Starving (poor) college student diet?

Josalinn

Hello, I'm an off and on again poster, and I am terrible about keeping up on my diary. However, renewing the effort because hey, my life is entering super stress mode with finals fast approaching so why not add this on top of it all?

I am lucky that my campus has microwaves. I am on campus from 10am to 10pm (yay) with a 30 to 45 min drive each way depending on traffic.

Today's diary is "close" to what I have planned for the week, with the exception of the oatmeal, which exploded all over the microwave so I only got to eat 1/3 of it. I haven't decided what I am going to eat to make up the calories, probably cheerios and milk when i get home. My boyfriend treated me to olive garden last night so I had left overs, but normally I Make a whole box of pasta, dump a jar of sauce on it, divide it into 8 plastic containers and freeze it. Yay 250-300 calorie cheep meals! (sometimes i'll even dump some peas in there)

So my Question: What do you do for cheap meals that are healthy and keep decently in a lunchbox? No salads please. I just stare at the makings in the fridge and they go bad. I like hearty veggies like sprouts, green beans and broccoli.

I have allocated about $20 per week for food. And to give some perspective I got Oatmeal, PB, brown sugar, milk, apples and cheese for about $16

lewandt

Wow, $20 huh? Hmm i guess for me it would be chicken breasts and broccoli. I would grill a bunch of chicken breasts to pack for lunch along with a vegetable. I would also go for oatmeal, eggs, and a fruit (my favorite is apples) and if i had money left it would be cottage cheese.

bcf7683

-Bags of frozen veggies (broccoli, green beans, etc), usually $1: saute in olive oil & garlic (& spices if you'd like) and divide into bowls for the week
-Bags of chicken breasts, watch for sales and stock up: cook up and split servings for the week
-Cans of tuna are less than $1- you can make pasta with tuna & peas (Google "healthy tuna pea wiggle")
-Tub of non-fat greek yogurt- store brands are cheap: mix with frozen/fresh fruit, cereal and a little sugar/sweetener
-Peanut butter & jelly or peanut butter & bananas
-Mix apples & cinnamon with your oatmeal (or it's good to mix cinnamon into oatmeal and eat it with apples like a dip)
-Bags of dry beans (really cheap)- prepare and mix with brown rice (also cheap) and season or use spaghetti sauce

You could skip the cheese- it's more of an additive rather than a necessity when you're on a budget.
I like to shop at Aldi's if you have one near you. Really good prices for most grocery items. Especially fresh fruit, veggies, brown rice, cereal, ground turkey & frozen fish fillets.
Also, if you have a habit of buying bottled water, invest in a water bottle with a built-in filter and just fill it up at fountains around campus.

Edit to add: Also, if there's a Walmart near you, they do ad match. SIgn up for weekly ads at grocery stores around you and Walmart will honor their prices if you take the ad in and buy the same product there (you can usually get a better selection this way)

Josalinn

Yeah I know $20 is low. I watch for sales on pasta and sauce (10 for $10) and stock up, and the $20 is an average.

The cheese is for my egg sandwiches...and I am just sad without it. If you have a suggestion for utilizing english muffins I am all ears. I got a great deal Buy 1 get 2 Free, so I have 5 bags in the freezer.

I am considering making hamburgers, but I really suck at making hamburgers. They always come out dry....

I like the ideas. Especially the ones where there is one day of prep and then dinner in a container. Thanks!

(But please always welcome more =P)

micheleb15

I think you have the right idea with the pasta. It's cheap, easy and you can make so many different kinds. You can also do the same with rice. Get some chicken, rice, veggies maybe a few marinades that will last for a while. Throw some teriyaki sauce on the chicken, rice and veggies. Like others have said oatmeal, greek yogurt, frozen veggies and fruit - basically plan your week around what is on sale. I mix frozen fruit in with greek yogurt, great filling snack.

Honestly, when I was in college, I was buying $.69 Marie Callendar's Chicken Pot Pies, ramen noodles and easy mac and living off of those. I was smaller back then too.

toridehaven

baked potatoes/sweet potatoes go along way for pretty cheap!

rmdaly

Dried beans are pretty cheap and you could make some black bean or minestrone soups or "refried beans" (smashed pinto beans) to eat.

JrWino

I feel your pain! I was once a VERY poor college student too!

I would make whole wheat pasta, fat free Italian dressing and chicken and broccoli on Sundays to take for lunch. It would work out to be around $10 for all the stuff to make.

For breakfast I would make eggwhites on english muffins and since I was trying to limit my cheese intake, I would use cheese flavored pop corn seasoning! It comes in a bunch of flavors and I would get them from walmart for $1.50 each. Here's the link for them: http://www.kernelseasons.com/shop/6-popcorn-seasonings

For dinner I would usually keep to soup and stock up when they were $1 or less.

Good luck!

bcf7683

Yeah I know $20 is low. I watch for sales on pasta and sauce (10 for $10) and stock up, and the $20 is an average.

The cheese is for my egg sandwiches...and I am just sad without it. If you have a suggestion for utilizing english muffins I am all ears. I got a great deal Buy 1 get 2 Free, so I have 5 bags in the freezer.

I am considering making hamburgers, but I really suck at making hamburgers. They always come out dry....

I like the ideas. Especially the ones where there is one day of prep and then dinner in a container. Thanks!

(But please always welcome more =P)

You could use the cheese and sauce and make mini pizzas on the english muffins. Or get some low-fat ham lunch meat and make ham melts. Grilled cheese also? Or get tuna & greek yogurt, mix, and plop on top of a toasted english muffin with a slice of tomato & lettuce.