2 Day Spaghetti

 

Spaghetti is a cheap and easy meal to make that costs about $10 and will feed you for 2 days when times are tough or money is tight in college.  

What to buy:

• 1 box spaghetti or thin spaghetti (I buy the box labeled whole wheat)
• 1 24 oz jar of spaghetti sauce (just get something on sale)
• 1 container of parmesan cheese or 1 8oz bag of mozzarella cheese
• salt, pepper

What you will need to use:

• 1 large pot for boiling noodles
• 1 large skillet for cooking beef 
• 1 plastic storage container to store leftovers
• Strainer
• Bowl

How to make it:

• Take a large pot and fill about half way or a little more with water. 
• Sprinkle some salt into the water.
• Turn on stove eye to high and wait for water to boil (bubbles), about 10 minutes.
• Take the spaghetti out of the box, break it in half (so it fits the pot) and drop into the pot.
• Stir it in the water and set a timer for however long the box recommends (usually about 8-10 minutes).
• While spaghetti is boiling, put 1 pound of ground beef in a pan on medium high heat.
• Use a cooking spatula to break up the beef into small pieces as it cooks.
• Season the beef as it cooks with salt and pepper.
• Cook the beef for about 6-8 minutes until it is all brown and no longer any pink.
• Place a strainer over a bowl in your sink (bowl will catch the fat from the beef and keep it from going down the drain which can clog your sink drain).  See below on what to do with this fat.
• Pour beef into strainer to remove all the fat from the cooking process.
• Return beef to the pan, turn heat to lowest stetting, and mix in the pasta sauce you bought.  At this point, I pour the fat that I drained off the beef into the empty sauce jar, secure the lid back on and throw away.
• Let simmer until your spaghetti is done boiling.
• Rinse out / clean your strainer and then pour spaghetti into the strainer (no bowl needed underneath for this step since it is just water).
• Place noodles back in the pot and mix your meat and sauce mixture into the pasta.
• Let it cool and store it in a container to eat for several days.
• Clean up your mess as you go.