How To Eat Healthy on a College Food Budget

In the life of a student, there are a lot of difficulties. Among other things, one can single out the desire to eat healthy food having a very limited budget. If you add to this, tones of homework, you can go crazy, so it is good that any student can use college essay writing service WriteMyEssayOnline and make his/her life a little easier. As for how to eat healthy and wholesome with a modest student budget, in this article, you will find many life hacks to solve this problem.

1. Cook Meals from Season Food

This means that if tomatoes and cucumbers do not grow in your area in winter, then ... exclude them from the diet at this time of year or reduce them to a minimum. Replace them with canned ones (preferably those prepared by your grandmother or yourself). And even better replace them with on root crops and cabbage of all varieties. Such food will cost you much cheaper.

2. Make a Menu for the Week

Nothing saves money, time and nerves like compiling a weekly menu. When preparing the menu, consider your plans for this week in advance and on some days prepare larger portions so that there is enough food for two days. Soups and stews are best suited for this purpose. For example, if you are on fitness on Wednesday, then prepare something for two days at once on Tuesday. Then after fitness, you do not have to starve yourself or negate your efforts by eating the rest of the cake lying in the fridge from the weekend.

Yes, you have to spend an hour a week on a nutrition plan. But I promise you that later you will say thank you for this, and more than once. Agree, it is necessary to make different decisions and implement them throughout the school day. By making the menu a week in advance, you will save yourself from making two more decisions a day: what to buy on the way home and what to cook from it, preferably in a quick way?

3. Buy as Many Products as Possible in Wholesale Stores

Of course, maybe for yourself only you do not need 3 packs of oatmeal instead of one, but you can negotiate with your groupmates and buying in bulk will save significantly. For example, you can get together once a week and decide what products each of you need, then to buy them at a wholesale store. This method will not only save you money but also bring you closer to groupmates.

4. Do Not Throw Food Away

Learn first to eat leftover food in the refrigerator, and only then go to the store. Yes, I understand that it is calmer if you always have milk and eggs in the refrigerator. But the world will not collapse if they are not there for two or even three days. After all, if you have at least some products, then you will not stay hungry. Cooking from the leftovers, you will try new, sometimes unexpectedly delicious dishes, and also save a lot of money. Indeed, it is rare that any of us manages to go for milk and buy only milk ... As a rule, we caught by marketing tricks and buy more than we need.

5. Think about Frozen Vegetables and Berries.

They are definitely no worse than fresh ones. Especially in spring and autumn, this advice will be very welcome. Such vegetables and berries are frozen immediately after harvest, so their nutritional value is maximally preserved compared to those "fresh" vegetables that are stored in cellars for weeks. The only thing: when you select them in the store, make sure that they are not covered with ice. This suggests that their storage conditions were violated at some stage, they were unfrozen and lost some of the nutrients. Good frozen vegetables and berries should be crumbly.

6. Look for Expiring Date Products

Not always, but often such products are subject to a discount. If it is no discounts there, then go to the cashier and demand it, it is more profitable for them to sell you something with a discount than to throw away products. Often manufacturers are excessively insuring with the expiration dates of products. Products such as cereals, pasta, seasonings, salt, tea, etc., in principle, do not spoil, so if you need any of the above, we advise you not to neglect the opportunity to buy it at a substantial discount. 

If it is meat, then, having come home, immediately freeze it, having previously put it in portions in plastic bags. If these are cheeses and dairy products, then it is better to eat them as soon as possible (no later than five days from the date indicated on the package). Well, if today you are going to cook something with cottage cheese, and it lies on the shelf, discounted due to the expiration date, which expires today too.

7. When Preparing the Menu, Select Dishes where Foods are Repeated

If you want to make a cabbage salad, then you are unlikely to eat a whole head of cabbage at a time. Therefore, it is advisable to include a dish of stewed cabbage on another day. If one of the dishes has basil or parsley, then find them to use in at least one more dish this week. So you don’t have to throw anything away. After all, throwing away food means throwing away money.

8. Replace Meat with Offal

Prices for the liver, kidneys, and hearts of horned and winged animals compare favorably at price with meat, while the liver is almost more useful than noble sources of protein. For example, beef liver contains an impressive array of essential amino acids, vitamins and trace elements, in particular, zinc (WHO). The latter, according to some doctors, is simply a new vitamin C - just as indispensable (WHO).

Sum up

To eat well, you don’t have to spend a lot. Although yes, in truth, it should be noted that good products like vegetables, fruits, nuts, and cold-pressed oils often cost more than bread, pasta and even meat. However, thanks to the above life hacks, you can eat right, but at the same time, by doing this, as cheaply as possible. So, we hope that you take them into account and start eating not only healthy but also cheaply.

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