CENTSABLE HEALTH: Quick college meals - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

For first time college students, school is right around the corner, learning how to cook on your own may be a challenge for some.

For some quick ideas about meals in a cup, Fareway Food's Register Dietitian Whitney Hemmer is here with some easy ideas. :

"So I did some experimenting with some things you can make in a coffee mug. Not only does that make easy and the cleanup easy but then it's portion controlled. I know that some going to college for the first time that freshman year you get a little bit worried about putting weight on this is a really nice way to keep things portion controlled -- and you don't have to be in college to make these meals. I was going to say I want to try this one right now. There are a few of these here that you will find in my kitchen still. They work for everybody. The first one is the one that surprised me the most to make in a mug and that is a mug lasagna. I know you can't see in my mug but I will do my best to show you. Really all you have to do to get a lasagna into cooked in a mug is to cook the pasta. So break up your lasagna noodles into small pieces put water in there.

Depending on your microwave, mine took about four minutes to get my noodles cooked. If there is still some water in there, drain that off. You do want to over-estimate the amount of water because then you're going to burn your noodles and then your dorm room is going to smell really bad. So make sure you have a good amount of water in there. Drain that off, take that off and really layer whatever you want as your lasagna layers. I used a marinara sauce, I like cottage cheese versus ricotta cheese, 

So I put that in there, mozzarella. I made a spinach lasagna so I know you can't see it but that is one of my layers in my lasagna. And you can even find pre-cooked sausage now so if you do want to add a meat to your lasagna you can definitely do that even in a dorm room cause you can find that cooked. So that's a really good one if you want to find that comfort food from home with out the huge mess. My next one, kind of on the same lines, good 'ol mac and cheese.

I know you can buy macaroni and cheese that you put in the microwave already in the cup, this is just a way you can make it your own. You only need elbow noodles, milk or water, and then whatever  kind of cheese you want. I used sharp cheddar. When you use a sharp cheese often times you can use less, so fewer calories because it has more flavors.

So you need to cook the pasta, four or five minutes in the microwave, drain the water, add the cheese and you are good to go. So you don't even need many ingredients in this one which I think is very helpful. This one is one of my favorites it is a blue berry mug cake. I am calling it more of a cake than a muffin but it's kind of like a muffin too. It tastes really good. This is one I would recommend not having everyday - maybe once a week - since it is more on the cake side of things.

You do get the blue berries in there but you can do a good amount of baking in your microwave which so you can have those treats and be portion controlled too. The last one is defilnitely my favorite -- scrambled eggs.  I think a lot of people are afraid to make eggs in the microwave, they think they are going to turn out rubbery or something. As long as you don't overcook them I actually love eggs in the microwave. So this is one that I have done my whole life. I still do now if I'm in a hurry, that's a really good one, breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can have eggs any time of day. They are extremely economical, so when you're in college and hurting for money that's a really easy way to get a healthy meal. And some easy ways to save your dining dollars and things to that nature."