Food – Student Pro Tips

Pressure Cooker for Students

My pressure cooker has been one of my best purchase decisions

Before I purchased my pressure cooker, I would get home hungry and go to the restaurant across the street. Since I would take my girlfriend, that added up to $60-80 per week. I felt like I was bleeding money through my stomach. I bought the pressure cooker for $100 at the local hardware store. It paid for itself within a month. The particular pressure cooker which I purchased also can act as a rice cooker and a crock pot (slow cooker). So I gave away my old Crockpot. The net result was no increase in number of appliances in my small kitchen.

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Study Tip – Go Home When You Are Done

Work somewhere quiet and do not go home until the job is done.

In my later undergraduate days, I realized that I needed a place to study that was separate from my home. I was lucky enough to work in a university research lab that gave me some space to study. If I hadn’t had that, I would have found a quiet library nook to work in on a regular basis. One of my biggest advantages in finding a place to study on campus was that I could study until my day’s work was done.

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Another step in the ongoing development of Bachelor Chow

High-calorie Bachelor Chow

Based on some feedback a few months ago from Reddit, lab mates, and commenters on the site, I decided to enrich the calorie density and lavor of my bachelor Chow recipe (available for download in the Top 10 Recipes booklet). This is a short report of my results. Obviously, not everyone is interested in adding calories or additioanal cost to their food shake. For those who are, however, the simplest manner with which to add such calories is vegetable oil. Oils/fats are very energy dense. Relative to carbohydrate and protein, oils contain almost twice as many calories per gram. They are also extremely cheap. Hence…

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Doing the First Thing – Tips to overcoming procrastination

Separate Decisions from Actions

David over at Raptitude talked about separating decisions from actions. I loved this. He has written very insightful pieces about procrastination. Any course of action is harder if you allow yourself to second guess it while also trying to do it. David uses the example of pushups. He wanted to do pushups every morning. That is a very simple decision without a lot of room for self-doubt or questioning. When willpower is at its weakest, those internal lazy voices start saying “are pushups really the right thing? Maybe sit-ups or a run would be better.” If you allow those questions, you will fail to do the job of pushups every morning. Separating the decision-making from the action can help accomplish the goal.

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College for Introverts – Socializing and Career Seeking

How should introverts approach their college experience and prepare for a career?

Over the next few weeks I am going to review a book called Quiet by Susan Cain. Ms. Cain writes very eloquently about the situation in which introverts can find themselves in today’s society. I hear echoes of Stephen Covey in her conception of the character ethic and the personality ethic. I do not know if she was influenced by Covey and I find the idea compelling that she came to the independent conclusion that we have moved toward a personality driven, surface oriented society. Ms. Cain has produced a TED talk which I find very informative. It was on the basis of this talk that I purchased the book. Here is the key question to which I hope the book suggests an answer – what sorts of goals and careers will sustain an introverted professional?

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Simple Student Recipe – Taco Soup

Taco soup, one of the recipes in Top Ten Student Recipes at Gumroad.

This is an easy soup that tastes great. Sauté ground beef with taco seasoning in a pot. If the beef is frozen, a little water in the bottom will ensure it thaws before the bottom burns. Once the beef is well on the way to done, add a diced (chopped into small bits) onion. The timing is not critical. Once the beef is completely done, add one large can of diced tomatoes, one medium can of corn (not creamed corn), and one medium can of red kidney beans. When it’s warm, it’s ready. If you want to get fancy, serve with a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheddar.

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Simple Chicken for Students

The simplest, easiest chicken to make in a hurry..

You need some frozen, cooked chicken. It is sometimes called “Fajita meat,” or “Sliced and Seasoned Boneless Chicken.” This is super-easy chicken to start with. If you have a little time on a Sunday and you want to save a lot of money, bake up your own chicken. Broiler chickens are often $1 per pound. It is almost impossible to beat that. You can take all the meat off and freeze it for later. I will post a link to my favorite methods for cooking chicken next week, so stay tuned or sign up for my mailing list at the right.
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Knife recommendation – the perfect knife

My knife recommendation is an 8 inch Chef’s knife

The frugal student’s kitchen is all about buying inexpensive, in-season products and preparing them at home. To accomplish this, my knife recommendation is a full-tang, 8 inch, non-serrated Chef’s knife. Let me tell you a little about why each of these is critical. Then you will avoid buying something that will be useless in a year.
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The First Bachelor Chow Review

I got my first review of Bachelor Chow today.

One of my lab-mates blended up a batch and said that it was filling but bland. I am actually satisfied with that review. I made Bachelor Chow to satisfy three requirements – cheap, simple, nutritious. Flavor really didn’t come into that equation. It ended up being acceptable anyway.

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