Easy Recipes for Bachelors

It's widely known that as teenagers leave the house, move into their dorms, and go to college, their eating habits switch from home-cooked meals to fast food, convenience taking priority over health as kids enter the adult life. These eating habits, not surprisingly, go with us as we exit college and move on into our adult lives, and quite frequently single bachelors - and even some families - turn to take-out and delivery to provide them with meals that only seem to become more and more unhealthy - and more and more of a drain on their wallet.

Cooking for yourself takes very little effort - a stove, a pot or pan to cook in, and twenty minutes of your time can make even the simplest of home-cooked meals that not only are delicious, but much healthier. It doesn't even take more than $5-$10 to make a meal for an entire family, and still have leftovers to take to work the next morning.

Listed are a few of the many "recipes" that can turn those cans of vegetables and leftover meats into something more grand:

Chicken and Rice - Quite a simple recipe, and extremely flexible depending on how you want to make it. Take a 6oz. box of curry rice - any rice will suffice, but curry gives it a good kick - and prepare the rice according to the box's directions. After around 15 minutes of simmering, stir in a drained 10oz. can of chicken breast and drained cans of vegetables you want to eat with your meal - peas make an excellent addition! - making sure not to add more than a few cans of vegetables (doing so will end up flooding your meal with too many vegetables). Simmer the concoction for about another 10-15 minutes, until the liquid's fully absorbed from the rice and the ingredients are tender. Ta-da!

Tuna Pot Pie - Another quick and easy recipe to make, this time in the oven. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium to large bowl, mix 2 6oz. cans of tuna, a 10oz. package of mixed frozen vegetables (extremely easy to find in stores), an 11oz can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup, and any seasonings you wish to add (lemon pepper is an odd, but effective, addition to the recipe). Dump the mixture into a casserole dish (preferably at least 1.5 quarts, but a 2 quart dish works best) and top with chunks of refridgerator biscuits (a roll of biscuits that you can buy in almost any supermarket is more than sufficient). Bake for 40 minutes.

NOTE: If the roll of biscuits is big, you might not need the whole roll (maybe only half) - in that case, you can always bake the rest on a cookie sheet and have hot biscuits with your meal!

Instant Goulash - In one pan, dump a 10oz. can of mixed vegetables, a 14oz. can of baked beans, a 10oz. can of vegetable broth, and seasonings of your own choice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer the contents for around 5 minutes. In another pan, prepare a 12oz. package of egg noodles (most packages come in around this size) according to the package's directions. While your egg noodles are cooking, return to your first pan of beans and vegetables, and cover the pan, cooking it over LOW heat for around 15 minutes (you want it on low heat to keep it warm while your egg noodles are cooking, but you don't want to overcook your vegetables). When your egg noodles are done, place the beans and vegetables on top, and...voila! Instant goulash that tastes just like grandma's cooking!

All-In-One - In a medium to large pan, dump in a 14oz. can of whole potatoes, a 14oz. can of green beans, and cubed chunks of ham (perfect for all that leftover ham after the holidays!), making sure to NOT DRAIN the cans of potatoes and green beans you add in - you want the juices to saturate your food. Add in seasonings to taste (old-fashioned pepper shines in this department), and heat the mixture until the liquid starts to boil. Reduce heat to LOW, then simmer for 5-10 minutes until the ingredients are thoroughly cooked.

NOTE: This recipe is extremely flexible - you can add in any or all the meats you want, from bacon to chicken and even turkey! This recipe is wonderful just after the holidays, as it provides a quick and easy way to use those leftover potatoes, meat, and gravy.

The key to eating as a bachelor is to be simple - you don't have to have a complex way of making things to have a meal worthy of being called "dinner" and not "take-out". Most foods in the average bachelor's cupboard can be stocked with these simple ingredients for under $20 or $30, and provide meals for an entire week with little effort on the chef's part.

Happy eating!