staying on track in college

I am a college student too, and the main advice I can give is preplan your meals. Usually the night before or in the morning I plan what I am going to eat that day. Another thing is getting a bowl, putting whatever snack your going to eat in there, and then putting the rest away. When studying I would do the mindless hand to mouth ritual, not paying to how much I'm eating. Protein bars/other kinds of bars are nice too since they are pre portioned and easy to carry in your bag, just make sure to pay attention to the labels. A lot of them seem to be just calories and provide little nutrition.

jnz17 wrote: »

I have an apartment with a kitchen, I live near a grocery store and convenience store, and I'm not on a meal plan. Last year I had a kitchen too but I ended up becoming really dependent on the microwave and caved to order food a lot more than I should. I'd like to avoid that by learning quicker recipes--does anyone have any?--before I go back so it's easier for me to cook.

What kind of protein bars do you recommend for keeping you full for a few hours?

Check the recipes sub forum here, but also check if your college offers cooking lessons. My college offers them every semester, because they know there are a lot of people who will be cooking for themselves for the first time. Obviously, though, that would not be until you go back, so may not be the best option.

I've been having Quest bars lately, as I've seen suggested here, but they are a bit pricy. I pay about $2.50 a bar at the store when they are on sale. They have a good amount of both protein and fiber in them, and keep me full for a while. Some of the other bars I have around the If you check Amazon, you can get 12 count boxes where the price comes to about $2 a bar.

jnz17 wrote: »

I have an apartment with a kitchen, I live near a grocery store and convenience store, and I'm not on a meal plan. Last year I had a kitchen too but I ended up becoming really dependent on the microwave and caved to order food a lot more than I should. I'd like to avoid that by learning quicker recipes--does anyone have any?--before I go back so it's easier for me to cook.

College students are busy for sure. I remember the days of school, working two jobs, and playing a sport. I also remember very little sleep. But, you are no more busy than folks with jobs and kids and homes and such. That is to say, life isn't going to get less busy so it is good you are building good habits now. Good job.

As to fast recipes....cooking is a series of learned skills and you improve through repetition like any other skill. Take some time and learn proper knife technique. There is no substitute for good knife skills and it will save you a ton of money on gadgets and storage space. Once you know the correct way to dice an onion or carrot or whatever it is just a matter of repetition. Before you know it, you can do it seconds rather than minutes. Truth is, most of the time in cooking is in preparation - not just dicing vegetables but having meals thought out in advance. I do one menu for my family each week and shop once. This cuts out the daily runs to the stores - at 30 minutes a day, that is 3 hours a week. In time, you learn to streamline further by cooking extra on Sunday for a meal on Wed (say extra chicken on sunday so you have some for soup on Wed). Also, by planning, you can see what days are going to be a challenge time wise and just make those soup/salad nights or slow cooker days (slow cooker is your friend). As you master knife skills, planning, and keeping a reasonable pantry, things get much, much faster.

Oh, and I am not dismissing the tips others have given you - carrying healthy foods and such are great ideas. Add them to your weekly shopping list and tuck them in your backpack.

I am also a college student and I agree completely with the above posters. Plan ahead as much as you can. Cook for the week if you can. I used to eat out a lot, but now I'm on a really tight budget, so I can't eat out much. I cook ahead of time and plan my meals, I also plan my workouts around my job and class schedule. It sounds like a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, it's really easy.

I'm a University student and I can definitely relate to the being busy thing. If it's the convenience foods that are your weakness I'd definitely recommend buying frozen veg and meats (or buying fresh and freezing) so that if all else fails you can throw the veg in the microwave and meat under the grill and it wont take long to cook (and wont be super high in calories either).

Other ideas is bulk cooking when you do get the chance to cook- make up a few portions instead of one and freeze the rest Snack wise, portion things out into a separate bowl/container and put the rest away (or buy pre-portioned foods). My issue was definitely that I'd take a bag of snacks (like crisps or something) and just keep eating while working, without thinking about how much I was actually consuming calorie wise.

I'm the sort of person that gets bored of 'healthy' meals really easily, I cant eat the same thing over and over, so I'm always trying to find more interesting recipes. I've found Pinterest is a really good resource for healthy/different meal ideas