Gourmet Cooking on a College Budget — Episode 1: Cleaning the Kitchen, Fixing the Body, and Choosing Dinner
Some days don’t start with a recipe.
They start with a pinched nerve, an empty fridge, and the realization that if you don’t slow down and reset, your body is going to force you to.
Today is one of those days.
I’ve got a pinched nerve in my back, the kind where the pain doesn’t even live in your back anymore—it shoots down your leg with that fuzzy, numb, deeply unpleasant feeling. The only real fix is movement. Wiggle. Stretch. Dance. Move your hips before your body decides to revolt later in life.
So before any cooking happens, this episode starts with something more important: resetting the space and resetting the body.
Resetting the Kitchen (and the Mind)
This apartment is not just a kitchen.
It’s an office, a warehouse, a bookbinding shop, a filming space, and a home.
When everything piles up, cooking stops. When cooking stops, health slides. When health slides, everything else follows.
So Episode 1 isn’t about cooking yet—it’s about organization, because that’s what makes cooking possible again.
- Clearing counter space
- Cleaning the fridge
- Taking inventory of what’s still usable
- Accepting that some things are “borderline” but salvageable
- Admitting I haven’t cooked properly in months
This is what real life looks like when you’re rebuilding from scratch.
Why This Series Exists
This marks the return of Gourmet Cooking on a College Budget.
Not fake “budget cooking” where you eat sadness out of a microwave container—but real food, real techniques, real leftovers, and real cost awareness.
I’m officially off medication that wrecked my appetite and my routine. I’ve lost a lot of weight, but here’s the truth nobody likes to admit:
Weight loss didn’t fix the pain.
Movement, stretching, and regular activity do.
Food matters, yes—but removing garbage (high fructose corn syrup, vaping, synthetic junk) and actually moving your body matters more.
This series is about rebuilding all of that—slowly, honestly, and cheaply.
Chef’s Gold and Kitchen Staples
A few things worth noting from today’s kitchen reset:
- Chef’s Gold: Rendered chicken fat saved from chicken skin or skimmed off chilled stock.
This stuff is flavor gold. Do not throw it away. - Homemade Buddha Hand Marmalade:
Sticky, fragrant, absurdly expensive if you bought it retail.
On toasted sourdough with butter and eggs, it’s unreal. - Saving Jars:
Wash and reuse glass jars. Steam mode in the dishwasher helps remove labels—but timing matters, or the glue re-bonds. - Winter Hands:
Gloves matter. Cracked fingers and hot water don’t mix.
Grocery Haul Philosophy (College Budget Edition)
Yes, the grocery bill was about $160 at Whole Foods—but here’s the key:
This food can last a month if you cook and eat leftovers properly.
Core principles:
- Buy ingredients, not vacuum-sealed meals
- Organic where it matters most
- Cook once, eat multiple times
- Avoid ultra-processed junk
What’s in the Kitchen Right Now
Produce
- Spinach
- Kale (remove yellow leaves to extend life)
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Red potatoes
- Sweet potato
- Red onion
- Yellow storage onions
- Green onions
- Bell pepper
- Serrano peppers
- Thai peppers
- Eggplant
- Green apple
- Lemons
- Pineapple
- Carrots
- Cabbage
Proteins & Dairy
- Whole chicken (for stock later)
- Italian sausage
- Eggs
- Feta cheese
- Mozzarella
- Cheddar
Pantry
- Tomato sauce
- Crushed tomatoes
- Marinara (college shortcut option)
Extras
- Espresso (dangerously addictive)
- Root beer (no high fructose corn syrup)
- Butter (left out for cookies later)
Menu Debate: What Should Dinner Be?
Two solid, budget-friendly options emerged:
Option 1: Lasagna Night
- Homemade lasagna noodles
- Italian sausage
- Tomato sauce
- Eggplant layered in
- Mozzarella and cheddar
- Side of roasted red potatoes
- Roasted broccoli
- Bread
Pros:
- Feeds me for several days
- Cheap per serving
- Comfort food
- Easy leftovers
Cons:
- Requires planning
- No foil pans on hand
- No microwave (reheating is stovetop only)
Option 2: Portobello “Burgers”
- Grilled portobello mushroom caps
- Spinach
- Garlic
- Feta cheese
- Side of Brussels sprouts
- Roasted red peppers
Pros:
- Fast
- Lighter
- Very healthy
Cons:
- More greens than I want today
- Doesn’t stretch as far over multiple meals
Decision Made: Lasagna Wins
Lasagna checks the most boxes right now.
That means:
- Chicken stock will wait until tomorrow
- Lasagna noodles will be made from scratch
- Tomatoes that might spoil soon get used first
- Cooking becomes a multi-day food solution, not a one-off meal
Recipe Preview: Homemade Egg Noodles for Lasagna
This is where Episode 2 begins, but here’s the setup.
Simple Egg Noodle Dough
Ingredients
- Eggs
- Flour
- Salt
Method (Overview)
- Mix eggs, flour, and salt into a firm dough
- Knead until smooth
- Rest the dough
- Roll thin
- Cut into lasagna sheets
No boxed noodles. No nonsense.
The Real Point of Episode 1
This wasn’t a cooking episode.
This was a reset episode.
- Resetting the kitchen
- Resetting the body
- Resetting habits
- Making realistic food decisions under financial pressure
This is what cooking on a college budget actually looks like when life is messy, money is tight, and you still refuse to live off garbage.
Episode 2 begins with homemade lasagna noodles.
Come right back.