I am not convinced of the accuracy of the young people eating instant ramen stereotype, it's a point of pride for me that I never once ate it in college (though I also never pulled an all nighter, my mistakes were in other areas) but my substitute was frozen pizza which is probably not much better. But I am positive that it is harder than it seems to feed yourself in any sort of sensible way as a young adult. We've got four things working against us: we don't have much money, we don't have regular schedules, we don't have much practice, and we're usually cooking and shopping for one so if we aren't careful everything is constantly going bad before we can eat it. I've been off the meal plan life for four years, so I've figured out some good tricks, but I still eat a lot of frozen pizza.
For breakfast I buy something to toast (bread, bagels, English muffins) and some protein having thing to smear on it (peanut or almond butter, cream cheese, with jelly if I'm feeling fancy) cereal, a fruit, almond milk (I know, I'm contributing to the drying of the state of California, but non dairy milks keep longer!) Sometimes I hard boil some eggs in advance, and pick up some hearty granola bars for when I'm in a real rush. I just combine these items however I want each morning. And often again at lunch time.
My tried and true dinner method is grain+veggies+optional protein+sauce. I buy my vegetables frozen- they don't go bad and come already mixed up. I don't use recipes, I use equations- rice+stir fry medley+ pre made stir fry sauce. Pasta+broccoli+alfredo. Quinoi+kale and carrots+butter. It's cheap, the components don't go bad, it takes hardly any cooking skill, only requires one or two pots, and reheats well for more meals.
My other favorite meals are "microwave all taco related ingredients in a bowl and dip chips in it,"canned soup, "I'll just eat what the kids are having," the hot bar at Stop and Shop as cheap takeout alternative "leftovers from my roommates work at a restaurant," salads, "church potluck," whatever is in my apartment that I can melt cheese over, frozen taquitos from Trader Joes, and of course, "ugh, let's just go out."
Lets not stress about working our way through The Art of French Cooking and instead try to learn how to cook a new thing every, like, whenever you have time. I'll leave you with my express lane shopping list (12 items or less). You can try it my way, or watch this space, as I'll be featuring a guest post by a nutrition expert on how she feeds herself well on the cheap.
Cereal
A thing to toast
Peanut butter
Eggs
Frozen Veggies
Rice or Pasta
Almond milk
Salad (I just get a mixture of greens from the salad bar)
Apples or Bananas (the cheapest fruits, and apples keep well in the fridge)
Sauce to match my veggies
Cheese (always)
Refried Beans
