Meal planning: what might be the goal of every college student, but rarely attainable in a non-expensive fashion. However, not to worry, there is a solution at hand. Allow me to introduce to you the canned bean. Shelf stable, tasty and easy to cook with, the canned bean has none of the hassle of soaking dried beans, and still has all the reward of getting to eat beans. Truly, an incredible ingredient. Paired closely with the canned bean, is rice. Rice is incredibly versatile, anyone can make it and it fits in with countless cuisines. I would even go so far as to say it outdoes pasta in its versatility and overall yumminess. But let’s move on from what some might deem incorrect opinions to what we can do with these two ingredients on a college budget. Chili is really easy, and a very cheap option, especially with no meat. Gallo Pinto is a Costa Rican rice and bean dish that is quick and easy to make, and very tasty. Throw an egg on there and you’ve got a very nice little meal for yourself.

Unfortunately for many wallets, recipes often require spices, which are almost always very expensive. Luckily, they make up for this by making things delicious, and having pretty much no expiration date (for the most part) and you don’t use a ton at a time meaning you don’t have to restock too often. They’re also great because they can make pretty much any boring meal much more exciting.

Other simple meals that I have personally found to be very satisfying and economical are overnight oats and separately, tinned fish, both of which have been seeing an increase in popularity in recent years. Tinned fish especially is a favorite of mine, as it often pairs well with a very simple hot sauce/mayonnaise combo and potato chips.

The final key to this is the actual planning part. If you keep a stable supply of inexpensive, non-perishable ingredients in your house like canned foods, grains and frozen foods, you’ll have a great baseline to start this all out. All you need to do is pick five to six recipes that use these ingredients, that you like a lot and that you can rotate throughout the month and make in big batches so they last you a week at a time. Once you have that done, you have successfully planned your meals!