Sci will be hosting a Grad Student Eating in Style CARNIVAL on November 1!!! I’d like to have a cutoff for submissions on the 30th. SO, you have 18 days to give me your recipes!!!
MUST they be healthy? Not really.
MUST they be low calorie or contain veggies? Nope!
MUST they be CHEAP?!? ABSOFRAKKIN’LUTELY!!!
So submit to Sci your recipes, with list of ingredients, and a rough price point for how much it all costs. Simple is often better in these cases, and I think we can make up some delicious foods! Ramen recipes are encouraged. If you can make THAT stuff worthwhile, you’re a grad student hero!
And SPEAKING of ramen, Sci is reposting below her own, in-lab remix of Ramen, that I used to while away the late nights while I was stuck in the lab in grad school. You can make it on a hotplate or in the microwave, but PLEASE BYO glassware.
Tonight, Sci is in the lab. It’s 11:40pm, and counting. I will probably cop out shortly before 1am because I’m a chicken that way. Been here since 8am, when I found out that the freezer that stores my carefully sampled fruit slices had become unplugged the previous evening. Water all over the floor, and all of my lovely apple and orange sections are thawed. So now, Sci is here, running her samples before they go bad. Welcome to grad school.
And of course, this means that Sci can’t go home and make herself nutritious eats. However, I do my best. I’m not a fan of ordering pizza to the lab. Grad students are VERY poor, and that money adds up quick. And I like to get some veggies and lean protein in my diet when I can.
So tonight, Sci is having Lab Cuisine ™ while she runs her now-thawed samples.
To make Lab Cuisine:
1 pkg Ramen (throw that icky flavor packet AWAY)
1/2 small pkg frozen Oriental veggies (about 1 cup)
Morning Star chicken breast thingy (1)
Soy Sauce
Make Ramen as directed, discarding flavor packet. A hot plate in the lab is particularly good for this, but make sure you bring your own cooking container. Ramen in the microwave is crappy Ramen.
For veggies, stick them in microwave safe container, tightly covered, with 2 tsps water. Microwave on high 4 minutes. Result=steamed veggies.
Prep chicken according to packet instructions in microwave. On chicken, add 1 tsp of soy sauce before it goes in the microwave.
Mix ramen, veggies, and chicken together. Add soy sauce to taste.
Sounds icky, I know, but it’s really not bad. But it’s cheap! And when you are stuck in the lab til way late and hungry, you take what you can get. And this is what we keep in the lab fridge. Don’t know why the sesame oil was there, or the soy sauce, for that matter. The ramen is something that all grad students (and post-docs) keep in their desks for emergencies. The frozen stuff Sci will admit running home to get.
But it was both cheap and nutritious (sort of, the Ramen is the kind with no trans fat and the flavor packet was discarded, saving you some high sodium issues). You can also do this with couscous and spices, to avoid the high sodium of the soy sauce or Ramen flavor packet (yeah, I know you use it anyway).
Update for PRICES:
Ramen: between 15 and 25 cents a pack.
Frozen mixed veggies: usually under $2, you’ll use half.
Morningstar Vegetarian “chicken”: $4, you’ll use half.
Soy Sauce: $4, but you’ll use it forever.
Total for the hungry grad student: per Ramen, it’s around $3.50, but to start out it will be more than $10, to buy the “chicken” and the soy sauce. So the vegetarian version may be cheaper, but there’s not much nutritional value in this one to begin with, so…
