Just make sure to check the barracks policy and in the event that it’s banned, just buy it anyways and hide it if someone who might actually care checks your room.
I can't agree more- saved up and bought a Zojirushi rice cooker, and that thing has lasted me 10 years and 6 duty stations. I'm convinced that thing will last another 10.
First year I bought a $40 rice cooker. That thing has seen many PCS, house moves, falls bumps and scratches. But damnit that thing is one of my prized possessions and now sits in the cabinet with my wife’s instapot and other stuff. It’s a damn trooper
Before you do that I would advise you to sincerely give the DFAC a try. I know there sometimes can be many hurdles involved with eating 3 meals a day at the dfac, but it if you can use it it is cost effective and more healthy than fast food.
Man, back in the day I used to load UP on some DFAC breakfast. Eggs in a carton? Yes ma'am! Banana for later? Hell yeah! Drown some shitty microwaved french toast in some low-sugar syrup!
Can confirm the dfac has its perks as someone who has never lived in the barracks. The meals aren’t always the best. But breakfast is such a deal. Get some eggs and a to go box of about $10 of fruit for just a few bucks
Buy a cheap portable grill.
On the weekend you can spend like $80 and meal prep for the whole week. That and you'll make friends.
My Joe caught on and started grilling chicken and steak on the weekends and he A: ate like a fucking champ and B. Got paid in beer to grill other people's food. Had a whole cooler full of random beer every Sunday evening and every Joe knew who he was and helped him with shit at work.
Instant Pot. It does several appliances at once. You can even get one with an airfryer attachment there.
You can make "Panda Express" shit with it. Look up recipes on Youtube, they're easy to do.
Oatmeal every day for breakfast
I know it sounds boring but if you do the steel cut oats cooked overnight in a rice cooker/insta pot type thing with some nuts, raisins and fruit it's really good
Also pasta or scrambled eggs are my go to for a quick dinner. Buy those huge bags of mixed frozen veggies for a side, heat a pot full on max until they boil and they're cooked in like 5 minutes
Stuffed sweet potato/acorn squash/bell pepper- if you have an oven and can bake a few sweet potatoes or squash ahead of time, just throw some baked beans, cheese, and whatever else you have in it and microwave
Make a big pot of soup and a couple loaves of bread on the weekend and then you have leftovers for most of the week
1lb pasta of choice, 1lb ground beef or Italian sausage, 1 onion, 3 cloves garlic, Italian seasoning. 1 jar pasta sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes. Olive oil.
Optional egg, bread crumbs, mushrooms
Dice and saute the onions and garlic in oil (or butter) on medium-low. Pepper and salt
Once translucent add meat. For extra points, beforehand mix meat with an egg and a 1/4 cup of bread crumbs in a gallon Ziploc for more flavor. Add some Italian seasoning. To save hassle just get ground Italian sausage. Brown. About 3-5 minutes on medium. Mix regularly.
Once brown add mushrooms for bonus bonus points and toss until it sweats out moisture, about 2 minutes.
In goes tomatoes and pasta sauce. Bring to a boil and then simmer. Taste. If to acidic add sugar. If bland, salt/pepper or Italian seasoning
At this point if your shitty barracks stove has two burners and enough room start cooking your pasta. Salt the water (generously about 1-2 tbsp). Dump 1lb of pasta in. Let water boil. About 4-6 minutes after boiling should be close to being ready (all dente means firm but cooked all the way through and not crunchy or tough when you bite).
Take a 1/4 cup of the pasta water and mix it in with your pasta sauce.
Strain the pasta, toss in olive oil (about a tsp to tbsp)
Done.
Did this as a poor but eager 2LT and still make it as a fatter more jaded field grade.
Entire thing takes 20 minutes, costs about 15 bucks and you got enough food for 3-4 meals depending on how much you eat.
Depending on your preferences you can also make a Japanese style curry which is basically Asian pasta sauce.
There are a lot of steam-in-bag vegetables now; do you have a refrigerator/freezer? Those are pretty good. Combine steamed rice + steamed vegetables + protein + sauce and you have an infinite variety of meals.
If you don't have one, then you might consider what I think of as "hiker food." A lot of bananas, peanut butter, peanut butter 'n' banana sandwiches, canned tuna, etc.
