College Student Meals

[sugarmamma]

This is copied from another message board but is filled with good tips for those on a SEVERE budget


How to Feed Yourself for $15 a Week


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Our discussion about how to eat for cheap generated a lot of great tips. Daiko shared a detailed explanation of how he once got by spending just $15/week on food. This is a great real-life example of how it’s possible to eat well without breaking the bank. I’m posting it here so that more people will see it.

Although I don’t do this now, I once lived on $15 a week for food in the early 1990s. This was helped by the fact that my workplace fed me five meals a week, but I was still carrying the weight of sixteen additional meals (for slightly less than a dollar per meal). This was not easy or comfortable to do — I did it by necessity — but I believe it could still be done for $20/week in most parts of the U.S. Also, while I was satisfied at the time, the fare was probably a bit more spartan than most would willingly eat.

Here is some of what I did:

Never allow leftovers to go bad. I would cook one or two major meals per week. Sometimes this was a full-sized lasagna, sometimes fish that was on sale, sometimes a big pot of homemade spaghetti sauce or soup with lots of fresh vegetables added. It always included a big salad. This big meal would feed me dinners (and some lunches) for five or six days, and I could not afford to throw any of it away. I would eat leftovers almost every day. Every ounce of it was eaten over the course of the week. (J.D.’s note: Here’s an article on how to store your food so that it lasts longer.)
Supplement with inexpensive foods. Many will say this is unhealthy. It would have been if it had been all that I ate, but I definitely ate a lot of Ramen and macaroni and cheese. These were bought when on sale: Ramen 7-for-$1 (a deal I’ve seen as recently as last week) and Mac & Cheese 3-for-$1. I also could get canned tuna 3-for-$1 easily, and once or twice a year as a loss leader for 5-for-$1. Poor man’s tuna casserole was a staple and would feed me for two or three meals: one package of mac & cheese with one can tuna mixed in.
Shop in the produce aisle. This sounds counter-intuitive, because everyone “knows” that produce is expensive. But I would shop for the inexpensive produce (which tended to be seasonal). Potatoes, carrots, celery, lettuce, tomatoes (sometimes), oranges (sometimes), cabbage, etc. These all make great food and provide snacks that generally don’t spike your blood sugar like factory-made snacks do. Also, this may be obvious, but I would eat fruit in season. For example, apples were plentiful in the fall: I could get a bag for about $1 and would get one or two bags for the week. I would have apples with everything (and for snacks). Again, I could not afford to throw out a single apple, so I ate them all. And at that time of year, making an apple pie was in the budget too! (J.D.’s note: there’s an actual fitness regiment based around apples: The 3-Apple-a-Day Plan.)
Never eat out. I couldn’t have bought more than four or five meals for my $15 weekly food budget, and that’s assuming the cheap breakfast place that had meals for $2.95 a plate. I needed to get at least 16 meals out of that $15, so there was no room for the luxury of eating out.
Have substantial cereals for breakfast. Oatmeal and Grapenuts were keys to my success. They both filled me up and kept me filled up for much of the day. A single container of oatmeal — not the flavored packages, which are expensive and insubstantial, but the big boxes of loose Old Fashioned Oatmeal — would last slightly longer than a week, even if I ate it every day. At the time this cost about $1.99 per container. You can get it today easily for $2.99 per container.
Avoid junk food. Not one candy bar, bag of chips, pre-made peanut butter cracker, store-bought cookie, “breakfast bar”, or pack of gum could be afforded. This didn’t mean I didn’t have snacks: a bag of popcorn cost about $1, and if I had the money available I would get one. Also, I had flour, sugar, water, eggs (usually), oil, and oatmeal, so sometimes I would make oatmeal cookies (with raisins if I was splurging). Sometimes saltines were on sale and I would usually have peanut butter on the shelf, so I could make peanut butter crackers if I wanted.
Avoid pre-cooked foods. Frozen dinners, deli-made quiche, store-roasted chicken — all of these cost too much per serving. If I wanted quiche, I had to make it from scratch. The ingredients were in my budget and on my shelves. If I wanted chicken, I waited until it was on sale for $0.39/lb and roasted it myself. I then ate it for 6-8 meals before chucking the bones into a pot to make chicken soup and having that for another 6-8 meals.
Buy a basic paperback cookbook. Because I had to make most things from scratch, I bought a paperback copy of what is often called “The Plaid Cookbook”: the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook. I think it cost $6 at that time, and was not part of my food budget, but it paid itself back many times over. (J.D.’s note: it only costs $8 now.) If I wanted to make lasagna, it told me how. Did I manage to buy a roast beef on sale? The cookbook told me how to avoid ruining it in the oven. Pumpkin pie? apple pie? quiche? roast chicken? all was explained, and often within my budget because I could make it from standard, inexpensive ingredients.
Don’t buy beverages. There’s a reason Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co. have been good investments and consistent earners across the years: they are selling you water. During this tough time I did not buy soda, or water, or coffee, or tea, or any beverage other than milk (which was reserved for my breakfasts, and only on weeks when I was having boxed cereal). I think I bought hot cocoa mix during the winter, and that lasted several weeks. If I needed a sugar drink I used a tablespoon or two of lemon juice — which I had on hand as a cooking supply — and a tablespoon or two of sugar in a tall glass of iced water: instant soft drink for possibly $0.10.
Special Bonus Tip. I didn’t do this at the time, but I now know that using dried milk saves at least $1 per gallon. There are two tricks to using dried milk. First, invest in a glass container. I don’t know why, but dried milk tastes terrible when stored in plastic. Second, chill it. If you follow these two suggestions, you’ll be able to serve the milk to guests and they will never know. In fact, they will likely think you buy it from a dairy. (And yes, this is something that my family does now. We have been drinking almost exclusively dried milk for the last 7 years.) Dried milk also saves time and gas money: out of milk? No need to run to the convenience store, just mix it up. In this case we save almost $2.00 a gallon because milk is so much more expensive at the convenience store, and since the family drinks about a gallon a day, we save as much as $7-10 per week just by drinking dried milk.
There may have been other tricks that I’ve forgotten, but with only $15 to spend per week I had to think long and hard about buying anything that cost more than $1. Was it going to sustain me?

