It's September, which means only one thing... back to school. For students entering college this semester, you'll find it very tough surviving without the aid of parents… well mostly mom.
Most students will end up with the "Freshman 15", gaining 15 pounds during their first year of college. This is mostly due to unhealthy eating.
1. Learn to cook or bake. I am not just talking about learning to cook ramen noodles in the stovetop. I am talking about buying
REAL ingredients, and putting something together. In this way, you are eating real food but you are also learning something that's actually valuable and you're saving more money than you think.
Websites such as epicurious.com or lookandtaste.com have great video tutorials for the novice cook.
Ireallylikefood.com also posts yummy recipes that are easy to make.
2. Brown Bag your food. Just like in our elementary school days. Bringing your own lunch or dinner from home can save you time and money. Sandwiches are easy to make or do what I do, heat up a dish from last night's leftovers.
Extra Tips: Invest in reusable microwavable containers. These babies come in a set that will cost you around $6-20. Most sets come in different sizes and material so you can use them for food storage too.
Glad offers plastic microwavable containers for an inexpensive price. You can also use the Chinese take-out containers as well. Most restaurants usually don't give you paper containers, but they give you plastic containers since they are reusable, microwavable and dishwasher safe.
The alternative types of containers are the glass containers that will cost from $15-50. These containers are better if you are concerned about the plastic.
Embarrassed about those brown bags? A regular brown bag at the supermarket is $4 for around 25 bags, which is not worth the price at all. Instead, use a small shopping bags from your favorite store. You would be surprised how durable and how much you fit in those bags. Personally, I use a Victoria's Secret's medium bag. It stores my lunch, a bottled drink and some snacks. You can reuse different bags to match your styles as well.
3. Bring your own drinks to class. There is nothing more expensive than buying soft drinks from the vending machine. A 20-ounce soda costs $1.50. Not only is soda unhealthy, but you are being ripped off because the bottles used to be 24-ounces and you are paying more for the plastic bottle than the content. A liter of soda costs around $1-$3.50. Therefore, you're spending about the same amount for a small bottle of soda with the vending machine, compared to what you can get at the supermarket.
This is true for fruit juice too! Most supermarkets have specials for 64-ounce orange juice; 2 for $5, while a bottle of a 20-ounce bottle is $2.50, how messed up is that?!
Tips: Invest in getting a tin bottle. Bottles cost from $5-25 (depending on the size) and you can put whatever drink you like.
An inexpensive alternative is reusing a water bottle or a juice bottle. Most water bottles are BPA free and juice bottles can come in glass.
For the coffee lovers, invest an isolated coffee mug. They cost around $7-30. If you don’t have a drip coffee maker, try instant coffee, they actually have fewer calories than drip brewed coffee. You'll be amazed how much a week you can safe by brewing your own coffee at home instead of spending $35 a week at Starbucks.
4. Don't want homemade food? Go and get lunch for cheap!Sure fast food is cheap, but it really packs in the fat, sodium, and hundreds of calories. Try eating out at a non-chain restaurant. Food is more flavorful and less in the fat and calories. There are also many places that offer lunch specials for an inexpensive price.
Do a bit of research before going out, use websites such as citysearch.com or menupages.com for reviews and the on-screen menus. This way you can see what there is to eat and how much it is. Walk around outside the campus and see what is there to offer.
Most restaurants do offer student discounts as long as you have a valid student ID. In my experience, I take some time after class just to discover good eats are around me. I would take menus with me and see what I am in the mood for. Since the economy isn’t in the best shape, most restaurants will lower their prices, to keep customers coming back for more. Don’t be afraid to ask for a discount!
Do you have some food saving tips? Let us know!
Comments (101)
I agree especially with the first one! I gained almost a little over the freshmen 15 last year just from eating from the dining hall at my university! Imagine what would have happened if I indulged in fast food more haha. When I came back home for the summer, I had to cook my own food as well as enjoy mommy's delish homemade stuffs. I ended up not only losing the 15lbs I gained, but also another 5lbs :P
As for beverages, I picked up a tin bottle from CVS for like 2.99 or something during a sale. Totally worth it. I can fill it up using a 2L bottle of juice I bought (which is cheaper than a vending machine) or at a water fountain (which is more times than not free).
