"I have no food at home"

How often do I get the feeling that the only things I have at home are rice and pasta? Answer: like ALL the time. Why? A) it's true because, B) I don't buy enough fresh ingredients because, C) I'm worried they'll go bad before I finish them. But that's my own personal problem. That aside, what to cook when you're running low on -- everything.  

I guess my first assumption is that you DO have veggie burgers. I literally survive off of these things, if it weren't for them, I'd starve. I've gone through several brands trying to learn which ones I like, including the brands offered at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Ralph's. Superior decided to stop carrying Amy's products and veggie burgers this semester, or I just can't find them anymore. Regardless, it's sad. 

Here are the three brands I recently bought to try: 

Verdict: my favorite was Amy's black bean burgers. I've only tried making any sort of patty or burger once and it was the quinoa patties and they were delicious, but it was a long, multi-step multi-ingredient process that I'm not willing to repeat any time I want dinner.

So, what do I make with these lovely pre-made meals? Don't judge me, I'm not a chef. But everything I make, sometimes to the surprise of my roommates, is edible. 

Usually it's something along these lines, where I have rice or pasta and I have a couple vegetables that I need to use up. So you know, this burger was one of the many sprout burgers I've tried over the year. They crumble very easily and really they're just a lot of mushrooms and sprouts, so that's why they're sorta mushy. Basically: not my favorite. But they're great when you wanna make something that could almost be ground beef and I've put them in a stir-fry like this and also cut it up in tomato sauce to put on pasta. 

This is one of the black bean burgers, just to show you how incredibly easy it is to cook one of these things, if you didn't already realize. I'll throw it in, find some veggies or rice or whatever and: 

Ta-da: food! (We do have more than one plate in this house, I promise, I'm only realizing now that I only take pictures/eat off of this one. It's because it's the one on top of all our heavier ceramic plates. Whatever.) I've made plenty more things with veggie burgers, some prettier some uglier, but the idea is that you can do whatever you want with them. I've substituted them for falafel in pita wraps and I've used them in pasta. I wouldn't recommend putting them in something like chili, especially not the sprout burgers, but hey, I'm not the boss of you. (I just wanna know if it turns out well.)