– Fruits and nuts, greek yogurt... simple and healthiest breakfast.
– Scrambled eggs. Just crack it and dump it in the pan with a bit of oil, add salt and pepper, mix until done. To that basic structure you can add other stuff, say onion, tomatoes, ham, cheese, mushrooms, a side of crispy bacon, premade fried beans, whatever... there's millions of recipes. Can accompany with some bread (you can toast it on the pan).
– Sandwich. Do I need to explain? Vary your ingredients and bread and you can eat them all month without going insane.
– Tacos/Wraps. Basically a sandwich but inside your thin flatbread of choice. Isn't life great?
– Salad. Lettuce. Tomato Slices, or tiny tomatoes. Perhaps fresh cheese, feta, mozzarella? Maybe some apple slices, or grapes or nuts? Oil and balsamic vinegar? Add tuna?
– Meat on pan. Pork chops? Chicken breasts? Beef? Fish? All good with just salt and pepper and basil if you don't wanna go crazy. The trick for it to go from meh to great is generally a decent side dish. A basic salad, rice, steamed vegetables, potatoes, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, asparagus... And/or some secret sauce. Butter and lemon (fish), soy sauce (I love this shit, try it with salmon!), spicy sauce, sweet and sour sauce, steak sauce, cream, oil, tomato sauce, pesto, beer...
– Lazy pizza. With an appropriately crusty flatbread, put it on the pan. Spread a bit of tomato sauce on it (premade pasta sauce for the extra lazy). Maybe add a dash of oregano, basil, garlic, olive oil. Distribute some mozzarella slices. Then add your toppings of choice: salami, ham, mushrooms, peppers, olives, onion, more cheese, dried tomatoes, pineapple, salmon, ground beef.... the possibilities are endless.
– Stir-fry thing. Chop up your ingredients into small cubes or strips, mix of vegetables and perhaps some meat (doesn't matter what). I like onions, scallions, brocolli, shiitake and those asian green bean pods, but I take whatever is in my fridge. Dump them in the pan with a bit of oil and soy sauce. Stir until done. Success! For more success you can marinate your meat in soy sauce. Add soy sprouts and ginger and use sesame oil for great victory.
You can make the above in a smaller amount, add some rice to the mix (you always have leftover rice), and mix in a raw egg a bit before serving on a bowl... gives it an extra oooh.
All of that can be done with a pan and don't require any fancy techniques. With a pot you could make the laziest, holy grails of cheap-ass student cooking:
– Rice. Put water in pot with a dash of salt. Add rice. Wait about 5-10 minutes. The universe is set up so it burns if you're not staring at it, so don't stop staring at it. Weep because rice on its own is terribly bland, you burned it anyway and you still have to eat. It's best to just make a ton of it and keep it in storage to combine with other stuff.
– Potatoes. FUCK YEAH. #POTATOES4LYFE. Put water in pot. Add potatoes (peeling optional). Wait about 5-10 minutes. Stab your potatoes periodically with a fork, when it easily goes in deep, you know they're dead and no longer pose a threat. You can now take them out and add some salt and butter, cream, cheese, or mash them with some milk, salt, pepper... Of course you could have fried them instead, doesn't matter potatoes are the best.
– Pasta. AKA, how everyone becomes overweight! Put water in pot with salt. Add pasta. Wait about 5-10 minutes, until you can feel the pasta is soft. Meanwhile, heat your pasta sauce in the pan (not too much, you don't want it to start boiling and shooting hot tomato all over you... do you?). Drain the water, carefully scald yourself with the steam. Then COMBINE! A bit of parmesan and you're set. Protip: Stick pasta is tricky to get in the pot, so buy other kinds... it's the same thing in a different shape. Besides, you will always end up with splatter eating stick pasta, ALWAYS. And tomato stains are a bitch.