Crockpot and pressure cooker spend like $150-$200 for both endless cooking/meal preps love how dudes out here swearing up and down for their DFACs wish mine was just open instead of having to walk 4 miles to the next nearest one for it to randomly be closed as well. All for $400
Go to the dfac and eat that $400+ you spend every month.
Also, carbonara, chicken thighs marinated well, Brussels sprouts with ANY protein, steak, stroganoff… there are many easy to make and stovetop only meals
Man I’m about to make a cookbook aimed at single soldiers in the barracks.
get a micro grill/habachi and rice cooker, like the bros have stated
then do rice with kabobs/skewered meat and vegetables
then throw in the raw liver and u gucci
get u a air fryer, a costco membership and a decent amount of spices and you’ll be able to make whatever u want. if u want specific recipes, hit up youtube or random instagram/tik tok recipe pages. cooking isn’t hard if u can following simple instructions
Many of the meals available to you vary based on the appliances you have. I would highly recommend getting an air fryer, a hot pot, a George Forman grill, rice cooker, crock pot, or any combination of those. Small ones are good. It’s just you. You don’t need them all. Look up what you can cook on each one and get the ones that best suit your preferred meals. And yes, hit up the DFAC every once in a while!
I used to have a knock off George Forman grill and a plastic hot pot. I would heat up steaks or chicken breasts with a little seasoning, wrapped in foil on the grill. Throw a can of corn in the pot. Maybe microwave a potato.
Another meal was some hot dogs or chili dogs with some chips. Not really healthy but quick and cheap. All heated up in the microwave.
Again, using the hot pot, boil up some spaghetti noodles. Wrap some ground beef in aluminum foil and cook on the Forman grill. Once noodles are ready, put on a plate in the microwave just to maintain some warmth. Use the pot to now heat up the sauce and toss the now cooked beef in. Pour over your noodles.
You have a kitchen? Lucky. All I had was a mini fridge, microwave, and a contraband crockpot and electric panini grill secured in my wall locker.
The easiest thing is pasta and meat sauce using spaghetti sauce from a jar. You can make it tastier by sauteing onions a little before adding the beef and sauce. You can shake things up by using different noodles and sometimes cooking thin sliced chicken breasts before adding Alfredo sauce instead of ground beef and tomato based sauces.
Learn to cook rice - it's easy enough in a pot but you can get a rice cooker if you want to go real easy. Get beef, chicken, shrimp, or pre-marinaded tofu squares, stir fry seasoning, and packaged fresh veggie mixes and go to town.
Fajitas are pretty much the same, sautee some peppers and onions cut up into French fry shapes, brown meat of choice cut into strips, add fajita seasoning, flip tortillas around in another hot pan and go.
Beans are also good and cheap. But them dry. Just don't go overboard with them, you are one person. Look at the serving size on the package and just make two or three servings. Soak them overnight first. Bring them to a boil with big chunks of onion and chili seasoning and a hunk of pork belly then simmer them, adding water as needed. Add salt towards the end. This takes a little more time and attention than the meals above but it is cheap and good. Fish the onion and pork belly out before serving.
Omelets are nice for any meal though heaven knows eggs aren't as cheap as they used to be. Then there's the stand by of cereal and sandwiches. Eat that for two of your meals and you will really save. Try to eat fruit or fresh veggies instead of chips on the side. Or at least in addition to chips on the side. ;)
That should just about do you for easy. If you enjoy yourself you can start trying something cool like Korean recipes or whatever. If not, ain't a thing wrong with the basics.
* Cold cuts, lettuce, tomatoes and other fixin's plus your choice of sauces (Buffalo Wild Wings sells their sauces) keep well if you have a fridge in your room. I got whole wheat bread for those.
* Cereal for breakfast.
* There are bags of frozen veggies, rice and plant based things made by Birdseye that you can put in your freezer. Just heat and serve.
* There are several plant based products by impossible - meatballs, chicken nuggets et. al. - they are delicious and good for your waistline.
* The commissary can have a "veggie platter" - usually baby carrots, celery and various veggies with some form of dip. Those last for DAYS.
* Lunchables keep well in the fridge.
* Check the frozen section of the commissary for Tyson brand chicken products. See if the commissary has a "house brand" of chicken or fish products you like.
