My Grandmother is going out of town and asked me what I need her to buy so I can eat while she is gone, and I came to the realization that I do not actually know the answer to this question. She'll be gone a week and a half, and I need to figure out how much of what I, a 23 year old college student, need to have so I can feed myself. Would anyone be able to instruct me as to what I need?
Uhhh what kind of food do you usually eat and how much? Are you going to cook for yourself? Any recipes you really like?
It depends...how many meals do you usually eat a day? What you should do is plan out what you would like to eat for each meal for the next week and a half then that way you will have plenty of food, don't forget to add something small for a snack or something just in case you get hungry.
Go by your weight and recommended calories. Don't overstock. Chances are you have plenty of non-perishable or frozen foods available. If anything, just get some bread, milk, and eggs, then some vegetables/meat to suit your tastes.
Get some cereal, or whatever you have for breakfast, two loaves of bread (freeze one), some of whatever you might put on sandwiches, and some veg, protein sources, and pasta for every day you'll be alone. It's rudimentary, but you sound like you haven't done much of this before, and you need to get used to how you take care of yourself before making things interesting.
Yes, I am a little surprised you're 23 and asking such a question. But I shouldn't judge because my family are quite dedicated to home cooking, so I learned quickly what are the necessary ingredients for meals.
Get some cereal, bread, Easy Mac/soup, since those things are easy to make (hence the name :lol, cheap, and will keep you filled for a while.
Cereal and milk, Ramen noodles, and bread. Anything else is just extra. Those three (technically, four) things, can be bought easily, and they can last quite a while. I've had times, where all I ate was cereal, 3 times a day, for a week, just to cut back and save on some money. Crackers and peanut butter are an option, too, as each can be purchased, fairly cheaply, and one box of crackers can last, if you eat some every day, a few days.
Apart from the already aforementioned cereal, milk, noodles, bread. I would like to add - frozen foods, like paella for example, fish, stuff that you can put in an oven, pizza, etc... As well as canned products. Go for stuff that is in bigger portions but smaller quantities and can be "cooked" in ~10-15 minutes at most. Personally, i'd stick to just, noodles, pizza, canned beans, some random frozen meat, paella. Also, they have these rice mixes, where you boil the rice and the mix and it becomes quite good. Risotto and stuff, depending on what you get. They are cheap, fill you up and the portions are quite huge.
Did You Know Instant Ramen Noodles Were This Bad For You? | Care2 Causes You might think about: -tomatoes -onions -salad, cucumber -bread, maybe dark, whole grain -cans of red beans, beans, lentils -apples, oranges -a few soup cubes (I'd go with organic at least here... usually no flavour enhancers...) -pickles -brown sugar -honey -butter -cereal mixtures -eggs -is there enough pepper, salt, oil for cooking there ?
Its hard to give quantities... because of your personal preferences. How often do you like cereals for breakfast or as a snack, for example ?
a shit ton of bananas and apples. easy to eat and they last a while. you could go with noodles+cereal+shit. OR, you could take this as an opportunity to learn to cook REAL food for yourself.
Thanks. After taking stock of food supplies, I got coffee, chicken, potatoes, beef, bread, and a bunch of little things. I found a ton of ramen, oatmeal, and chili, and still have a half pound of cheese and plenty of herbs and spices. The issue is that I don't have money for a few weeks, so Grandma is buying. We live a five minute walk from the supermarket, so I buy things one or two at a time as the need for them arises or my whims decree. Actually planning out my shopping to last this long is new to me.
If it were me, I would get frozen chicken breasts, quinoa/brown/wild rice, frozen broccoli, and other veggies. I could live off that for most dinner haha. If you're lazy you can cook up about 3-4 days worth of dinners at once and refrigerate and reheat them. That was my plan if I went off to college (but I commute). You don't have to worry about overstocking because it won't go bad quickly. Also can get ground beef or fish and freeze it. Eggs too. Cereal and yogurt for breakfast. Can get some bread and stuff for sandwiches. Most of the stuff I said won't go bad very quickly, except maybe bread... but refrigerated bread seems to never go bad for me... after a month it still seems okay usually which seems odd! But anyways, since they last a while if you have more than enough for 15 days it won't be wasted.