Follow the picture prompt at the top of the post: soup. It's a breeze to make, you can have lots of leftovers, relatively cheap, and healthy.
Another cheap, healthy food is eggs- unless you're a vegan. Make them scrambled, poached, hard-boiled, or throw together an omelette with some onions, peppers, and a few chunks of ham or bacon. They're not just breakfast food at our house; paired with whole wheat toast, some salsa, and fresh fruit in season, they become a healthy, balanced meal for any time of day that costs very little.
Salad: a head of lettuce, a couple veggies, & croutons. Leftover chicken pieces are great as well. Throw some dressing on it, and there's lunch.
Creativity is everything.
We have meal plans at my college. I have 20 meals a week, and the dining services are really conscious about making healthy alternatives. It's nice =]
Great post!! I really could've used this information when I started college. Now that I'm graduating in December I've already learned these tricks.
But, great advice nonetheless!
i have these twistable top ziploc containers that I put cereal into and when im hungry I get some cheap little thing of milk ( 50c cents) and eat that at school. Mmmmm cereal.
Heh. I LOST weight at college, because I literally had no money and had to walk everywhere. The only food I could eat was part of the meal package or what people gave me.
I use sturdy gift bags to pack a lunch :D
And steal ziplocs full of cereal from the cafeteria....
I'm a freshman in High School and I pack my own bag lunch. It rocks.
They're not the cheapest things, but if you want to dress up a brown lunch bag, you could get these.
Or buy a reusable cloth lunch bag.
All good except number 1. Where did you go to school that you had anything beyond a microwave and perhaps a george forman to cook your food? Especially freshman year.
i always live like a student, especially when it comes to food. even now, i pack my food to work. it saves a lot of money and keeps me on a good diet.
Why not buy a reusable lunch bag? Seems to make much more sense than buying the brown bags. And better for the environment, no?
Otherwise, I like all of the suggestions. Cheap and easy!
nice post! nice replies, thanks! :)
very helpful....because i always only eat bread with random chips as a meal when i am trying not to spend too much on eating out.I'm really replying just to drop this website: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/dorm-food-ideas-recipe.html
100 Cookbooks is undoubtedly one of the most popular cooking sites on the interwebz. I've been making my way through the comments on "Dorm Food Ideas" for the last month or so, and I'm not yet halfway through. This gives some pretty good ideas.
I definitely recommend that all in-dorm uni students check out that link.
@pnigophobicpk@xanga - meal plans are usually a lot more expensive than cooking your own (especially if you cook from scratch)! I spent about a third of what my college roommate spent on her meal plan, and I lost 12 pounds in one semester, too!
@NotUeberMommy@momaroo - It's good for me, though. I don't pay for the plan myself (yay, scholarships!)
Oftentimes in college, clubs will put on events and whatnot and have free food. Keep an eye out for posters and such advertising such stuff. I think at most college campuses, free pizza can be acquired almost every night if you try hard enough.
Find the clubs with free food, and do not be ashamed to ask "are you gonna eat that." It's how I survived when my food budget was about $5 a month.
Great advice.
My dorms are set up like 2 bedroom apartments and we even have our own kitchen and living room. It saved me a lot of money when I learned to cook my own food and since I was buying the food it was easier for me to make healthy food choices.
tip: go to events with free food! especially for freshman (at least at my school), they're all over the place. i have 14 meals a week on my meal plan, and i haven't used them all up yet, 'cause i keep getting meals for free. it's great. :D
I just eat ravioli out of the can cold with a fork from the sink and a mason jar full of cheap whiskey and diet coke for dinner. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll use one of the flavored creamers I steal from gas stations in my coffee afterwards. Welcome to university life in Michigan!
:D
This is great. Bringing drinks to class definitely helps. Also making your own coffee so you don't blow 20 bucks a week on Dunkin's or Starbucks.
Steal food from the food services on the campus. If the workers are minorities, they generally don't care even if you do it right in front of them.
Cereal FTW. lol
solid advice. i mostly squeak by with microwave cooking just because cooking real meals takes so much time. turkey sammiches ftw!