Cheap and Easy Recipes for the College Student

Will it Waffle?, by Daniel Shumski
A waffle iron’s fatal flaw has long been that you can only use it to make one thing. One delicious and perfect thing, to be sure, but when storage space is at a premium, is it really worth having an item with such a limited repertoire? Well, all that changed when fearless food pioneer Daniel Shumski looked at his waffle iron and saw more than waffles: he saw potential. From creating such masterpieces as Waffled Bacon (and Waffled Meatballs) to turning leftover Mac and Cheese into the crispy delight known as Revitalized Mac and Cheese, Will it Waffle? offers enterprising cooks the key to creating simple yet delicious meals and snacks using the just the humble waffle iron. Those who discount this as a joke cookbook are making the biggest mistake of their college careers. Yes, even anthropology majors.

The $5 a Meal College Cookbook: Good Cheap Food for When You Need to Eat, by Rhonda Lauret Parkinson and B. E. Horton
Whether they’re trying to avoid overpriced and greasy local takeout, or just need a break from the humdrum routine of the cafeteria’s meal plan, students who are on a budget (okay, so, students) will love the quick and easy, delicious, and above all inexpensive recipes in The $5 a Meal College Cookbook. With over 300 recipes for everything from breakfast to late-night snacks (no more eating dry ramen from the package at 3 a.m. because the vending machine down the hall doesn’t take credit cards!), newly away-from-home cooks are sure to discover new favorites (Asian Lettuce Wraps) and remember old standbys (Easy Eggplant Parmesan). This is the perfect cookbook to stick in your kid’s footlocker as she packs for school.

A Man, a Can, a Plan: 50 Great Guy Meals Even You Can Make!, by David Joachim and the Editors of Men’s Health
Does the kitchen intimidate your college-bound child? Do they appear to like the idea of eating home-cooked meals, but hate the idea of cooking at home? Then A Man, a Can, a Plan just might be their perfect recipe book. A foolproof guide—right down to its easy-to-clean pages!—to preparing simple but hearty and flavorful dishes (think 50s-Style Creamed Chicken) with a minimum of mess and aggravation, this is the perfect introductory cookbook for beginner chefs who have mastered the can opener and are ready for the next level, as long as it still mostly involves a can opener.

The Twinkies Cookbook, Twinkies 85th Anniversary Edition: A New Sweet and Savory Recipe Collection from America’s Most Iconic Snack Cake, by Hostess
College students enjoy meals and snacks that store easily, travel well, and can be prepared with a minimum of fuss and production. They also love irony. Celebrate their appreciation for both with the new edition of the classic The Twinkies Cookbook, which has been updated in celebration of the 85th anniversary of the iconic dessert and is packed with 25 new recipes, both sweet and savory—including a Twinkiefied version of chicken and waffles and Twinkie pumpkin pie. A recipe book built around one of America’s favorite snack cakes? You can’t go wrong with this one.

101 Things to Do with Ramen Noodles, by Toni Patrick
Let’s get down to brass tacks: If they’re anything like we were back in the day, college students are short on money, short on time, and long on laziness. They don’t need a fancy cookbook that’s going to teach them how to blanche vegetables and make a perfectly risen soufflé; they need a cookbook that’s going to give them smart, practical tools and advice on how to improve the dishes we all know they’ll actually be making. And those dishes, to a large extent, are going to involve ramen noodles. Patrick’s smart, accessible book is filled with recipes that encourage you to be creative, to learn how to improvise, and, best of all, to add healthy veggies and meats to your ramen dish, making it as nutritional as it can possibly be. 101 Things to Do with Ramen Noodles: the cookbook for the college students we have, not the college students we wish we had.

The Healthy College Cookbook, by Alexandra Nimetz, Jason Stanley, Emeline Starr, and Rachel Holcomb
Here it is, the pièce de résistance—a cookbook written by college students, for college students, and featuring quick, healthy, and delicious recipes that can be cooked in a dorm kitchen (or a dorm room). A comprehensive guide for first-time cooks, it includes explanations of basic cookware and cooking terms, background on common herbs and spices, and a guide to shopping for and storing ingredients. Nearly 10 years after its original publication, it has been expanded to include 100 new recipes, including those that can be made on a George Foreman grill. This is the perfect comprehensive starter cookbook for the young cook-to-be, as it features both timeless and innovative recipes, some of which are sure to end up in heavy rotation even after students graduate. Don’t let your college-bound kid leave home without it.