Healthy Eating For Students: Time Saving & Budget Friendly Food Hacks
Students are busy people, and often have to balance unpaid or minimum wage commitments with heavy course workloads, so budget is a huge factor in making informed decisions about eating. Given these circumstances, it can be difficult for students to make sure that the food they’re eating is powering their bodies and brains in the right way.
Eating healthy meals is imperative to our health, including our brain function and therefore academic and workplace success, as anyone studying online accelerated BSN programs would be able to tell you. After all, you are what you eat! This article aims to provide some tips for students to look after themselves through healthy eating habits, while keeping things fresh and tasty along the way. Remember, just because it’s healthy doesn’t mean it isn’t tasty.
Meal Planning and Meal Prep
You’ve definitely heard about it, and if you haven’t, here’s the low down. Planning meals before you eat them saves time and money, and pre-preparation of bulk dishes can cut down even more on cooking time. If you know what you’re going to eat for the week, you only have to go to the grocery store once and those extra trips throughout the week can be used for other, less mundane tasks. You’re also avoiding impulse buying and food waste — do you really need that candy bar, or is it just because it’s next to the self checkout? That doesn’t mean don’t treat yourself, it just means everything in moderation.
How do I meal plan?
Everyone has different needs and tastes, so this can be quite a personal exercise. I always start by sitting down on the weekend and creating a weekly menu. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks are all on the agenda, including fruit and vegetables that you know will be in season so it’s fresh and cheap. If you want to buy out of season, try and get them frozen as they are often better value. If you need recipe ideas, there’s heaps of resources online for cooking bulk meals. Personally, I love chili con carne with rice as a main dinner staple, and baked chicken breast in wraps with vegetables as a reliable lunch, but I vary meals day to day. A stir fry is also a classic, and can be a great easy group meal if you’re looking to eat with friends. Breakfast remains consistent with a protein shake and multigrain bagel every day, which I would highly recommend, or try an overnight oats recipe that suits your taste!
After you’ve made your menu, it’s time to write a shopping list. I generally forgo the traditional pen and paper for the handy Notes app these days, with many entries given the noble title of “Eggs!! (free range)”. After you’ve bought everything, wash and chop your vegetables, cook your grains and proteins, and portion things out into reusable tupperware, including any snacks that you’ve bought so that they’re ready to go. This is the bit that’ll save you a ton of time.
Cooking Effectively
If you’re not a big fan of the whole process of cooking, try one-pot meals or batch cooking so you’re spending minimal time preparing food. If your meals aren’t just pre-planned, but also pre-portioned, it can be as simple as chucking a fully prepared meal into the microwave for a quick and easy lunch or dinner, and can be taken to work to eat during your break. If you’re interested in investing in a slow cooker, it opens up a whole new world of hands-off meals — throw your ingredients in,do some study, and by the time you’re done, dinner is already sorted!
Budget Friendly Tips for the Grocery Store
Groceries are expensive, especially at the moment, and never seem to be getting cheaper. Luckily, there are a few ways you can ease the cost of living pressure using some budget friendly shopping tips. It’s always a good idea to buy in bulk, especially for grains, beans, and nuts, as they have a long shelf life and tend to get cheaper the more you buy. Using coupons or app deals for your chosen grocery store is also a great idea, as well as buying frozen vegetables, which are often just as nutritious but are generally cheaper. Also, they’re not going to spoil in a week like they often do when you forget to use fresh ones.
Keeping it Healthy: Snack Choices
I love a sweet treat, and snacking can be a great way to keep your energy levels up throughout the day if it’s done right. My favorite of all time, truly the greatest category sweet treat you can get your hands on (in my opinion) is fresh fruit. During winter, my go-to is mandarins — all the deliciousness of an orange without any of the mess! In summer, it’s strawberries. They are on the more expensive end of the fruit aisle, but they’ll keep you more satiated than most processed foods because they’re packed with fiber and micronutrients. In fact, strawberries only contain 4.9 grams of sugar per 3.5 ounces, which means that you’d have to eat nearly 2 pounds of the little red things to consume the equivalent sugar in a single can of Coca-Cola. That’s the great thing about healthy snacks: you can eat loads, and it’ll be good for you. They don’t make you feel sluggish, either, which is a plus. Other options are nuts and seeds, yogurt, or even pre-made healthy bites, which you can make using oats, peanut butter, and honey. There’s tons of cool and delicious recipes online for treats that you can make quickly and easily at home that blow the grocery store options out of the water in terms of cost, taste, and nutritional benefits.
Eating healthy as a student doesn’t need to be something that takes over your life. Like anything, it becomes easier the more you do it. Little changes here and there, like giving meal planning or prepping a try, or substituting candy bars for pieces of fruit, can make a massive difference in your general wellbeing. Tell your friends about it and keep each other accountable — health doesn’t need to be a mountain to climb, and you don’t have to make changes all on your own!