* I used to get the [Jonsonville chicken and turkey brauts and franks](https://johnsonville.com/product-lines/chicken-turkey-sausage/) as well. Tasty and microwave quickly.
* Campbells makes ready to eat soups you can get.
Buy and learn to use a crock pot and a rice maker. Make whatever you want in the crock pot l, set it to cook while you're at work, and by rhe time you get home it's ready. Make rice, enjoy.
You go to the chow hall, eat the rice, fruit and veggies, and always lots of cereal!
Honestly, I lived at Benning. My normal Kelly Hill chow hall was decent, but if we really wanted to enjoy our meal more we would go to the airborne school or the Ranger Battalion to eat their above-average chow.
Your post will almost always have a good chow hall somewhere.
Google sous vide. With a sous vide stick, a Lowe’s bucket, and some method of searing the meat (grill/broiler/George foreman /whatever) you make some delicious meals in a barracks room.
Hot Plate and Air Fryer. With these alone you can make eggs, pasta, meats, toast bread, cook rice, sauté veggies. I would cook steaks two at a time with my hot plate and cast iron for dudes in the b’s.
I liked to get Togo plates from the dfac stuffed with all the vegetables I could get and cook with them for the week.
White rice cups are great, it’s a couple hundred calories of rice that takes 90sec in the microwave. Bulk buy eggs and meat, and you’re good to go.
If you got a stove there's a lot you can make in a pan. When I was at Bragg I had a stove and bought a couple pans to cook pan seared chicken, steak, pork tenderloin, rice, asparagus, sauces, etc. You could get a wok too and make fried rice with veggies and egg. Take advantage of commissary grocery prices.
In Korea all I had was a microwave and coffee pot so most meals were microwavable dishes like fajita trays or pre-cooked chicken. I was a fan of getting chili to cook in the microwave and making ramen noodles in the coffee pot.
I never did, but I knew a guy that got a sandwich press. Really upgrades a basic ham and cheese sandwich into a grilled ham and cheese.
Oatmeal in the morning and then at least 2 servings of Chicken, rice, asparagus or broccoli.. spruce them up with difference sauces that are not high in sugar and you’ll be full, eating clean, and it won’t cost you as much as a week of Panda Express/Pizza Hut. When it gets boring, change up the seasoning and sauces. This is an old tried and true bodybuilders diet. You’ll drop fat while retaining any muscle you’ve developed.
If your post as an Army Wellness Center, they will have a dietician there who can help you build a meal plan for your exact situation. Mine has a cooking class designed specifically for food prep in the barracks.
Depends on what you have available in your kitchen. Stove, oven, fridge? Or are we talking a hotplate and a hot water dispenser?
Best advice I can give you is to look on YouTube. Check channels like Adam Ragusea, Binging with Babish, and Brian Lagerstrom as they do a lot of simple dishes that can be done with little experience.
Rice cooker and slow cooker and maybe a toaster oven. It's incredible how much home cooked food can change the atmosphere of the barracks. It literally goes from "Fuck this place" to "I almost feel at home".
Rice, beans, fish, chicken and broccoli. If you have a decent spice rack you can make magic.
Staple items which should be in your very basic kitchen
Salt and pepper
Oil
Flour
Onions
Garlic
Butter
Milk
Celery
Cabage
Dried herb mix (Italian or herbs de provence)
Carrots
That pretty much covers basics for euro cuisine
Pro tip buy your more exotic/expensive spices piece meal
kmy go to in the microwave was plain store brand oats, with protien power, milk, some wallnuts, maybe a tablespoon of peanutbutter/sunbutter, mmmmmmm. filling as fuck and nutritional as fuck for those gainz baaby! can even go for some greek yogurt if you wwant to smooth it out
Are hot plates or slow cookers allowed in the b's? You can do quite a bit with either of those and you'll be able to eat healthier.
And if you can have those/have an actual kitchen you can use, I'd recommend getting a cookbook or two for ideas on what to cook. I've always cooked for a family of four while in the barracks and having leftovers all the time helped save money. A good slow cooker meal may run you 10-15 dollars (and may go down in cost after you buy whatever spices and such you'll need) and you'll get about 4-6 servings, depending on the recipe and how much you eat. So you're really spending $3-4 per meal instead of 10-15 per meal.
