Eating inexpensively
So, you spent a bit too much money at the bar this weekend. We’ve all been there at one point or another. But now the question stands – how are you going to pay for food until the next time you get paid?
There are a few things you can do to make it through the next week or two, and a few other preventative measures you can take to prepare yourself for the next time this happens – because let’s be honest, it will happen again.
One thing you have to know from the get-go is that saving money is going to require spending a little more time actually preparing food. While you may be used to buying 2 or 3 meals per day on campus, this is generally not sustainable for most students over their university career. If you are buying a lot of meals from on-campus venues, you’re probably spending more time standing in lines than it would take for you to make healthy, inexpensive meals.
Making food at home requires you to grocery shop, so make sure that when you go to the store, you have a list prepared. At the very minimum know what you want to get and stick with it. So often, you can get caught up in sales, or food that just looks delicious – especially when you go grocery-shopping hungry.
A great investment (especially for autumn/winter) is a slow cooker. Not only can you make delicious meals and have them ready for you when you come home from school, but you can actually make most things in a slow cooker – even bread. My favourite thing to make in the slow cooker is chili, and if you make a vegetarian version, it costs about $6 for five meals.
If you’re on good terms with your roommates, consider doing a dinner-share. Each person can be responsible for making dinner one day of the week, and then, depending on how many roommates you have, the extra nights can just be a free-for-all, or a pizza night or something else fun. By splitting up the cost of dinner, you can make greater quantities, which will save you money in the long run and you won’t have to worry about dinner every single night.
As for breakfast, I have two things to say: eat it, and do so at home. A bowl of cereal, oatmeal or even an English muffin in the morning will help hold you over until lunch. Side note: If you drink coffee, make as much of it as you can at home and take it with you in a travel mug. Worst-case scenario, you run out at school and you get a discount for having your reusable mug with you – and even better, if it’s a Monday, you get an extra stamp on your coffee card.
At this point, years of sandwiches have taken a toll and have inevitably gotten pretty boring. Change up your sandwich routine. Most days you can have meat, cheese and lettuce on bread, but why not switch it up? PB&J never hurt anyone. The ingredients don’t go bad and if you ask me, it’s like having dessert for lunch – a nice sugar fix to get you through the day. Wraps that include hummus, beans, or salads are great and healthy alternatives to get you out of that lunchtime funk.
Make sure you prepare snacks if you’re on campus for long days. I like to keep a bag of almonds in my backpack in case I just need a quick nibble. I’m also a fan of carrots and celery if you need a little crunch in your life. One thing I like to do to ensure my veggies don’t go bad (what a waste of money that is) is to prepare them as soon as I come home from the grocery store. Just a little preparation makes it so that every time I look in my fridge for snacks to eat or take to school, they’re there and waiting for me.
Another great money-saving tip is to keep all of the food in your fridge as two-dimensional as possible. If you can’t see it, you won’t eat it – you’ll probably forget about it and eat something that was in front of it. If you share your fridge with a bunch of people and you can’t keep everything in eyesight, make a list of the things you buy and keep it on the fridge. If you pay utilities, this will be even better for cost efficiency, because you won’t be standing looking in your fridge and wasting electricity.
Remember, if you’re in a particularly tight situation money-wise, the CSA offers a student food bank. While you might be pinching pennies, you still need to eat.