Senior in College= heatlthy food expensive and no time

wiggam17
wiggam17 Posts: 22
edited November 2023 in Getting Started
Hi guys,

I am a senior in college! So, I eat crappy because healthy food is super expensive and limited time. However, I say enough is enough. I kept trying to push out till end of may when I graduate but all I did was put on the weight. I work out really hard in the summer and I gain it all back because school consumes me. I work almost forty hours a week, 15 credits, and am poor. I need people like me to say enough is enough. Feel free to add me so we can support each other! Oh and I'm getting married in 2015. I'm 162 my goal is 145 then maybe 130 depending how I look and feel add me!!!!
«1

Replies

  • TigerBite
    TigerBite Posts: 611 Member
    Hey,

    Healthy doesn't have to be time consuming and expensive ... Things like nuts and seeds can be purchased in bulk, oats (oatmeal) too ... Vegetables and fruit can be purchased on sale or from the "discount" or "manager's special" section of your supermarket ... Also, store like Whole Foods (expensive for some stuff, but stiuff like FAGE Greek yogurt and some other stuff, they're actually LESS expensive that a traditional grocery store) let you buy things by the case (6,8,12, 24) ... Like if I buy 6, 32oz containers of Greek yogurt, I save 10% w/ the case discount ...

    Buying you produce seasonally helps too, things in season tend to be on sale/cheaper ...
  • Sailatsorf
    Sailatsorf Posts: 161 Member
    We are very much alike! I'm also a college senior, graduating in December. Getting married in May 2014, and I'm at 159 pounds with a goal of 140, maybe 135.
  • TracyJo93
    TracyJo93 Posts: 197 Member
    We're alike as well. I just sent you a FR. I'm a junior in college with a scholarship to keep, working 40 hours, getting married after graduation. Oh and I make $7.25 an hour. I think we could be friends :)
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1105036-article-on-flexible-dieting-by-armi-legge?page=1#posts-17068746
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I am a senior in college! So, I eat crappy because healthy food is super expensive and limited time.

    How much is "super expensive"? Half a box of pasta and half a pound of ground beef give loads of carbs and protein for a pretty low price - but is even that too much?
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    I am a senior in college! So, I eat crappy because healthy food is super expensive and limited time.

    How much is "super expensive"? Half a box of pasta and half a pound of ground beef give loads of carbs and protein for a pretty low price - but is even that too much?

    That's assuming she has access to a kitchen.
  • wiggam17
    wiggam17 Posts: 22
    I don't eat ground beef, I only eat ground turkey :/ and pasta isn't that great for me
  • rbear713
    rbear713 Posts: 220 Member
    Buy Meat (you gotta look, but it can be cheap!) By meat I mean chicken, fish, or beef. Then buy frozen steamable veggies. If you have or can get a George Foreman and a microwave and some tupperware, you can cook for days at a time in 10 minutes. While Im a lil further along in life than you, I do this for myself every night while Im packing my kids lunches for school. Heres the plan -

    I cook 1lb of any given meat on my foreman. I steam a whole bag of veggies in the microwave. I split each in half and eat half for dinner and tupperware the other half for lunch the next day.

    This is CLEAN. This is FAST. This is EASY. And if youre really pressed for time, you can cook for a whole week in one afternoon....couple hours tops!

    I know you dont have a lot of time, but you should make some - you are WORTH that time, trust me - and your body will LOVE YOU for it!!

    GOOD LUCK!! and oh yah, breakfast, you say?? Instant oatmeal or fat free yogurt...CHEAP and FAST and STILL PRETTY CLEAN!!!
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    "Healthy" food isn't required to lose weight. A calorie deficit is.

    But ya as stated above, you can find "healthy" food on a budget as well.
  • katealbright
    katealbright Posts: 134 Member
    Hey I lost 30 lbs my senior year! I was at a big university for art school and had 17 hour studios every day, plus I had two internships! Finding time to get enough sleep and work out is tough, but for me it made me more focused and made my schoolwork flow easier.

    And healthy food is NOT expensive!!!! Crappy fast food is expensive! I'm vegan and eating healthy is super easy, delicious, and rewarding. My meals usually cost about $1! Beans, oats, and rice are about ten cents a serving. Fruit and vegetables are usually 20 to 60 cents a serving. If you want to splurge, spend a whole whopping $1 on an avocado. It's all quick and can be made in bulk ahead of time so you have food ready throughout the week.

    Change is hard but don't make excuses. You are capable of so much more than you ever imagined.

    Feel free to add :)
  • sinclare
    sinclare Posts: 369 Member
    tofu? steamed veggies and rice? oatmeal. soup is cheap to make if you have a stove.

    potatoes:) eggs:)

    bake 1 lb chicken. have .25/day...
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I don't eat ground beef, I only eat ground turkey :/ and pasta isn't that great for me

    Ok, so rice (which is even cheaper than pasta) and ground turkey. Still cheap, by most standards. And super easy to prepare.

