College budget!

meli_torres1230

I need some food ideas on a college budget ): lol also things that don't require too many steps to make !!!

kommodevaran

Exactly what to make is up to you - I don't know what you like. But there are some general principles for eating well - healthy, tasty, cheap and easy meals:

• Plan your meals. Start with your schedule and make a meal plan that provides just the right type and degree of structure you need.
• Plan meals you will want to eat, and buy just what you can eat up before it gets spoiled.
• Be careful with foods you tend to overeat. Consider not buying them, or only very rarely.
• Stick mostly to foods you already know you like, but try new things occasionally.
• Regard recipes as ideas, not a rule book. You can use similar ingredients in most cases, and leave out ingredients you don't like or can't get, and you can often skip or simplify operations too.
• Get enough nutrition, but don't overdo it. Use your food diary to see if you get enough protein and fat and stay within an appropriate calorie range.
• Variety and balance is good. Think components and categories, and rotate. Have some food from several food groups for every meal and foods from every food group every day, and buy different things whenever you can. Weekday dinner themes can be great to get your creativity flowing, while at the same time create structure and encourage variety.
• Don't pay more for unnecessary things. Low fat, low carb, organic, gluten free, reduced this and enriched that, precooked and prechopped, or aimed at children - all this adds to the price tag.
• Frozen or canned is often just as good as fresh. Look at the ingredients. Are these what you would expect?
• Buy in season. Fruit and veg in season is cheaper and better.
• Store brand is usually just as good as name brand.
• Buy cheap, basic foods often and expensive, luxury foods occasionally.
• Look at the price per pound before you buy.
• Juice, soda, sweets, chips - these are cheap but don't provide you with much that you need, so they are also occasional foods.
• Anything you can do in advance will save time: Soaking and thawing, washing and chopping. Invest in a slow cooker?
• Cheap basic foods tend to be things like rice, beans, pasta, oatmeal, potatoes, tuna, eggs, chicken, pork, canned tomatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, apples, bananas, oranges, peanut butter. They contain lots of nutrition per dollar, and they are versatile too.

froggiebecky

Well, you don't specify whether you're in a dorm or an apartment, so it's hard to make recommendations without knowing what you have access to, equipment-wise and storage-wise. But, if you're in an apartment, I'd recommend the blog 'A Girl Called Jack'. It's aimed at budget eating (she's got some powerful pieces on hunger/poverty), but also very healthy. Many of her meals are vegan, are aimed at 1-3 serves/recipe, and she talks about the many, many uses of beans as a protein source.

NewGemini130

Dried beans. Good protein, fiber, super versatile, and cheap. There are lots of simple tasty recipes, usually in a base of onion & garlic, go from there. One pound of dried beans is about a buck and will feed you as a base for days (with rice, veggies, tortilla, corn bread, egg, whatever). Then try a new bean/lentil when it's gone. Good for crockpot prep while your studying too.

not_my_first_rodeo

Are you in a dorm? Do you have access to cooking equipment? If you're living on campus, do you have a way to get off it? In my experience prices tend to be higher in campus run restaurants and stores.