Ideal Bite

"often makes due with"... I think you mean, "makes do with" - a spell checker is no substitute for using your brain, biter staff!

Thought Taylor might find this helpful. Enjoy! :)

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My favorite office meal was one that didn't come in a package. Measure a third of a cup of couscous (the quick-cooking kind) into a bowl. Add a spoonful of veggie soup base (comes in a jar) and a big handful of Just Veggies. Stir it up, fill the bowl with hot water from the teakettle, and cover it for five minutes. Stir it again, and there you have it--a do-it-yourself couscous cup that doesn't require you to throw the cup away afterwards.

I also recommend the microwave popcorn poppers. Using them to pop bulk-bin organic popcorn is just as easy as nuking one of those bags, and no bag to throw away afterwards.

i too caught the error on makes due that should be makes do. i am one of those people the errors jump out at and hit me.

Sorry - I'm a toaster oven gal. I only use microwave ovens in dire emergencies, and even then I never cook food in plastic, and never, never use the conventionally-lined popcorn bags.

I spread about two big spoonfuls of Amy's canned organic refried black beans on a whole wheat tortilla, add a little cheese, fold, then microwave for a minute or less. Not as gourmet as Amy's frozen burritos, but less expensive, uses less packaging, can is recyclable, requires fridge, not freezer. Easy to add extras - salsa, mushrooms, scallions, avocado. It's fast, filling, yummy, and good for you.

I'm actually very disappointed about this Tip. To begin, it is geared towards college kids, who unless come from a well-to-do family, and are supported by them, are generally quite starved for money, let alone food - and you're suggesting they pay about 4 dollars per meal. That just simply isn't realistic with the average college budget! Second, instead, of suggesting pre-made bowls and satchels of food, you should encourage them to buy the ingredients in bulk, and make their own mixes. This can easily be done with oatmeal, trail mix, bean/pasta stew. Buying the base ingredients and creating their own meals accomplishes two main things. 1.) Students can learn that making a simple meal is quite easy and not time consuming (assuming they pre-mix the ingredients in bulk) and 2.) Less energy and packaging waste is used compared to the production process of making pre-packaged and/or pre-frozen meals.

I agree with comments above--most college students won't be able to afford to "make do" with these expensive organic options. Also, you should know, those Annie Chun soup bowls can be a problem. They are not accepted by our yard waste/kitchen waste compost program, and they are not recyclable, so they end up being landfill garbage, where it's very unlikely that they will break down. We will not buy them, even when we can afford them!

Even if a college student is lucky enough to live close to a place where these frozen dinners are sold, she will have to have her own personal freezer (and the "freezer compartment" in most mini-fridges is not going to cut it, I've tried). If you put something like this in a communal freezer, you are never going to see it again. You've got to stick to the dry goods that you can microwave. Also, many students are going to have a dining plan that makes eating in your room unnecessary, aside from the occasional snack. If you're going off to college, bring a few containers of Ramen maybe, but I always found that I had more food than I knew what to do with because missing meals (i.e. sleeping through breakfast) meant I could bring home extra food from the school store to make up for it. Until you know the school's dining plan and dorm cooking facilities, you can't really make too many plans about what you're going to make yourself as study food.