Student food: staples to freeze, quick fresh veggies

Aug 15, 2011 15:46

I'm in the process of quitting my job and going back to school. I'm moving next week (into a place with my own kitchen, not a dorm) and I'll have a few days before the beginning of classes. I'd like to get a jump start on the semester by cooking some food in bulk and freezing it, to help me stay vegan on a budget. Can you suggest something for ( Read more... )

-freezing-foods, soups (uncategorizable)

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Comments 28

deftonedpiano August 15 2011, 19:51:45 UTC
I just moved into student housing with a kitchen, and I'm working on doing the same thing, on a budget. I made a stew that freezes really well (in fact, the flavors really seem to get better after it's been reheated), and it made several portions. Our fridge is mega small, so I didn't make a ton, but it's great ( ... )

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florafloraflora August 15 2011, 21:16:24 UTC
Sounds yum: I'm salivating here. This would even be worth buying poultry seasoning for :D

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deftonedpiano August 15 2011, 21:28:50 UTC
I bought poultry seasoning to make a homemade Tofurky over Thanksgiving, and it's actually a really nice spice blend! I forget what all is in it, but I think you could put one together yourself with bulk spices or what have you.

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mangiati_vivi August 15 2011, 20:12:30 UTC
I've made this chili recipe before, and it's freakin' banging. Serve with some cornbread, and you're set for life. (well, dinner. you get the point)

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cordelia_sue August 15 2011, 20:29:03 UTC
Here's a good cornbread recipe (which can also be frozen!). :)

I like to add corn kernels and green chiles to my cornbread much of the time.

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florafloraflora August 15 2011, 21:49:44 UTC
Thanks. I'd been limping along on an adapted version of my old pre-vegan cornbread, but it wasn't really working for me. I'll be interested to see how the cooked flax mixture works. I like corn kernels and chiles in my cornbread too.

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cordelia_sue August 15 2011, 21:51:47 UTC
Ground flax is hands down my favorite egg replacer. It works sooo well. Cooking it is a good way to go, though I've come to prefer whipping it in my mini-food processor instead. Either way is fine!

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cordelia_sue August 15 2011, 20:25:58 UTC
You can freeze rice and quinoa. :)

Most soups/stews can be frozen. Some of our house favorites are:

Spicy tomato-rice-veggie stew

Vegetable-quinoa soup finished with miso (freeze before adding miso, warm up the soup, then stir in a bit of miso right before serving)

Curried winter squash soup (with coconut milk!)

Baked pasta dishes freeze well. I've also heard that polenta freezes well, though I've never tried it. You can make delicious lasagna-like casseroles using polenta instead of noodles. Curries also tend to freeze great. Beans too! I make a large batch of beans, then freeze them in portion sized amounts. They're so much more economical and have a better texture/flavor than canned beans.

I'm a big fan of making a cold salad to snack on throughout the week. Recent favorites include Asian noodle salads (I like soba) with a bunch of raw veggies cut up, kind of like this. Quinoa salads are great to have throughout the week as well.

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florafloraflora August 15 2011, 21:30:02 UTC
I love cold soba! And curries. I need more vegan curry recipes. I should check the archives. I didn't actually know if you could freeze beans without messing up their texture, so thanks for that too.

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dancingwolfgrrl August 15 2011, 20:37:46 UTC
This is a fantastic chili to freeze: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/pierce-street-vegetarian-chili-recipe.html

There are also a ton of freezeable recipes here, about half of which are vegan (they're clearly marked):
http://onceamonthmom.com/menus/vegetarian/

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florafloraflora August 15 2011, 21:46:55 UTC
That chili sounds so effin' good! Lots of good ideas at the second link too. Thanks!

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devilbunnie August 15 2011, 21:11:01 UTC
Thanks for posting this. I can use all this advice right now, too. Good luck with going back to school! What are you studying?

A book I'd suggest for a student budget is Eat Vegan on $4 a Day by Ellen Jaffe Jones.

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florafloraflora August 16 2011, 03:59:21 UTC
I'm going off to engineering school. Trying to be one of the good guys. We'll see. What are you studying?

That sounds like a good book-I'll keep an eye out for it.

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