Noodle Necessities

The average college student should forgo asking family and friends for things like stereo equipment and gaming systems as presents. Stretching the usefulness out of electronics and clothes from one's high school years is strongly recommended. 

 

The best way to pinch your pennies is in the sustenance department.

 

You gotta eat, people.

 

Students will spend too much on one meal, meaning they have nothing for the next day — and let's be honest, how many of us forget to eat the leftovers that slide to the back of the fridge until they become a new life form.

 

Once the money is gone, the hunger sets in. But it doesn't have to be that way. 

 

There are quick and easy remedies to the situation — and cheap, of course.

 

My mother-in-law suggests doing as she did in college — rationing. Only eat two pieces of bacon, one egg and fill up on bread — the cheap stuff. On the other hand, my father suggests buying Ramen noodles and peanut butter in bulk.

 

Personally, if I have bacon, I am eating all the bacon. So I lean more toward the "staples" — foods that can be stretched to many meals. 

 

Peanut butter is one of these staples. It is cheap, filling and very versatile. You can just dip a spoon into the jar and smack your lips for an hour, or spread it on apples, celery, crackers or bread. I had a friend who even melted it on hamburgers and swore it was the best sandwich she ever ate. Remember, Elvis loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches. And if it's good enough for the king, it's good enough for me.

 

In the spirit of peanut butter burgers, an apparently random combination of foods sometimes produces an unexpectedly tasty meal. I recall a late-night study session my first semester when my study partner and I were at a loss for a midnight snack. As the clock neared 2 a.m. and our tummies began to grumble, and since I lived in a town that rolled up the sidewalks at 9 p.m., I started pillaging my empty cabinets for any morsel of sustenance.

 

Twenty minutes later, I returned with a bowl of steaming cheesy goodness. We ate heartedly and my study buddy remarked that she had never thought to put broccoli in mac and cheese. While I didn't think this was an unusual dish, I informed my "I-never-eat-veggies-except-broccoli" companion that cheesy broccoli was yummy, but that she was eating spinach and cheese.

 

She replied, "But I don't eat spinach,' and I replied, "You just did." Eventually, our tummies were full and her preferred palate was expanded all because we were low on groceries.

 

Another late-night entrée produced out of thin air is the "midnight slinger." This might not sound appetizing, but the greasy goodness of chili and potatoes really fills an empty stomach. 

 

Another time, I was up late studying flashcards, when my non-collegiate friends stopped by after their late-night outing to check on me. They were extra jovial after communing with liquid happiness for four hours and were famished.

 

Once again, on my meager budget, I was sorry to say I had nothing to offer. After some grumbling and promises to help me finish studying, I went digging in my seemingly bare cupboards once again.

 

Many moons before this incident, I had worked at an all-night diner, and our late-night clientele would often order a "midnight slinger," which wasn't on the menu. It looked like a heaping pile of dog — let's say food — but I soon found out it could satisfy any appetite.The recipe called for hash browns layered with chili and cheese, bacon or sausage and white gravy, all topped with your choice of egg.

 

That night, I ended up with one hand full of frozen tater tots and one hand full of almost freezer-burned french fries. Trying to recreate the greasy goodness of years past and feed three people, I took the recently discovered frozen potatoes and diced them up into a frying pan. I happened to have some leftover taco meat that I mixed with a can of ranch-style beans. Each of us got a third of a piece of melted American cheese (I only had one slice) and one egg on top.

 

My impromptu guests were concerned with the looks of my concoction, but were soon praising the chef as they shoveled in the sloppy mess that satisfied their insatiable hunger.

 

If one is too poor to even have leftovers, Ramen noodles are cheap, easy, and can be found in almost every college kid's cupboard. But one should not be forced to endure Ramen-only meals and then never be able to face the 5-cent-a-pack staple again, like my husband did with snack cakes. One month, when he was a little strapped for cash, he subsisted on three Little Debbie snacks and one 32 ounce Dr. Pepper a day — basically living off of $1.75 a day. Luckily, he didn't go into a diabetic coma, but I have never seen him near a snack cake in the past14 years.

 

To mix up a primarily noodle-themed dinner menu, experiment with the variety of flavors they come in and the different ways to cook them. My aunt makes a Ramen noodle salad with bean sprouts and sesame seeds, but that may be too expensive a dish for these purposes. But one does have the choice of making soupy noodles, dry noodles, long noodles or short noodles. If you find yourself with extra cash, you can have cheesy noodles or meaty noodles by cutting up a piece of cheese or a hot dog into your bowl of Ramen. If no extra dollars are available, shake the last few cheesy-poof crumbs out of the bag and throw them on top of your steaming noodles — they melt into a cheese-like sauce.

 

Anyone can make a gourmet meal given the right ingredients. If the participants in "Hell's Kitchen" want to impress me, they should go the Ramen route. 

 

But one cannot survive on Ramen alone. Although my father-in-law did do something similiar during his college years in the late '60s. His diet primarily consisted of a package of saltines and one 16 ounce "Lotta Cola." He says it is a very filling snack —especially when the cola hit the crackers in his tummy — and he still enjoys both. 

 

But I digest — digress?

 

I am not suggesting college students throw nutrition out the window. It is possible to eat tasty treats on a student's budget. 

 

Remember, college life doesn't last forever. Enjoy your noodles while you can.