Poor college student

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ejudge13
ejudge13 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Help, I'm a broke college flood and idk how to eat healthy and be able to afford it! What are some things.that can help reduce the cost of eating healthy!?
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  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    Dried beans, rice, lentils

    Frozen Veggies

    If you have a slow-cooker you can purchase less expensive cuts of meat that do better cooking more slowly

    Pasta
  • ejudge13
    ejudge13 Posts: 3 Member
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    Do you maybe have any good easy recipes?!
  • punkrockgoth
    punkrockgoth Posts: 534 Member
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    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    Dried beans, rice, lentils

    Frozen Veggies

    If you have a slow-cooker you can purchase less expensive cuts of meat that do better cooking more slowly

    Pasta

    This.

    Additional thoughts:

    Why live off of ramen when lentils are cheaper and healthier?

    The slow cooker is my friend. I can do beans in there without presoaking them and Sundays I make my lunches in there.

    Although more money is freed up for groceries when you're not spending it on restaurant meals, you may find you still need to shift priorities around. Fewer nights out, cutting back on alcohol, cigarettes, etc (if those are things you partake in).

    And I know that lots of people are going to hate for this, but I maintain my position: don't freak out about organic free range fair trade grass fed hand made and all that stuff. Those labels pretty much exist to justify a higher price tag and will have absolutely zero effect on your overall calorie intake. If these are things you feel strongly about, then sure, go ahead and start incorporating these things as you can afford them, but don't break your budget over it. They're not worth it.
  • rocknlotsofrolls
    rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
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    The slow cooker/Crockpot, has got to be the greatest cooking invention of all time. Throw some stuff in there in the morning, set it, and forget it! You can do beans with a hamhock for seasoning, vegetables, lean meat like chicken breast are usually inexpensive. There a tons of recipes online for Crockpot cooking. Also, you could cook on one day of the week, like a Sunday, and then freeze portions to thaw out later. Easy breezy is the way to go!
  • DisneyDude85
    DisneyDude85 Posts: 428 Member
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    A quick google search of "easy crock pot recipies" give a myriad of options. It can be as easy as putting a pork roast in with some canned enchilada sauce. I did that on Sunday and will have 2 weeks worth of meat after freezing half. The roast cost about 8 bucks, and the enchilada sauce was under $2. So basically I have my protein for lunch for about $1 a day. Add carb and veg and you are ready to go :) With Christmas coming you will find some good deals on gadgets that will help you in the kitchen. Honestly, I use my crockpot a couple times a week because its to easy. And learn from recipies, don't rely too much on them. You will start to learn what flavors compliment each other and what you like, and then you won't really need them anymore!
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Learn to cook, many healthy foods are cheap: Oatmeal, milk, eggs, tuna, beans and lentils, rice, pasta, potatoes, carrots, onion, bananas, apples, oranges, peanuts and peanut butter. Look for good bargains (price per pound), buy non-perishables in bulk, use a freezer, buy store brand when equal to name brand. Buy in season, or buy frozen or canned. For perishable foods, buy just the amount you need to avoid waste. Plan your meals to use everything you buy before it spoils, and to get variety, so you don't get bored and order take away instead. Buy the least processed that is still practical for you (rinsed, peeled, chopped, mixed and cooked, it all adds to the price YOU pay, or you can do it yourself).
  • rockmama72
    rockmama72 Posts: 815 Member
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    I just went to Pinterest and searched "healthy recipes college." Lots of good stuff there.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
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    Losing weight costs the same or less than maintaining or gaining weight. You can buy all the same stuff and eat less. So, as long as waste doesn't increase it costs less. Getting to a healthy weight will have a significantly bigger impact on your health than changing the contents of your diet unless your diet is leaving you malnourished now (not likely if you eat a varied diet).

    Anyways, as already mentioned, there are lots of tasty good food for cheap, just look for it. Substitute chicken for any other meat and you typically save money.
  • Zadora251
    Zadora251 Posts: 11 Member
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    Look for a local fruit stand or farmers market for cheap fruits and veggies
  • krithsai
    krithsai Posts: 668 Member
    edited October 2015
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    Buy all the frozen and canned vegetables you find on sale - they're nutritious and stay good for a long time. Stock up on onions, potatoes, garlic etc. Also buy broth, rice, lentils, beans, pastas, oatmeal, sugar free cereal etc when you find them on sale. If and when you find some time, buy fresh veggies, chop, bag and freeze them. You can dice onions and garlic and freeze them and pull them out when you're ready to cook.

