Student Living: Eat Something Other than Mac & Cheese

Going to college has its ups and downs. You meet new people: up. You have a full-time job and go to school full-time: down. You live on your own: iffy.

And you learn what it’s like to love the 99-cent store, the Super Value Menu at your favorite fast food restaurant and the 10 for $10 sales at your local grocery store. When you open your freezer, you’ll see plenty of Hot Pockets and 99-cent pizza and when you open your cupboards, you’ll see Ramen Noodles, Spaghettios and of course, Mac & Cheese in the blue box, along with other assorted low-cost foods.

You’ll get away with it for a while, but guaranteed, your stomach and your taste buds will get to you eventually and make you wish you knew what to do to eat well on a budget. Your luck is about to change. Check out these tips for getting your food on without losing weight in your wallet.

Watch the ads

The biggest excuse for not picking up the ads from your local grocery stores is that most of these ads come in the newspaper and you can’t afford the newspaper. Get a grip and get on your computer. Every major grocery store and most small, local grocery stores post their weekly ads online to reach out to you. That’s right: you! They want your money just as bad as they want your parents’ money. Watching the ads will help you comparison shop and make the best choices about where to buy your groceries.

Clip coupons

Okay, clipping coupons does take time. That’s standard for everything that has to do with saving money. But clipping coupons can save you up to 30% or more every week on your groceries. Stop throwing away the coupon packs that come in the mail and save up for your Ben & Jerry’s. Who knows, you may even end up with a coupon for B&J that will make it even easier to get more of the things you want to eat, not just the things you can afford to eat. And don’t forget to check out the web—even B&J posts deals and coupons to snag buyers.

Love the off-brand

Don’t roll your eyes. Fact is, many off-brands are made by brand-name companies. And even if they’re not, they may have the exact same ingredients. This is especially true of spices—a spice is a spice is a spice. You can $12.99 it for 4 oz. of basil or 55-cents it for the same amount and it’s still basil.

Eat fresh, then freeze

Sounds odd, doesn’t it? Many fresh fruits, vegetables and meats can be purchased for the same price as or cheaper than frozen or canned foods. This is due to coupons, sales and the general supply and demand. You can also cook fresh foods in bulk (making it even cheaper) and freeze them to make future meals. A Saturday spent cooking fresh meals for freezing is a heck of a lot better than your leftover Mac & Cheese from last Tuesday.
Going to college means making sacrifices, but you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your health, your taste buds or your right to avoid the dreaded freshman 15 just because you’re on a budget. Play it smart and you’ll eat like…well, normal…throughout your upper class years.

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   Toni Youngblood says:

   March 7, 2010 at 6:46 pm

   Wonderful blog. I got loads of good information here. I’ve been keeping an eye on this thing for awhile. It’s fascinating the way it keeps changing, yet some of the core components remain the same. Have you seen much change since Google made their most recent acquisition in the arena?