Food on a COLLEGE budget! Im starving HELP!?!
Food on a COLLEGE budget! Im starving HELP!?
very little money! but im sooo hungry...
IM SO SICK OF THE GROSS snacks... I want a real meal baby!
16 hours ago
I do not live on on the school grounds! I have my own apt! with my fiance!
We have been buying foor for over a year now! but... things are just so expensive!
Ramen is getting me sick.. same with mac and cheese!
I miss the real heart meals with potatos and all that jazz!
16 hours ago
my college is a small private college! I dare not eat on campus! and even if I do! its more then $4 a meal! and the meals are not good at all!
I already work on campus as a tutor! All my time is taken up! I work as much as i can! and I go to school full time!
My fiance works over 40+hours a week... he just graduated from college!
were sooo broke! Damn CALIFORNIA
Answers:
I completely understand! My boyfriend and I lived out of a mini-fridge, and were completely broke. Best ideas I ever came to were to buy two different kinds of meat every time I went shopping. I usually purchased chicken legs or thighs, and some type of beef, usually ground. With $20 for sides and ingredients to make these meats delicious, I could eat for two weeks. Our grocery bill, including staples like toilet paper, etc, was around $40. That seems like a lot, but that included breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a full week. Not bad.
Some ideas for the meats you purchase:
Marinades are fantastic ideas. You don't even need to purchase an actual marinade: purchase salad dressings (cheap works just as well), take your frozen chicken out of the freezer and place it in a pie pan or shallow dish, cover with marinade and let sit for a few hours or overnight. My favorite salad dressings to use are french (especially if you will broil or grill), ranch (best if you want to cover with flour and fry, or pan fry with a little oil), and italian (it's very tangy, and you can bake it to perfection). Remember: you can always use the dressing left in the bottle as a topping to your salad, a topping for a baked potato, or as a dipping sauce for your delicious main course.
Casseroles:
Casseroles are cheap and easy to make, believe me. And filling! You can make a delicious (and large) meatloaf for less than $5, and you can also make any number of chicken casseroles for around the same price. Your oven is your friend! Make sure you have a pie plate or baking dish (one small square glass pan is plenty), and you're golden.
Crock pot:
If you own one, they're awesome to use! You can literally make any meat and any number of random ingredients into a stew or very, very tender meat variation. Best way I've ever found to make ribs or chicken soup is just throwing everything into the crock pot and leaving it on low for 8 hours. You don't even need to stir! Just come back and eat. Also, I know you hate snacks, but you can make delicious meatballs with a cheap can of spaghetti sauce and rounding off hamburger meat. Delicious!
These are just some ideas for you. Recipes are all over the web, but let me include a few more tips:
*Stock up on pantry staples. These include the following:
Eggs
Cheese (to shred, or chunk up and serve with apples or on crackers)
Oatmeal (super cheap! Buy store-brand)
Ketchup
Raw Onion
Carrots
Mustard
Breadcrumbs
Salt
Pepper
Onion Powder or dried onion
Garlic Powder
Rice (instant or not)
Tomato sauce
Chicken broth (add to anything! Use it in place of water for instant potatoes, boil rice, then add chicken broth and simmer until liquid is evaporated. Delicious!)
Instant potatoes (again, store brand. You can dress them up with cheese, plenty of butter, garlic, etc.)
Canned veggies (Can't stress this enough: store brand!!! Only difference is the cut of the vegetables. Purchase anything you like. You can use a can of veggies and add to a can of soup to make it similar to stew)
Soup
Salad dressing
Pasta (super cheap! Any type you like!)
Pasta sauce (Again, buy super cheap and add garlic, onion, whatever you like to change the flavor if neccessary)
Potatoes (whatever you like, I always choose cheap potatoes. You can make anything tender by cooking it long enough)
If you need some recipes, try the following:
http://www.tamrootbeer.com/hobbies/cooki...
The above website got me through college!!! Check all the links, too!
http://www.angelfoodministries.com/...
The above link is for a group that works out of churches, but it's a non-denominational thing. I am not religious at all, but heard about this through other college friends. It's too good to be true, really, but it's amazing. You get a whole bunch of meats, vegetables, side dishes, etc, for $25 a month. It is PLENTY for a whole month. This will definitely save you money. Also, they have "specials" every month you can purchase on top of your $25 full menu, and these are always great. Seriously, the food is fresh, delicious, and it will save you crazy money. If this is available in your area, take advantage of it!
If you would like some of my recipes, send me an IM or an email. I'll help you out! This goes for anyone that's just looking for a way to cut some fat from your budget! I am a corner-cutting queen! I grew up in a lower middle-class family as the youngest of 6 children, but as a Hispanic/Italian family, and the daughter of two amazing cooks, we always ate delicious and filling food for very, very cheap. It is so ingrained in me, that I feel very silly going out and spending $10 on dinner for myself, when I can make the same thing for $3. Anyway, I'm babbling. I hope this helps out!