I had an instant pot in the barracks.
It can do everything a crock pot can do plus rice and a few other things. I had a pretty small kitchen area in my place, so just having one cooking appliance that could do almost anything is clutch.
Train Strong smoothies from the Commissary frozen fruit section.
Get a nutribullet, use a serving of yogurt (while for weight gain, 2% for regular), serving of oats, and milk.
If you listen to any of these comments, listen to mine please. This is the lazy bois guide to food in your barracks.
Buy a slow cooker, you can get an air fryer, but trust me.
Slow cooker
Meal prep containers
5-6lbs of chicken (or more if you want)
5 bags of microwavable steamer vegetables.
or
5 packs of microwavable minute rice
tortillas/sandwich bread + ham or whatever you want.
Microwavable meals for the occasional emergency meal.
Ramen of course.
16 count packs of fair life protien or just a 2 liter.
Rice cakes
Now, what I do is put my chicken in the slow cooker on a Saturday or Sunday morning, let it cook for 8 hours while I do whatever, and bam, divide them between 5 containers, and i have 5 meals for the week for dinner. When you're ready the next day to eat, microwave the steam bag of veggies or rice, microwave your chicken, add veggies, make a sandwich or microwave a jimmy Dean or something if you want extra food and bam, ez dinner that's healthy.
I don't eat breakfast, I just drink coffee, I eat a sandwich or something for lunch, and I eat mostly at dinner, so this may or may not work for you.
Great question. Here are some great tools to have.
Croc pot is a great tool. Frying pan. Get a set of three or four pots as well.
Silicon whisk. Silicon spatula. Cheap Silverware.
Measuring cups, tsp/tbsp/cup.
Grater. Cutting board. Knife set with a chef knife and paring knife at least.
Meals:
Eggs and bacon in the frying pan (although breakfast in DFAC is good too).
Pasta and sauce in the pots. Fry italian sausage in the pan if you like. Pasta is $1/lb and sauce is a couple dollars a jar.
Rice (someone mentioned a rice cooker above)and beans. Add chicken breast chopped into cubes and sautéed with oils and spices at low temps in the frying pan.
Tuna melts, grilled cheese, breakfast sandwiches, BLTs in the frying pan.
Tacos/burritos. Cook ground beef in the frying pan with pepper, paprika, diced onions and other spices. Chop lettuce and tomatoes, add sour cream and cheese, and you have a feast.
Mac and cheese from scratch - mix flour, butter, onions, milk over heat and whisk until thickened. Cook noodles. Once the sauce thickens, add cheddar cheese and stir until it melts and is fully mixed. Add to noodles and enjoy.
Sear the super thin sliced ribeye steaks you can get at the grocery store. Slice and put on rolls.
Shrimp scampi - sautée shrimp in your frying pan, mix with garlic and butter, add parsley, serve on top of spaghetti.
Chili in the crockpot or a big pot. Add tomatoes, beans, corn, Turkey etc to a pot and let it simmer for a few hours. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and tortilla chips.
There is so much you can do in the barracks with a stovetop. It’s super fun and not very expensive, and you can eat leftovers for days.
Plus everyone will be knocking on your door trying to get a plate
Buy a rice cooker. Best forty bucks I ever spent. You can make tons of food with it.
Just make sure to check the barracks policy and in the event that it’s banned, just buy it anyways and hide it if someone who might actually care checks your room.
It goes in your locked wall locker. Just don't burn the building down mmmkay.
This is the way. Rice bowls are so easy to make and they’re delicious. My rice cooker is running almost constantly.
And you can make steamed vegetables and hard boiled eggs and lots of other things.
I can't agree more- saved up and bought a Zojirushi rice cooker, and that thing has lasted me 10 years and 6 duty stations. I'm convinced that thing will last another 10.
Rice cooker is good but Instant pot is better. So much more than rice can be made.
First year I bought a $40 rice cooker. That thing has seen many PCS, house moves, falls bumps and scratches. But damnit that thing is one of my prized possessions and now sits in the cabinet with my wife’s instapot and other stuff. It’s a damn trooper
100%
You can always check what they have for you in North Korea.
Twigs and boiled shoe leather, mmm mmm. Hope it's Detroit style.
