This blog was created for beginner cooks, like the Wiessmen in my cooking classes.  It is set up particularly for people getting jacked off campus (a Rice tradition), to help ease you and your roommates into healthy eating and cooking on your own.  One of the hard parts of cooking for yourself is getting the right ingredients without stopping at the store every day.  With that in mind, I plan a week of meals for 4 people, add the recipes to the blog and create your full shopping list for the week.  The shopping list and recipes will even have options for vegetarians.

Start with Week One, the shopping list helps you stock a naked pantry and the recipes are very basic: a pot of beans that cooks all day in a crock pot or a pad Thai that is straight from a box with the addition of meat or tofu and bean sprouts.  The cost for a group of 4 ranges from $50 to $70 per person each week.  The recipes grow a little more complex each week, and I am testing new easy recipes for weeks 13-20 because I felt my choices had become too difficult for  everyday weeknight cooking.

Yes! I use this blog for my own family cooking.  Every recipe is prepared by me at least three times before it is added to the blog and retested and revised when I repeat that week’s menu and recipes later in the year.  Yes! I use the shopping lists every week.  That is how I know the cost is still reasonable for students.

Send comments or suggestions to my rice.edu address: carlyn@