    Does that fit your budget?
  • ars1300
    ars1300 Posts: 159 Member
    You can eat healthy cheap. Do you have an Aldi"s or a farmers or flea market is great for good prices on produce? Tubs of quick oats, rice, eggs, buy larger packages of tilapia or chicken.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
    I am not going to talk ya down, but yeah....LOTS of quick, budget friendly meals for college/work/family busy folks. Just takes planning and commitment. You are more dynamic than you know and you just have to figure it all in.

    Lots of good suggestions here already, but I will tell ya get a crockpot and find the 1000's of healthy recipes you can easily make and freeze for quick reheatables meals.

    Good luck.
  • wiggam17
    wiggam17 Posts: 22
    Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions :) My fiancé just purchased a crock pot so I'm super excited to try it out!
  • jmhermann
    jmhermann Posts: 3 Member
    I'm in the same boat! Graduating in december and trying to get some professional exams out of the way in addition to school, work, and volunteering. I drink like 3 cups of coffee daily and don't sleep often. Motivation is my biggest issue, but doing things like watching tv shows on the elliptical for study breaks and buying food in smaller bulks (yes you have to go more frequently but less goes to waste! Hense bang for your buck). Hopefully all the senior ladies can keep eachother motivated! PS, I'm 5'3 and about 160, also would love to be 145 by graduation day, 130 as ultimate goal.
  • lindustum
    lindustum Posts: 212 Member
    I know people say healthy doesn't have to be expensive, but puh-lease. It IS. My food bill has gone up by £50 a month. Before I was living on pasta with ketchup, or £1 soups. That is cheaper than beef, vegetables and potatoes. It IS more expensive to live healthy.

    I go shopping at Aldi, buy frozen not fresh food- but the fact is that meat especially is very expensive. If you buy low quality meat, you also have a lot less nutrition. If you actually care about your protein, there is no point in getting the £2 meat because you would have to eat 3 times as much of that water-filled crap in order to get the same nutrition from the average (not high-end) priced meat.


    The way I see it is that I choose to make an investment. Rather than spending the money on going out for dinner (which I used to do regularly) I choose to spend it on healthy food. It seems like a useless investment because it's everyday life and there is no psychological benefit of "doing something special" but I see the results in the mirror and on the scales. I am sure everyone can siphon off some money from a different spending source. Crap like nicotine and alcohol are obvious choices, but what about the irrational need to get the newest phone when your current one is only 6-12 months old? That sort of thing.
  • wiggam17
    wiggam17 Posts: 22
    So, I met with a fitness trainer a couple days ago and I learned I was working out all wrong. Its my second day in this new routine and so far I love it. I've also substituted noodles for an apple. I can't eat as much because food costs more but my body is getting use to fewer calories :)
    Hope all is going well!
  • tenilleless
    tenilleless Posts: 88 Member
    Crockpots make life really easy if you have even just a few hours on one day, a little extra cash up front and freezer space.
    I'm a university student in Canada (where food is even more expensive and farmers markers are where you go to spend money, not save it). I really recommend watching the store fliers/checking out cheaper grocery stores and getting a ton of cheap veggies, cheap canned beans, cheap turkey, whatever you can get and toss it into the crockpot as a soup/chilli. Then you can portion out enough for 2 meals (or 4 meals if you're cooking for 2) and then throughout the semester you can take meals out and have supper and lunch the next day. I went out and paid $230 at the grocery store and ended up with enough chili, chicken taco soup, and chicken parm soup to last me 27 meals (The parm didn't do too well, you shouldn't put creamy soups in freezer) and I had food leftover for a few other fresh meals.

    Bulk stores are your friend. :D. And cheap PB, cheap rice, ziplock freezer bags and sales. :D
  • gnc2992
    gnc2992 Posts: 3 Member
    I'm a senior in college too! I know all about the yo-yo of losing weight in the summer and gaining it back during school. That's actually why I just re-joined MFP. I'm trying to head the weight gain off at the pass, so to speak.

