Student Meals - Quick, Easy, Yummy, and Healthy

Students are really screwed when it comes to getting a quick meal on the go.  If they go with the frozen quick meal, like Hot Pockets, they are generally getting a pocket of fat and greasy "stuff".  Check the ingredients and the nutritional contents and see for yourself.  I think a cold Pop Tart would be just as healthy, which isn't saying much.

Then you have fast food.  Can you blame the student?  Really?  Classes start at just after the sun rises, and before that during the winter, and a nice hot breakfast to eat while you drive may sound pretty good.  (we won't get into the dangers of eating and driving right now) Sausage, egg and cheese biscuit with some hash browns and a juice, would be seen as a healthy meal to most high school and college students.  And then grab that burger, fries and soda after class, on the way to work or sports - what do you have here?  The great start to many diseases that may not even hit them til they are well into adulthood.

So - what is the answer here?  I was faced with this question personally just a few weeks ago with one of my grand daughters.  She is a full time student at a very tough university (18 credit hours), works part time (20 hours a week) and is involved in two sports.  Add in the home work and pet responsibilities and you have the student who needs to find a way to live and eat healthy.

Here's what we did the week prior to the beginning of school.  We made breakfast, lunch and dinners for the student on the go, utilizing the good ole' Food Saver to preserve them, make them easy to heat up and stuffed the freezer. 

Here's a few of the items we made.

 

Muffin pan pancakes.  These are great and so darn simple.   Mix up your favorite pancake batter for this quick breakfast.  Using buttery non-stick spray or bit of oil, coast the muffin pan, add your batter until it is about 2/3 full.  Gather your favorite add ins, such as bacon, fruit, nuts, or even chocolate chips and sprinkle on top.  no need to mix in.  Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 12 to 15 minutes.  Let cool only for a few minutes and slide right out.  * Follow sealing tips found below.

Another possibility is using a muffin top pan.  The pancakes are a bit thinner, cook a little faster and may be more to the liking of some. 

Another breakfast - and a favorite, is the breakfast burrito.  We make a combination of stuffings, always starting with the scrambled eggs.  Most of the time we include some crispy tater tots, a bit of ham, and either a bit of salsa or milk gravy.  Once we get that all rolled up, we toast it on each side in the frying pan and set aside to cool. Again, following the sealing tips below. 

One more breakfast, since we all know that it is so darn important.  

The basic scrambled egg with yummy add ins.  For this kid, we did spinach, onions, a little cheese and a few with mushrooms.  (The scrooms ones were actually for me)  Again, we start by greasing the muffin pan before filling.  Mix all ingredients in a bowl and pour the mixture into the pan, filling to the top.  This isn't going to rise so go ahead and fill-er up.  Bake at about 350 degrees until a tooth pick poked into the center comes out clean.  The time varies greatly on the added ingredients.  I would say it took about 15 minutes for most of ours.  Allow the egg muffins to cool completely before removing from the pan.  I know you are tired of reading this, but - follow the sealing tips below for best results.  Believe me, I have practiced a lot on getting this sealing down to a science.  

I have a ton more items that we made but will cover more of them next week.  For now I will show you just one more that is great for lunch or dinner.  Meat Loaf !

I am not even going to attempt to tell you how to make your meat loaf.  Most people have their favorite recipe and any of them will work just fine.  If you don't have a recipe, just click HERE and you will be bounced to a site with some suggestions.  

So - here we are with the greased muffin pans again and a baking sheet.  I do spray these pans with a non stick spray because we use the lowest fat content possible and add in a tiny bit of brown sugar so, there could be some sticking.  The muffin pan loaf is perfect for that quick, on the go lunch and for some, the size is plenty.  A large muffin pan can be used for larger loafs.  The patties are perfect for making the meat loaf sandwich, and much like the Thanksgiving turkey, the left overs made into a sandwich is the best part.  Any shape freezes great.  I add a bit of  seasoned sweet tomato sauce to the top about half way through cooking so I do put this  in a plastic freezer container to freeze.  

* Now for THE TIP on using the Food Saver on squishy foods that you don't want to squish.  This is just the way that I have found best and if you have any better ideas, please let me know. 

I am lucky to have a model that has three settings; seal only, a 1 setting and a 2 setting.  You decide if you need a one or a two depending on how difficult it may be to get all the air out.  I start with the setting on the one; I allow the machine to suck the air out just to the point of the 'beginning squish' and then I switch to seal only, and the machine does just that.  Stops right in it's tracks and just seals.  Works great for me.  Also, I do a bit of freezing before using the Food Saver if there is a lot of liquid involved.  I'll talk more about that when I do the next post on feeding this super busy student.  

Check back in a few days for more quick, easy and healthy meals for the student, or adult, who is always on the run.