eating on a student budget?

bump

When I was a student I was my skinniest ever. Plus I did not had a car, I took bus and walked a lot and I went to student free Gym as my fun place away from the library/lab, since I was on the budget for fun stuff too... Even though I ate lots of white rice ( I used to live near korean place where you can get 10 kg bag or rice for like $5 dollars , veggies, tofu too. So it would not get boring I would use different dry herbs and spices , they are not expensive and last long time. Oatmeal and eggs as well. Rarely any meat if any. Cheese if it would be on sale. You diet seems to be balanced. Buy what is on sale, I remember getting only those fruits that are on sale : and it is better , those are usually in season!

I am also a grad student, so I understand where you're coming from. It is definitely hard. I'm not a vegetarian, but I've had to switch to buying tofu and fish as my proteins since they're cheaper. I like greek yogurt but where I live there is only one brand and it's way more expensive than other types of yogurt, so sometimes I switch to low fat cottage cheese. I find oatmeal is also a good option, as long as the rest of my day is not too carb heavy. Nuts are a good choice, especially for those long hours in the library. I also eat a lot of hummus and homemade bean salad. Right now it's easy for me to find fruits and veggies for a reasonable price, but once the fall and winter hit, I'll be reliant more on frozen veggies. I don't have much variety, but I don't mind it. Feel free to add me if you want.

Protein powder.
I know it sounds weird, but that stuff is filled with vitamins and minerals and if you get it cheap (Amazon or on sale) it can last you for awhile.
I also like the idea of Trader Joe's. If you live in Seattle, there is one in U District that I LOVE. (Saw your icon picture!)
Meal planning is great. Utilizing weekly groceries into your diet and precooking things so that you can piece together your meals. Also, popcorn and dried fruits (again, when on sale) are great snacks to have around.
Lastly, COUPONS. Seriously.. they are a godsend for me. Usually I don't find much because most coupons are for foods I can't eat but if it works for you go for it! Good luck! Congrats on grad school

I was a grad student until seven years ago, but everyone's living on a student's budget these days. Or they should be. Your list looks clean, cheap, and cheerful. I also notice you're supporting yourself with student loans. Could you ask your DGS about funding (a teaching or research assistantship or a gradership for a prof with an extra-large class), especially if you're in a traditional PhD program? These really should be funding students fully.

Most college towns have some sort of co-op place where you can buy grains and pulses in bulk. Even Whole Foods in places where I lived previously had bulk sections. I regularly buy quinoa, chickpeas, black beans, chickpea flour, and (controversially) TVP from an independent ersatz Whole Foods more hipstery than Whole Foods.

If your city has a high concentration of "ethnic" populations, shops catering to Mexicans, South Asians, and East Asians are fantastic for spices, legumes, and produce. Plus you'll find lots of cool, invariably unprocessed foods to try.

Don't overlook the internet. Amazon's subscription service can be fantastic, especially for bulk deals. I get regular deliveries of organic coffee and Wasa Crispbreads. Since they are bulk, you have to budget for them up front, but they can be priced far below what you'd pay for them at the grocery store. If you use credit cards and pay them off every month, you get the "float" with your money; if your cards have rewards, your discount is even greater.

At the moment, fresh produce isn't exactly cheap. If you're going to be in school for more than another year, starting a garden next spring can be therapeutic and not arduous enough to pull you away from your dissertation. Herbs like basil grow themselves. Tomatoes, peppers, and squashes will be busting out all over soon. I'm sure you've checked out your farmers' market already. I've found farmers' markets to be highly variable in price and offerings. Some degenerate into flea markets. If yours sells good produce, go near closing time. People will be giving stuff away because they don't want to bundle everything up and schlep it back to the farm.

At other times of the year, frozen vegetables are often better for you than fresh, which has been trucked from a distance and languished on the racks for days. (That said, fresh produce gets marked down when it's looking less pretty. For instance, brown bananas: freeze them without even bothering to peel them until you're ready to pull one out of the freezer to blend into a smoothie with protein powder or silken tofu or whatever you like.) Coupons for Green Giant and Birdseye come out pretty regularly (though I haven't seen one in months), and they're good for the plain vegetables. Avoid the ones with the little bricks of salt—I mean "sauce" suspended in manufactured fat.

And I agree about the coupons. Never pay for shampoo, toothpaste, toothpaste, deodorant, (if you're female) tampons, etc., and save that money for inexpensive frugal food.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Good luck in your studies.