College Dorm Cooking: 10 ingredients, rice cooker, microwave

When I told one of Frugal Son's friends about our ebook, he said "20 ingredients! That's so many! That's so expensive!"

Sorry Ryan. That's so wrong. Just to give you a taste of what we did, I will present a baby version, with 10 ingredients.

Equipment: rice cooker and microwave. A rice cooker can be had for as little as $10.00. No doubt you have microwave. I figure you have a can opener.

Ingredients
1. rice
2. cheese
3.canned tomatoes
4. chicken broth, preferably in box
5. frozen spinach
6. canned beans
7. frozen chopped onions
8. eggs
9. tortillas
10. cooking oil

You can fill your cart with these items for under $20.00, most of which will go to the cheese.

Here is what you can make:
--rice with beans
--rice and beans and tomatoes
--add cheese to above
--add spinach and/or onions
--tortillas with beans and cheese
--tortillas with scrambled eggs and cheese
--add onions
--add spinach to eggs
--broth with beans and spinach
--add tomatoes
--add cheese
--add rice
--rice with eggs and cheese

Note that only a few ingredients require refrigeration. You can store the cans in a box under your bed. Note that you get your protein and vitamins! Note that you don't even have to chop anything. Clean up is minimal.

Even though this might get somewhat monotonous, it is a lifesaver system when you are short on time and money and have a final the next day.

Adding a bottle of hot sauce and soy sauce means that you can have ethnic flavors. That would add another $2.00 to your grocery bill.

Each ingredient you add to the line up increases your options exponentially. Try it!