When it comes to cooking cheaply, spices are your most important ingredient. They are what makes your dish taste so good. This is especially true with proteins, such as fish, chicken, and tofu. So, you should always have some basic spices: salt, pepper, season salt, granulated garlic, taco seasoning, and any of your other favorite spices. To save time on your meals, plan them ahead of time so you know you have everything and you don’t take a long time deciding what to make. You can even make your meals ahead of time and reheat them when you want to eat them. Whether you’re in college, you’re a postgrad, or you’re just looking to make some budget cuts, here are some recipes that will help you save time and money.

1. Tomato Bread

This is a quick and delicious recipe that can easily be made for one or many. It takes a little bit of prep time, but it cooks really quickly and can be eaten immediately. For those who don’t like cooked tomatoes, you can substitute them with tomato sauce, which I will give you the recipe for next.

Ingredients:

French/Italian Bread or French Rolls

Large Tomatoes (sliced)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Mozzarella Cheese (sliced or shredded)

Italian Seasoning Mix (or any kind of seasoning mix or spices you might want)

Salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Cover the bottom of a flat dish with olive oil

3. Generously add in your seasoning and salt

4.Place your sliced tomatoes in the olive oil and let sit for a few minutes

5. While those sit, slice your bread into 6-inch sections and then slice those sections in half width-wise or separate your rolls

6. Place your bread on to a cooking sheet

7. Flip the tomatoes so the other side may soak in the oil and spices and let sit for a few more minutes

8. Slice or shred your mozzarella

9. Place 2 slices of tomato on each piece of bread

10. Lightly drizzle some of the extra seasoned oil on each slice of bread

11. Top with cheese; sprinkle shreds generously or 2-3 slices of cheese per piece of bread

12. Cook for 10-15 minutes (until cheese has melted)

13. Enjoy!

2. Tomato Sauce

There are a lot of choices when you make spaghetti, but if you keep buying it in a jar, you are wasting money. If you make a large batch of spaghetti and freeze it in portions, you will have quick and easy dinners for later. This will save you a lot of time and money at the store in the long-run. Feel free to use pasta noodle or heat up some ramen noodles if you’re in a rush.

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

6+ Cloves of Garlic (minced)

1 Large White Onion (diced)

2 29oz Cans of Tomato Sauce

14.5 oz Can of Seasoned, Diced tomatoes (preferably roasted garlic and onion)

6 oz Can of Tomato Paste (regular or Italian flavor)

~14 oz of Water

1 tbsp Basil

1tbsp Parsley

2 Bay Leaves

½ tbsp Oregano

½ Granulated Garlic

Pinch of anise seeds (6-10 seeds)

Instructions:

1. Heat up a large pot

2. Sauté onions and garlic in the olive oil in the bottom of the pot until onions are transparent; try not to burn the garlic, but its ok if some of it does

3. Pour in the cans of sauce, the cans of diced tomatoes and the tomato paste (you will need a spoon or spatula to get the paste out of the can)

4. Rinse the emptied tomato cans with the water and add that to the pot as well.

5. Add your spices. When adding the anise seeds, crush them between your fingers to release the flavor

6. Stir well

7. Bring to boil

8. Let simmer on low for 30 min-4 hours*, stirring occasionally

*How long you let simmer allows the flavors to better realize, so if you have time to let it just sit there for a while without forgetting about it, put on a splash guard on it and don’t forget to stir. Modify how much water you put in it to how long you let it simmer.

9. Enjoy!

10. When you’re done eating it, freeze portions of it to reheat later in a sauce pan or in the microwave

3. Tuna Salad

This is a recipe I learned from my mom and it can be eaten by itself, put on bread, or eaten with pasta. She measures everything by eye, so when adding your spices, you should find the amount you like best, but I put in how I measure out when I make it.

Ingredients:

2 Cans of Tuna (drained)

1 Tomato (diced)

1 Stalk of Celery (diced)

2 tbsp. green olives (chopped)

2-4 tbsp. of Mayo

Cilantro

Granulated garlic

Parsley

Season Salt

Celery Salt

Instructions:

1. Place the tuna in a medium-size bowl

2. Add tomato, celery, and green olives

3. Mix in mayo until tuna no longer seems/tastes dry

4. Sprinkle in spices over the length of the bowl twice with an emphasis on the parsley and garlic

5. Mix well

6. Put on bread, pasta or just your plate and enjoy!

4. Sausage and Pepper Pasta

Ingredients:

1 package of 5 Italian Sausages

1 box of Penne Pasta

2-4 Peppers of any color (sliced)

1 Onion (sliced)

1 Can Seasoned Diced Canned tomatoes (I usually get Hunt’s Diced tomatoes with basil garlic and oregano)

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil

2. Add the pasta

3. Line the bottom of a large pan and heat it on the stove

4. Cook your Italian sausages in this pan until they are no longer pink inside

5. Slice your peppers and onions while your sausages cook

6. Slice up your sausages (I do it in the pan) once they’ve cooked all the way through

7. Add your sliced vegetables and canned tomatoes

8. Let cook and stir for about 5 minutes

9. Drain your pasta and mix it in the pan

10. Remove from heat and serve with parmesan sprinkled on top

5. Bonus: Easy and Beautiful Flower Cupcakes

This is a great recipe from the creators of Hello Cupcake! I adore them, and they have a blog, four cook books, and an app in the Apple Store that I highly recommend you check out. They have so many decoration recipes that are pretty quick and easy and that make a beautiful presentation.

Ingredients:

Pick any cupcake mix you want, although the safest would be vanilla or chocolate

Eggs

Milk

Olive Oil

White frosting (cream cheese, buttercream, etc.)

Colored sugars

Bag of mini marshmallows

Circular candy or sugar pearls

Instructions:

1. Follow the instructions on the cake box, but put in an extra egg and replace the water with milk. This will make them firmer so it’ll be easier to decorate them and richer in flavor.

2. Let them cool

3. Pour the colored sugars into small bowls

4. Frost a few cupcakes at a time. Remember: you don’t want the frosting to dry before you have the chance to put the decorations on

5. Use scissors to cut mini marshmallows diagonally

6. Dip the sticky side of the half of marshmallow into one of your bowls of sugar

7. Line the outside of the top of the cupcake with these “petals”

8. Make layers these “pedals” is circles until your cupcake looks like a flower

9. Place circular candy in the center of your flower

10. Enjoy and amaze your company!