My fave bachelor chow:
Huevos Rancheros
Scramble up some eggs, not stirring too much as they cook so you get nice big chunks. The last few seconds of cooking, put some cheese (grated or thin sliced) on the eggs. As the cheese starts to melt, pour on some of your favorite salsa. Stir briefly and put on a plate. Eat with your favorite toast and a glass of milk or OJ (or both). For variety, try putting the eggs between 2 slices of toast and eating like a sandwich. Quick and tasty. For a better consistency in the eggs, when you beat them prior to cooking, mix in a small bit of milk. Not too much or you end up with a foamy sort of souffle stuff, but it makes the eggs cook up better IMHO.
Total time: 10 min.
Egg and cheese sandwich
Fry up an egg. Use margarine instead of butter or other unhealthy oils.
Slice a piece of cheese. I prefer sharp cheddar.
Toast up your fave whole-grain bread, and lightly butter. The darker and "meatier" the better. I liked some "oat nut" stuff when I was stateside.
Put them together in a sandwich. Yummy and high in protein, this is great if you're not sure if you'll get much for lunch. After this for breakfast, I usually don't get really hungry for about 8 hours. For variety, add a slice of ham or some bacon, or use 2 eggs instead of one if you anticipate missing lunch.
Chicken rice stuff
Take a boneless chicken breast or boneless chicken thighs. Chop into strips or cubes. Marinate if desired but not required. Put some margarine or salted butter into a frying pan, and cook the chicken in the frying pan. Cook until the thickest pieces are white all the way through, and brown to taste by increasing the heat so they get as brown on the outside as you like at the same time as they fully cook. The margarine or salted butter is plenty of seasoning for the chicken, but feel free to experiment with other stuff.
As you're doing this, cook some minute rice or boil-in-bag rice, and also cook up some peas. The small sweet peas taste better than the normal bigger ones.
When cooked, mix the rice, chicken, and peas together in a big bowl. Add soy sauce or other seasoning to taste. Substitute or add any of your favorite seasoning throughout the process as desired.
Total time: 15 min or as long as it takes the rice to cook if you're not using processed rice.
Healthier tuna helper
Take any tuna helper mix. Cook as directed, except add 3 cans of tuna or albacore instead of 1, and add in frozen peas as soon as the mixture boils.
The resulting food has enough protein to keep you from getting carb-rebound cravings a couple hours later, and the peas make it a reasonably healthy one-pot meal without anything extra needed. It's also enough food for 2-3 meals for the average bachelor. I prefer the cheesy noodles stuff but my wife likes the creamy pasta flavor. It freezes well and if you use "white" albacore tuna, it's even workplace friendly as the albacore doesn't stink like "light" tuna does.
For variety, use broccoli or mixed veggies instead of peas. Limit to once every week or two, since albacore has more mercury than regular tuna.
Total time: 15-20 minutes depending on if you stare at the water waiting for it to boil or not.
Mac and cheese. Cook as per directions, but add ham cubes for protein and to help avoid the carb rebound effect that always makes me hungry 2-3 hours after I eat a carb-heavy meal.
Grilled Chicken sandwich. (I use a george foreman grill)
Take a pre-seasoned boneless chicken breast, and cook on the george foreman or equivalent grill. Toast up some healthy whole-grain bread, the rectangle shaped stuff, not the cheap square stuff. Slap on some deli mustard to give it some bite. If necessary, use dijonnaise or mix a little mayo with the mustard. Yummy. Add a slice of cheese (gotta get yer calcium ya know). I prefer sharp cheddar or swiss. If you happen to have some lettuce or tomato in the fridge that isn't rotten yet, put some on the sandwich.
Super yummy and low fat healthy. Not too many processed carbs either as long as you use a good whole grain bread and don't go overboard with the mayo.
Total time: 10 minutes plus the time to clean up the grill. I recommend finding one with removable anti-stick cooking plates but the cheap ones work just as well even though they're harder to clean.
For emergencies, I keep "lean pockets" in the freezer. They taste as good as the regular hot pockets but have half the fat. Don't overcook because they dehydrate quickly in the microwave when overcooked.
