Introduction

25 March 09

Introduction:

I'd like to use this first entry as an introduction of myself and what I intend to do here.

I'm currently a 21 year old college student living somewhere around Phoenix, Arizona. I am not a food critic. I am not a writer. I am not a photographer. But I am poor. And I do need to eat.

Over the years of shopping for myself, I've noticed that I'm always drawn to "instant" foods that are sold in most grocery stores. I'm talking things like Cup Noodles, any instant soups, basically anything that can be prepared in a microwave in under 5 minutes.

Instant meals are always in colourful packaging, always look delicious on the outside, and usually always have promotional sales such as "2 for 1" or "buy 2 get 1 free", you get my point.

So I've decided to start a sort of food review page for cheap, college oriented meals.

I have worked out a grading criteria for the foods in question which is subject to change but will follow a format like this for the time being.

Price: This is the most important factor. These food products are aimed at those without a lot of money. If it costs 10cents but tastes like garbage, at least it fed you for a few hours.

Time: The time to prepare the meal isn't the most important thing in the world, but these are "instant" meals after all. I don't want to toss a frozen lasagna in the microwave and have to wait 12 minutes for my food. Part of being poor and in college means I'm impatient and don't have the foresight to cook that lasagna 12 minutes BEFORE I'm hungry.

Filling: If you're to survive in this world you need bang for your buck. If it's cheap but you need to eat 5 of them just to feel full, that's garbage. These are instant meals and my personal requirement for something to be a meal is that I need to feel full afterward.

Preparation: I want food that's easy to make. Instant right ? A lot of these meals have many packets that need to be added in a certain order. Other times you are asked to open the microwave, stir, and cook again.

Taste: Finally taste. To some this is the most important to you and I personally agree that I would rather something taste great than be cheap. But in the real world, when checks bounce and you can't even afford the gas to get to school, taste hits the back burner. However there are some excellent tasting instant meals out there that are definitely worth the price. I'd like to make you aware of them.

I'll try and prepare 1 of these a week until I figure out a consistent day that works for me to update.

Thanks for reading and hopefully you enjoy and find something useful in my posts.