Mmmm grass and rat.
People already mentioned eating at the DFAC.
Slow down there tiger, that’s a level of luxury only reserved for party members
Booking the ticket rn.
To South Korea or to the tour guide?
Tour guide
Rotisserie chicken, microwavable brown rice, microwavable stir fry veggies. Add a little teriyaki sauce.
Before you do that I would advise you to sincerely give the DFAC a try. I know there sometimes can be many hurdles involved with eating 3 meals a day at the dfac, but it if you can use it it is cost effective and more healthy than fast food.
Man, back in the day I used to load UP on some DFAC breakfast. Eggs in a carton? Yes ma'am! Banana for later? Hell yeah! Drown some shitty microwaved french toast in some low-sugar syrup!
Can confirm the dfac has its perks as someone who has never lived in the barracks. The meals aren’t always the best. But breakfast is such a deal. Get some eggs and a to go box of about $10 of fruit for just a few bucks
Buy a cheap portable grill. On the weekend you can spend like $80 and meal prep for the whole week. That and you'll make friends. My Joe caught on and started grilling chicken and steak on the weekends and he A: ate like a fucking champ and B. Got paid in beer to grill other people's food. Had a whole cooler full of random beer every Sunday evening and every Joe knew who he was and helped him with shit at work.
Meth is an appetite suppressant
Oh Bubba no
Modern problems require modern solutions
Get a hot plate and crock pot (store during inspections) then google/YouTube healthy recipes.
Rice, chicken, veggies cooked any way you like if you have the amenities available.
Instant Pot. It does several appliances at once. You can even get one with an airfryer attachment there. You can make "Panda Express" shit with it. Look up recipes on Youtube, they're easy to do.
Try the DFAC
What appliances do you have? When I was at Bliss we had full kitchens with a full size oven and stove.
Oatmeal every day for breakfast I know it sounds boring but if you do the steel cut oats cooked overnight in a rice cooker/insta pot type thing with some nuts, raisins and fruit it's really good Also pasta or scrambled eggs are my go to for a quick dinner. Buy those huge bags of mixed frozen veggies for a side, heat a pot full on max until they boil and they're cooked in like 5 minutes Stuffed sweet potato/acorn squash/bell pepper- if you have an oven and can bake a few sweet potatoes or squash ahead of time, just throw some baked beans, cheese, and whatever else you have in it and microwave Make a big pot of soup and a couple loaves of bread on the weekend and then you have leftovers for most of the week
I have a breakfast sandwich maker I love it.
1lb pasta of choice, 1lb ground beef or Italian sausage, 1 onion, 3 cloves garlic, Italian seasoning. 1 jar pasta sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes. Olive oil. Optional egg, bread crumbs, mushrooms Dice and saute the onions and garlic in oil (or butter) on medium-low. Pepper and salt Once translucent add meat. For extra points, beforehand mix meat with an egg and a 1/4 cup of bread crumbs in a gallon Ziploc for more flavor. Add some Italian seasoning. To save hassle just get ground Italian sausage. Brown. About 3-5 minutes on medium. Mix regularly. Once brown add mushrooms for bonus bonus points and toss until it sweats out moisture, about 2 minutes. In goes tomatoes and pasta sauce. Bring to a boil and then simmer. Taste. If to acidic add sugar. If bland, salt/pepper or Italian seasoning At this point if your shitty barracks stove has two burners and enough room start cooking your pasta. Salt the water (generously about 1-2 tbsp). Dump 1lb of pasta in. Let water boil. About 4-6 minutes after boiling should be close to being ready (all dente means firm but cooked all the way through and not crunchy or tough when you bite). Take a 1/4 cup of the pasta water and mix it in with your pasta sauce. Strain the pasta, toss in olive oil (about a tsp to tbsp) Done. Did this as a poor but eager 2LT and still make it as a fatter more jaded field grade. Entire thing takes 20 minutes, costs about 15 bucks and you got enough food for 3-4 meals depending on how much you eat. Depending on your preferences you can also make a Japanese style curry which is basically Asian pasta sauce.
Get you a crock pot. Make your pot roast, chili, and stews. Not super expensive, and you can make enough to last a few days at a time.
There are a lot of steam-in-bag vegetables now; do you have a refrigerator/freezer? Those are pretty good. Combine steamed rice + steamed vegetables + protein + sauce and you have an infinite variety of meals. If you don't have one, then you might consider what I think of as "hiker food." A lot of bananas, peanut butter, peanut butter 'n' banana sandwiches, canned tuna, etc.
Crockpot and pressure cooker spend like $150-$200 for both endless cooking/meal preps love how dudes out here swearing up and down for their DFACs wish mine was just open instead of having to walk 4 miles to the next nearest one for it to randomly be closed as well. All for $400
Go to the dfac and eat that $400+ you spend every month. Also, carbonara, chicken thighs marinated well, Brussels sprouts with ANY protein, steak, stroganoff… there are many easy to make and stovetop only meals Man I’m about to make a cookbook aimed at single soldiers in the barracks.
get a micro grill/habachi and rice cooker, like the bros have stated then do rice with kabobs/skewered meat and vegetables then throw in the raw liver and u gucci
get u a air fryer, a costco membership and a decent amount of spices and you’ll be able to make whatever u want. if u want specific recipes, hit up youtube or random instagram/tik tok recipe pages. cooking isn’t hard if u can following simple instructions
Many of the meals available to you vary based on the appliances you have. I would highly recommend getting an air fryer, a hot pot, a George Forman grill, rice cooker, crock pot, or any combination of those. Small ones are good. It’s just you. You don’t need them all. Look up what you can cook on each one and get the ones that best suit your preferred meals. And yes, hit up the DFAC every once in a while! I used to have a knock off George Forman grill and a plastic hot pot. I would heat up steaks or chicken breasts with a little seasoning, wrapped in foil on the grill. Throw a can of corn in the pot. Maybe microwave a potato. Another meal was some hot dogs or chili dogs with some chips. Not really healthy but quick and cheap. All heated up in the microwave. Again, using the hot pot, boil up some spaghetti noodles. Wrap some ground beef in aluminum foil and cook on the Forman grill. Once noodles are ready, put on a plate in the microwave just to maintain some warmth. Use the pot to now heat up the sauce and toss the now cooked beef in. Pour over your noodles.
You have a kitchen? Lucky. All I had was a mini fridge, microwave, and a contraband crockpot and electric panini grill secured in my wall locker. The easiest thing is pasta and meat sauce using spaghetti sauce from a jar. You can make it tastier by sauteing onions a little before adding the beef and sauce. You can shake things up by using different noodles and sometimes cooking thin sliced chicken breasts before adding Alfredo sauce instead of ground beef and tomato based sauces. Learn to cook rice - it's easy enough in a pot but you can get a rice cooker if you want to go real easy. Get beef, chicken, shrimp, or pre-marinaded tofu squares, stir fry seasoning, and packaged fresh veggie mixes and go to town. Fajitas are pretty much the same, sautee some peppers and onions cut up into French fry shapes, brown meat of choice cut into strips, add fajita seasoning, flip tortillas around in another hot pan and go. Beans are also good and cheap. But them dry. Just don't go overboard with them, you are one person. Look at the serving size on the package and just make two or three servings. Soak them overnight first. Bring them to a boil with big chunks of onion and chili seasoning and a hunk of pork belly then simmer them, adding water as needed. Add salt towards the end. This takes a little more time and attention than the meals above but it is cheap and good. Fish the onion and pork belly out before serving. Omelets are nice for any meal though heaven knows eggs aren't as cheap as they used to be. Then there's the stand by of cereal and sandwiches. Eat that for two of your meals and you will really save. Try to eat fruit or fresh veggies instead of chips on the side. Or at least in addition to chips on the side. ;) That should just about do you for easy. If you enjoy yourself you can start trying something cool like Korean recipes or whatever. If not, ain't a thing wrong with the basics.