It was much harder when I started this radical budget, because I started from nothing. But over time, it got easier, in part because some items lasted longer than a week. For example, pantry items like a bag of sugar, a bag of flour, a bottle of oil, and a bag of brown sugar would generally last longer than a week. In the first weeks I had to buy a lot of these things and they used up a lot of my $15, but immediately they became the “money in the bank” that allowed me to buy other staples that might not last that long.

So, yes it is possible to eat without spending a fortune. Again, my food budget was radical by necessity, but the principles would still work today. I think $15/wk might not be enough now, but I think $20/wk would work, and I know that $30/wk would be fairly easy for a single person. For reference: $15/wk per person = $65/month for one and $260/month for a family of four. $30/wk per person = $130/month for one and $520/month for a family of four (which is about what my family spends on food now, and we don’t eat anywhere near the way I did back in the ’90s).

J.D.’s note: Even if you’re unwilling to take all of the steps Daiko did to save money, implementing just a few of them can help you cut your food budget. Also, another cheap beginner’s cookbook with simple recipes is Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything.


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[deonk1]

My favorite is to go to the grocery store and buy all kinds of peppers, mushrooms, celery and onions and spices. Then I cut them all up in 1 serving baggies. you want about 1/4 cup of stuff in total per baggie.

In a pot put a bit of Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) in the bottom warm up, put a bit of garlic (or garlic powder) add the baggie frozen, cook until veggies are softened, then add Rago or another cheap pasta sauce, warm on LOW heat, then pour over spaghetti.

Go to yoga later that night or run with pup, cause the carbs will catch up at exam time...

(I eat spaghetti like 5 times a week when I'm broke).


I also like to make my Alfredo and prima vera sauce only half from scratch to save money (but still keep that homemade taste).
I buy Havarti, it's a decent cheese that isn't as expensive as some. and a package of Knorr Alfredo or prima vera mix. I use half a pack for two people, follow the directions on the back and add a bit of real cheese and a tiny bit of cornstarch, and cook over medium heat, one of my girlfriends uses Asiago (if I spelled that right) and said that was good too.


I also recommend you buy a crock pot...

I'll keep thinking of what other stuff I make. I live with my bf so I have to feed him every day. But honestly it's exam time and I've been falling back on frozen crap and kraft dinner. That and Harley tends to get better food than I do (man we spoil our dogs).

[deonk1]

Originally Posted by MyPann

Aww you sound like such a nice mom, my mother tries her best but she hasn't paid for a thing since I was in jr.high I had to babysit for my lunch money, clothes, shampoo you name it (and no not the pricey name brand stuff lol) In the end I think it makes me more self sufficient but it also makes asking her for help out of the question, I have but she always finds a reason to say no.

