There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Give this a try: Starting with a core of basically any grain or pasta you get from the bulk section of the grocer, shred or cube some value pack of chicken separately, mix it in with frozen stir fried vegetables and dump it into the crockpot, add a fat such as cream to balance it out and hold it together, spice as you'd like (start with salt & pepper, move along from there) and set it to cook while you go to class on low for like 6 hours (make sure the chicken gets to at least 165 degrees farenheit for safety reasons)
You can likely get 6-10 healthy balanced meals for under $15.
Variation can be created by switching between pastas and grains (Qinoa, Farro, Spelt, Kasha, etc), changing up the blend of vegetables used, putting some fried eggs in, swapping out for a different meat such as pork or splurge on some frozen fully peeled/deveined shrimp, or just pouring different sauces on it.
Think 1 hour of cooking for a weeks worth of dinners basically. Pack it up into portion sized containers, freeze anything you won't eat in 2 days, and don't forget to experiment with microwave settings such as power levels/times, adding moisture, etc.
For saving money frozen is best, if it's veg or ground meat buying frozen is cheaper and gets you better quality and easier prep. My two favourites were chilli and soup(usually chicken). Chilli is an obvious easy and cheap one with frozen ground meat and tinned tomatoes, after that you can experiment with the spices, beans and vegetables you want and can get. There is no one recipe, but do some reading and pick and mix from ones you find based on your likes and dislikes. You can also make it last longer with rice and pasta and using it for making burritos.
For soup a good standard chicken soup/broth is great, very hearty and traditional with basically any veg you have going. Only thing I'm consistent with is LOTS of carrots, grated carrots are the miracle addition to most traditional soups that call for them and basically when every you think you have too many, add an extra couple of carrots to it.
When I was looking for just something quick, warming with a hit of protein, a basic hot and sour egg drop soup is dead easy with just chicken stock, hot sauce and an egg. Throw in some garlic(crushed fresh or just jarred "lazy" garlic and some seasoning and it comes pretty excellent and with some noodles added is a really great ramen base.
But definitely prep your meals ahead whenever you can. Batch cooking is your friend. This is just my alternative. I can do like five carb sides(all rice counts as one) and like four main courses without much thought, and it's good variety without any guesswork or extra thought. Cooking has been somewhat meditative for me.