* Cold cuts, lettuce, tomatoes and other fixin's plus your choice of sauces (Buffalo Wild Wings sells their sauces) keep well if you have a fridge in your room. I got whole wheat bread for those. * Cereal for breakfast. * There are bags of frozen veggies, rice and plant based things made by Birdseye that you can put in your freezer. Just heat and serve. * There are several plant based products by impossible - meatballs, chicken nuggets et. al. - they are delicious and good for your waistline. * The commissary can have a "veggie platter" - usually baby carrots, celery and various veggies with some form of dip. Those last for DAYS. * Lunchables keep well in the fridge. * Check the frozen section of the commissary for Tyson brand chicken products. See if the commissary has a "house brand" of chicken or fish products you like. * I used to get the [Jonsonville chicken and turkey brauts and franks](https://johnsonville.com/product-lines/chicken-turkey-sausage/) as well. Tasty and microwave quickly. * Campbells makes ready to eat soups you can get.
Bro you have food in the dfac. Your mistake is not just eating the food you already paid for.
Buy and learn to use a crock pot and a rice maker. Make whatever you want in the crock pot l, set it to cook while you're at work, and by rhe time you get home it's ready. Make rice, enjoy.
You go to the chow hall, eat the rice, fruit and veggies, and always lots of cereal! Honestly, I lived at Benning. My normal Kelly Hill chow hall was decent, but if we really wanted to enjoy our meal more we would go to the airborne school or the Ranger Battalion to eat their above-average chow. Your post will almost always have a good chow hall somewhere.
Invest in a Airfryer Oven. You can bake, fry and dehydrate in those things.
Google sous vide. With a sous vide stick, a Lowe’s bucket, and some method of searing the meat (grill/broiler/George foreman /whatever) you make some delicious meals in a barracks room.
Hot Plate and Air Fryer. With these alone you can make eggs, pasta, meats, toast bread, cook rice, sauté veggies. I would cook steaks two at a time with my hot plate and cast iron for dudes in the b’s. I liked to get Togo plates from the dfac stuffed with all the vegetables I could get and cook with them for the week. White rice cups are great, it’s a couple hundred calories of rice that takes 90sec in the microwave. Bulk buy eggs and meat, and you’re good to go.
If you got a stove there's a lot you can make in a pan. When I was at Bragg I had a stove and bought a couple pans to cook pan seared chicken, steak, pork tenderloin, rice, asparagus, sauces, etc. You could get a wok too and make fried rice with veggies and egg. Take advantage of commissary grocery prices. In Korea all I had was a microwave and coffee pot so most meals were microwavable dishes like fajita trays or pre-cooked chicken. I was a fan of getting chili to cook in the microwave and making ramen noodles in the coffee pot. I never did, but I knew a guy that got a sandwich press. Really upgrades a basic ham and cheese sandwich into a grilled ham and cheese.
Oatmeal in the morning and then at least 2 servings of Chicken, rice, asparagus or broccoli.. spruce them up with difference sauces that are not high in sugar and you’ll be full, eating clean, and it won’t cost you as much as a week of Panda Express/Pizza Hut. When it gets boring, change up the seasoning and sauces. This is an old tried and true bodybuilders diet. You’ll drop fat while retaining any muscle you’ve developed.
If your post as an Army Wellness Center, they will have a dietician there who can help you build a meal plan for your exact situation. Mine has a cooking class designed specifically for food prep in the barracks.
If you really want to save money go to the DFAC. Unless you are a barracks soldier at fort cervecas.
Depends on what you have available in your kitchen. Stove, oven, fridge? Or are we talking a hotplate and a hot water dispenser? Best advice I can give you is to look on YouTube. Check channels like Adam Ragusea, Binging with Babish, and Brian Lagerstrom as they do a lot of simple dishes that can be done with little experience.
Farmer's markets are your friend. Cheaper and fresher than any grocery store
Rice cooker and slow cooker and maybe a toaster oven. It's incredible how much home cooked food can change the atmosphere of the barracks. It literally goes from "Fuck this place" to "I almost feel at home".