I know how you feel. My mom encouraged me to open my own business when I was 14 (to learn the value of money). I learned a lot and ran the business for 6 years, but I've also been self sufficient since then.

[ArmaniMan]

I second getting a crockpot- I took my moms old crockpot when I was in College (I still have it today!). It is so easy to throw random stuff in there and have a quick meal.

A few cans of beans, a can of corn, some chili powder and tomato sauce and when you come home you have Chili.

Cut up some chicken, potatoes, and carrots, add a large can of chicken broth and when you come home you have chicken soup.

Brown chunks of meat, add carrots, potatoes, onion, crushed tomatoes and tomato juice and when you get home you have stew.

[MyPann]

Thanks all for the awesome ideas! I do have a crock pot I just never really knew what could go in it lol I've only ever made pot roast in it but I am so excited to try out some of the ideas you gave me on here!!!!!!!

[MyPann]

Originally Posted by Cha Cha

I'd like to commend you for being so responsible for your young age. You have grown up fast, and obviously you have learned many things that some young people never do, and you should be proud.

Kind of along the lines of crock pot meals, if you like to plan ahead, I make crock pot burritos, and freeze them.

1 small pork roast
1 can of pinto beans
1 can refried beans
1 jar salsa (any flavor or variety)

Dump it all into a crock pot and cook on low for 10-12 hours, stir to mix then pile into a tortilla with cheese and wrap. I wrap them in tin foil and freeze. It will make 15-18 burritos and they are very good.

Another thing I like to make a lot of is breakfast burritos, and freeze. Just cook some sausage, mix in a bag of the seasoned hashbrown frozen potatoes, cook till hot, then add eggs. Wrap up in tortilla shells with a slice of sandwich cheese in each one. Great breakfast or quick meal when in a time crunch. And they are cheap!!! One batch will make up 15-20 burritos, and you can make it how you like it, there are no rules!!

I can't spell bierochs, but do you know what they are? They are time consuming to make, so to make it easy I brown some ground beef and drain, add some salt, pepper, and garlic seasoning, some shredded cabbage, and cook it until the cabbage is how you like it (I like it a little crunchy, but it will cook all the way down if you like it that way), and I serve it in a pita pocket. Some like it with mustard. This is easy to make for 1 person too, just use 1/2lb. ground beef and you can add as much or as little cabbage as you like. Again, no rules

I am way to excited to make these burritos! lol thanks so much for sharing these with me!

[yorkietalkjilly]

One of the old gang also used to take a can of chili, a can of corned beef hash, chopped onions, pepper, some cayenne powder all mixed together, spead evenly and thick over buns, top with cheese and broil - I think it was at 350 degrees until the cheese is bubbly and brown and served with whatever side we had on hand. You can serve this as a burger with some chopped lettuce or open-faced. This will fill up empty collegiate stomachs.

[sugarmamma]

Easy Baked Potato


First, prep your potato by washing it well. Poke holes all over the outside with a fork (this will keep it from exploding while it bakes!). If you like to eat the potato skin, too, you can rub the skin with olive oil or a little bit of butter to add flavor-yum!
Microwave Directions: Cook on high for 2 ½ minutes. Flip potato over and cook for 2 ½ more minutes. If you have an old microwave, you might need to repeat this process once more to get the best results.
Oven/Toaster Oven Directions: Bake at 425 F for about 40 minutes, then check. If it needs to be more tender, add 5 more minutes and check again. I like to eat mine with cheese, sour cream, or a little butter in them for flavor. Mmm. Add chili to it and you’ll be really full!

Creamy Chili Dip
This was one of my favorite things to eat in the dorms… but I don’t recommend eating it every day:
Directions: Add one can of chili (I like Dennison’s) and 1 small package of cream cheese (a lite or fat-free package to make it healthier) to a microwave safe bowl. Cover with a paper towel (to keep it from making a mess) and microwave on high for about 2 minutes. Stir. Continue to microwave in 2 minute intervals, stirring each time, until the dip is a creamy mix of the cream cheese and chili.
It seems like a weird combo, but it is oh-so-good to eat with some chips or crackers! (I like Fritos or Wheat Thins with it). Add some apples, on the side, too-they compliment the flavor perfectly. I’m getting hungry already!