    Coffee (well, fancy Starbucks espresso drinks) is my dieting downfall. Also my budget downfall, I won't lie.
    Anyway, feel free to add me! :)
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
    i love being in control and having a handle on everything.

    i just entered senior year of college, too, and i am massively stressed and seem to have negative amounts of free time. i am busy, busy, busy.

    i haven't given up my half hour a day of video game time for workout out yet. i'm hoping i can stop the busy a little more and fit them both in. time for ME is important.

    but most of all, what i wanted to say here is that i have to let go of the control and ASK FOR HELP. my boyfriend has been making a lot of dinners for us lately, and cleaning the house. I feel absolutely awful about it, but he doesn't mind. I want the control, like i said. I want to be the one that everyone depends on. I want to do the dishes, laundry, cleaning, yard work, dog training, errand running, bill paying, college education getting... i want to do it all

    but i also want to sleep
    and sometimes play a video game
    or maybe just spend an hour with the boyfriend just sitting on the couch

    i have no time, so i asked for help. you mentioned a fiance which is why i wrote this to you. ask him for help.
  • hedgiie
    hedgiie Posts: 1,226 Member
    there's always excuse in eating crap, but there's always a way to eat healthy. feel free to add me if you like
  • CharChary
    CharChary Posts: 220 Member
    Hey!

    I am in my second year of my masters degree so I understand the busy-ness and lack of money HOWEVER eating healthy is so affordable with the proper preparing!

    Here are things I do to keep costs down:
    I don't buy anything ANYTHING premade/preassembled. By this I mean, frozen meals/prepackaged anything. If you buy healthy foods by the bulk (so like a canister of almonds instead of snack packs), separate into servings not only do you save money, but time too!
  • pavrg
    pavrg Posts: 277 Member
    I don't eat ground beef, I only eat ground turkey :/ and pasta isn't that great for me
    Well, there's a problem.

    Eating right doesn't mean that you have to purchase whole wheat bread/pasta and ground turkey. It just means you have to exercise proper portion control, which usually ends up lowering people's food bill.

    Some easy/quick/cheap ideas:

    -Instant oatmeal for breakfast. It's god-like for dieting. One packet with 2/3 cup of skim milk.
    -For lunch, have a turkey sandwich with pre-packaged turkey and whatever bread your local store has on sale for like $1.25/loaf. Takes 5 minutes to make and you can pile up to 1/2 lb on there and it will be under 500 calories. Alternatively, find out when soup goes on sale at your grocery store and stock up on your favorite kind.
    -For dinner, most meals can be made in under 15 minutes. If you're going the chicken route, it only takes 8-10 minutes to broil it with whatever rub/marinade you choose or heat it up on foreman grill. Pasta is an easy and cheap choice, just learn how to make your own marinara sauce and freeze it. Rice and potatoes are also very cheap for side dishes. Canned veggies can give you all the nutrition of the regular kinds and only take 2-3 minutes to heat up.

    I think you'll realize that once you cut out the fad health food and TV dinners, your food bill will go way down. Also, making the above would consume probably 30 minutes a day making food.
  • _TastySnoBalls_
    _TastySnoBalls_ Posts: 1,298 Member
    Where there's a will, there's a way. Make it work
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions :) My fiancé just purchased a crock pot so I'm super excited to try it out!

    Welcome. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. :smile:

    Crock pots are excellent because you can cook an entire meal in them. Put your turkey or chicken or roast (if you eat beef) in the crock pot with a big of water, add your vegetables and potatoes if that's what you want, and you have a meal lasting for days.

    Do you like rice? If so, you can get an electric rice steamer. In my rice steamer, I can stream rice, vegetables, or even steam fish if I want to.

    I'm not too much on microwave food, but they are good for warming up all those great meals you cook in your rice steamer.
  • littleburgy
    littleburgy Posts: 570 Member
    I plan our (husband and I) meals once a week and try to keep my shopping to only once a week as well. A lot of basic ingredients don't cost much, making meals and freezing ahead of time can save time and money. As does cutting back on eating out, alcohol and things that are just empty calories. Often I buy basic versatile ingredients like chicken, carrots, celery, potatoes, beef, onions, cabbage, peppers, dry pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, etc. I love making soups and freezing them if need be, basic vegetable soup can be cheap and easy. Soup made from a single chicken, carrots, onion and celery can last for days. Stews are great as well. For a quick meal, my mom used to take a chicken breast or piece of fish, wrap it in tin foil with some green beans/asparagus/whatever and bake a potato -- voila, a quick, easy cheap balanced meal. I'm not in college anymore but try to plan and budget -- found that if we plan and shop less throughout the week, it's cheaper and overall better for you than ready meals and processed foods. Good luck!
  • wiggam17
    wiggam17 Posts: 22
    Pay day tomorrow=Grocery Shopping
    I will be attempting to buy healthy food and save money! and everyone that said beef is cheaper just portion it. Well, I hate beef... but thanks :)
  • wiggam17
    wiggam17 Posts: 22
    Also, what are some great crock pot recipes. I love chicken or turkey for my meat!
  • StephenKTHill
    StephenKTHill Posts: 28
    <==== College student, married, and working a big boy job. Honestly, a change of eating habits for my wife and I has been significantly cheaper for us.

    Add me!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories