continual reassurance that it's okay to make basic, simple meals, especially when you're starting out. It's very helpful to not be looked down on for using things like knorr pasta sides or similar

[Lizquiz]

Louisiana native here. My mom made red beans like this and they were fine, but red beans are REALLY elevated by adding some thyme and sage. It gives such a depth of flavor and reminds me of red beans served in New Orleans.

[geertruidafoard]

This brings back so many memories. When I was first married 40 years ago, I got pregnant right away and we survived on generic mac and cheese, 19 cents a box and tuna cakes. Basically, a drained can of tuna, a slice of bread torn into little pieces and an egg. Shape into patties and fry in a little oil. My son came out looking just fine!

[happysmith]

This is bringing up so many college memories. My roommate and I made “spaghetti sauce” out of tomato paste, water, and garlic powder, onion powder, and dried oregano. One year I had to feed myself and my puppy on $5 for a week. Luckily eggs were on sale that week. Pup and I ate plain scrambled eggs twice a day. We were delighted when I got paid so I could buy us some more food!

[wildgooseworks]

The nonjudgmental way you approached this video was so kind. When you weren’t taught how to cook growing up and you’re on your own for the first time, it’s easy to feel ashamed for resorting to some pb and apples, but I really appreciate how you recognize that meal is sometimes a reality and that’s okay. Love the videos 😄

[sapienveneficus]

This video is taking me back. To avoid having to wash a pan to make grilled cheese, my roommates and I would toast our bread in the toaster, place the cheese between the toasted slices, and then nuking the sandwich in the microwave. No pan needed. This was the height of college laziness. Oh, whoops, efficiency.

[jocelynholmes]

I do the Parmesan pasta roni with imitation crab. I sauté the crab in some butter and make the pasta then add the crab in. Pretty darn good.

[rocketsoccer]

One of my favorite things to make in college was "burrito enchiladas" where I'd just take 4-6 of those frozen burritos, stick them in a casserole dish, and cover them in enchilada sauce I made from a budget bytes recipe (basically just 1 can of tomato paste with seasonings), sprinkle it with cheese, and bake it. It was so good! And I always had about half the enchilada sauce leftover so I could do it twice.

I also did a similar thing with perogies where I'd make "pizza perogies". Put them in a casserole dish, cover them with a can of tomato sauce, and sprinkle cheese and bake them. Perogies are so yummy and where I live in Canada you can get a bag of 30 perogies for about $3.

[rsislandcrafts]

When my husband and I were first together I made zatarains boxed rice meals a lot. Hubby loved the red beans and rice that they have. Very inexpensive and super easy to cook since everything came in the box. He also love mac-n-cheese with cooked ground beef mixed in. Cheap, easy and family friendly.

[MerryBee]

Cocoa and toast was my favorite breakfast growing up. My mom would cut my toast into 3 "sticks" and I would dunk them in the hot chocolate. It gets soggy fast, so it's dunk and eat quickly. OMG it was the best!!!

[HannahMattox]

👀👀 I got my my eyes out for Carolee in the comments 👀👀😂

[annamyers]

I used to eat Top Ramen noodles and put frozen veggies in there while it cooked. Yumm!

[erinj]

I joined the Army after high school. The first time I couldn't come home for Thanksgiving I was living off post (and newly married). I decided to cook my own turkey for the first time. I called my grandpa several times that day with questions. 😂🤣 I think he loved it though.

[marvahinspace]

Broccoli pasta dish, everybody has finished their broccoli and still have some pasta left on their plates. Love it

[TheTruthHurts]

When I was in college, I stir fried a lot of cheap veggies; I made large batches of them to eat throughout the week. I remember my first stir fry was Bell peppers and onions with oyster sauce. I ate it with rice and a fried egg. I learned to start cooking based on stir fries after that.