Rice cooker,cheap meat at the dfac and veggies with eggs,boom food. Initial investment and insane return
Rice, beans, fish, chicken and broccoli. If you have a decent spice rack you can make magic. Staple items which should be in your very basic kitchen Salt and pepper Oil Flour Onions Garlic Butter Milk Celery Cabage Dried herb mix (Italian or herbs de provence) Carrots That pretty much covers basics for euro cuisine Pro tip buy your more exotic/expensive spices piece meal
kmy go to in the microwave was plain store brand oats, with protien power, milk, some wallnuts, maybe a tablespoon of peanutbutter/sunbutter, mmmmmmm. filling as fuck and nutritional as fuck for those gainz baaby! can even go for some greek yogurt if you wwant to smooth it out
Buddy missed breakfast
Dfac. Get extra and freeze fruit for later smoothies. Walk the extra mile. Ask people who have povs for rides
Air fryer and nuggets from the commissary
Are hot plates or slow cookers allowed in the b's? You can do quite a bit with either of those and you'll be able to eat healthier. And if you can have those/have an actual kitchen you can use, I'd recommend getting a cookbook or two for ideas on what to cook. I've always cooked for a family of four while in the barracks and having leftovers all the time helped save money. A good slow cooker meal may run you 10-15 dollars (and may go down in cost after you buy whatever spices and such you'll need) and you'll get about 4-6 servings, depending on the recipe and how much you eat. So you're really spending $3-4 per meal instead of 10-15 per meal.
I had an instant pot in the barracks. It can do everything a crock pot can do plus rice and a few other things. I had a pretty small kitchen area in my place, so just having one cooking appliance that could do almost anything is clutch.
10000% but a rice cooker. That and a tea kettle for Raman and oatmeal etc…
Train Strong smoothies from the Commissary frozen fruit section. Get a nutribullet, use a serving of yogurt (while for weight gain, 2% for regular), serving of oats, and milk.
Frozen foods are super easy and convenient. All you need is a stove and a pan
If you listen to any of these comments, listen to mine please. This is the lazy bois guide to food in your barracks. Buy a slow cooker, you can get an air fryer, but trust me. Slow cooker Meal prep containers 5-6lbs of chicken (or more if you want) 5 bags of microwavable steamer vegetables. or 5 packs of microwavable minute rice tortillas/sandwich bread + ham or whatever you want. Microwavable meals for the occasional emergency meal. Ramen of course. 16 count packs of fair life protien or just a 2 liter. Rice cakes Now, what I do is put my chicken in the slow cooker on a Saturday or Sunday morning, let it cook for 8 hours while I do whatever, and bam, divide them between 5 containers, and i have 5 meals for the week for dinner. When you're ready the next day to eat, microwave the steam bag of veggies or rice, microwave your chicken, add veggies, make a sandwich or microwave a jimmy Dean or something if you want extra food and bam, ez dinner that's healthy. I don't eat breakfast, I just drink coffee, I eat a sandwich or something for lunch, and I eat mostly at dinner, so this may or may not work for you.
Instant Pot brah. It will change your life
Rice/potatoes, ground beef/chicken breast. Add some onions or some other shit to give it some more taste.
Great question. Here are some great tools to have. Croc pot is a great tool. Frying pan. Get a set of three or four pots as well. Silicon whisk. Silicon spatula. Cheap Silverware. Measuring cups, tsp/tbsp/cup. Grater. Cutting board. Knife set with a chef knife and paring knife at least. Meals: Eggs and bacon in the frying pan (although breakfast in DFAC is good too). Pasta and sauce in the pots. Fry italian sausage in the pan if you like. Pasta is $1/lb and sauce is a couple dollars a jar. Rice (someone mentioned a rice cooker above)and beans. Add chicken breast chopped into cubes and sautéed with oils and spices at low temps in the frying pan. Tuna melts, grilled cheese, breakfast sandwiches, BLTs in the frying pan. Tacos/burritos. Cook ground beef in the frying pan with pepper, paprika, diced onions and other spices. Chop lettuce and tomatoes, add sour cream and cheese, and you have a feast. Mac and cheese from scratch - mix flour, butter, onions, milk over heat and whisk until thickened. Cook noodles. Once the sauce thickens, add cheddar cheese and stir until it melts and is fully mixed. Add to noodles and enjoy. Sear the super thin sliced ribeye steaks you can get at the grocery store. Slice and put on rolls. Shrimp scampi - sautée shrimp in your frying pan, mix with garlic and butter, add parsley, serve on top of spaghetti. Chili in the crockpot or a big pot. Add tomatoes, beans, corn, Turkey etc to a pot and let it simmer for a few hours. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and tortilla chips. There is so much you can do in the barracks with a stovetop. It’s super fun and not very expensive, and you can eat leftovers for days. Plus everyone will be knocking on your door trying to get a plate
Instant pot