    I was once a crazy busy, poor grad student and used to eat 2 good meals a day. Most of them had rice in them(it was cheap - $10 for a 20 lb bag), vegetables were frozen. My roommates and I always cooked extra portions whenever we did and stored them in individual portions in tupperware containers, so we could just grab a box and go about our day without thinking much about it.
  • amberlyda1
    amberlyda1 Posts: 154 Member
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    if your looking for recipes I would check out pinterest. You can search for tons of cheap, healthy meals. Im poor too. We do lots of frozen veggies, dry goods (buy in bulk bins if you can find them). Love the crockpot!!! I also try to find deals on proteins, cook and section them out so i always have meat to add to salads or soups etc. We dont usually eat red meat because its so much more expensive, just sub out chicken in recipes
  • Stitch_down_carbs
    Stitch_down_carbs Posts: 52 Member
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    I'm a student also, buy frozen veg and fruit. Also for variety sometimes you can get veg to use on the day , for cheap. Its good if you want to try new things and randomize your meals abit.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    http://www.budgetbytes.com/2014/08/top-10-recipes-for-college-students/
  • kyrannosaurus
    kyrannosaurus Posts: 350 Member
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    Learning to cook would be a very good thing. I can cook healthy delicious meals which cost $1-$2 per meal.

    I just shop for healthy basics that are cheap. I don't go with a particular shopping list. I'll buy the cheapest seasonal fruit and veg, buy products/produce that are reduced to clear and other items that are on sale that week.

    Then I just work out what meals I can throw together with the food I have. Being able to improvise is a good skill in the kitchen.

    There are plenty of basic cooking videos on Youtube. Sometime I'll buy and ingredient I haven't cooked before, and I just look up how to prepare it on Youtube (I'm a visual learner).

    Practice and experiment.

  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,196 Member
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    Do your own cooking. Freeze/can/preserve/glean/grow your own garden.

    Check this out--free cookbook with recipes for meals that cost $4 or less.

    https://41aac1a9acbe9b97bcebc10e0dd7cb61ef11502c.googledrive.com/host/0B9c5aT4eSlRfMzVpbC0xemtkSlE/good-and-cheap.pdf

    Here is an article about the project.

    npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/07/27/426761037/cheap-eats-a-cookbook-for-eating-well-on-a-food-stamp-budget
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,196 Member
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    ejudge13 wrote: »
    Help, I'm a broke college flood and idk how to eat healthy and be able to afford it! What are some things.that can help reduce the cost of eating healthy!?

    Do you have Grocery Outlet stores where you live? They have some extraordinary deals. I shop there first and then go to other stores if there are a few things on my list that I can't find.

    Something that can save you a lot of money is to buy cheaper spices. Winco has bulk spices at good prices--just refill containers that you already have. The dollar store can be good for inexpensive spices. Mexican stores are good too--they generally have small packets of spices for 99 cents--the quality is excellent and the per-unit cost is really low. The little plastic baggies that these come in are awkward, but I just decant them into small canning jars and seal them with canning lids and my own labels.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    Reducing the amount of food you eat reduces cost, right?

    **

    For the price of *half* a Taco Bell meal, I can have 12 meals based on potatoes.

    Rice is your friend. A 50 pound sack at Sam's Club for less than 17 bucks. I get about 70 dinners out of that sack. For under 20 bucks. Let that sink in: Under 20 bucks.

    Chicken, chicken, tuna, and more chicken (even unborn, egg variety chickens). Cheap, easy protein. Choices, right? I can get a chicken McValue meal, super sized with fries + drink for, what, almost 7 bucks in my area (plus gas & travel time) ... or I can drink water and make grilled chicken at home for a buck-fiddy and hella faster than cruising to a drive thru.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Do you have access to the school's cafeteria?

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