<p>Hey everyone,</p>
<p>I'm on a budget so I'm trying to stay away from buying food as much as possible. On most days, I start class at 8:30am and end at 5:00pm but I'm planning on staying until 10:00pm so I can study. What do you guys recommend that I eat?</p>
<p>Any suggestions would be helpful!</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Are you looking for ideas on what to grab at the cafeteria or make yourself?</p>
<p>A homeless guy once told me that a peanutbutter sandwich with extra peanuts on it is one of the cheapest and most filling meals out there. Not only was he right, but it's delicious!</p>
<p>Try to go to the dining hall for a hot breakfast. When you're there, grab a couple of pieces of fruit and whatever else you can put in your pockets or backpack (muffin, etc.) </p>
<p>During the day, snack on the fruit and stuff that you got at breakfast in the dining hall. Go to classes and then go to the dining hall for a hot dinner. When in the dining hall for dinner, grab some extra snacks (cookies, more fruit, etc.) and save them for late night snacks.</p>
<p>thanks for the replies. I'm living off campus so and I'm trying to avoid the dining hall due to the cost. I'm mostly looking for suggestions on foods that are don't need to be refridgerated. </p>
<p>I'm thinking of sandwiches with cold cuts. Do those last the whole day at room temperature?</p>
<p>Cold cut sandwiches are what I bring, they last a day no problem.</p>
<p>i suggest food</p>
<p>hey Duper</p>
<p>Do you know if mayonase lasts in at room temperature? I was told it doesn't last well. I like tuna sandwichs so i wanna know if thats still an option.</p>
<p>Tuna sandwiches will last until lunch... by 2 PM... not so great.</p>
<p>Look around for coupons for the local businesses on campus-they can get pretty cheap if used well. I'm also in a similar boat. I eat cereal/milk/fruit at home for breakfast, make my own lunch of turkey sandwich with cucumbers and some carrots, and then for dinner, sometimes I'll go back to my apartment to take a mental break and cook. Otherwise, I look around for cheap entrees that are less than $6 or any kind of student organization that's providing dinner (subs, pizza). Fruit, crackers, nuts, and carrots are your best bets for lasting all day.</p>
<p>You DO want to be careful of the nuts- they are very high in saturated fat and calories, including peanut butter.</p>
<p>For all this, I can do less than $50 a week.</p>
<p>I would not eat mayo or cold cuts that had been out in the open all day long. If you're going to do that, get yourself a reusable ice pack to keep your food cold - you'll be in even more financial trouble if you end up sick due to food poisoning.</p>
<p>Rice, beans, and pasta are cheap and filling. Keep your eyes peeled for things that are on sale at the supermarket - the savings can really add up.</p>
<p>hey shades_children,</p>
<p>thanks for replying. Would the ice pack last all day though? I'm looking for something that'll last about 14hrs. What do you recommend from the supermarket?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>If you can, steal those ketchup/relish/mayo/mustard packets from fast food places. =P You can always find an extra cold room in the college and ask if you could keep some packages there for a while.</p>
<p>Get a good thermos and make yourself some soup, or have ramen in your thermos. Get a good lunch box and some saran wrap and tuna sandwiches will last fine throughout the whole day. Make little pancakes for you to grab and go the morning. Eat a bananas, or apples with peanut butter (apples with peanut butter = favorite snack ever!!).</p>
<p>thermo1:</p>
<p>
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Would the ice pack last all day though? I'm looking for something that'll last about 14hrs.
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</p>
<p>If you have an insulated lunch bag, an ice pack should stay frozen or cold for a good long time. I don't know if it would last 14 hours - that depends on the lunch bag, the ice pack, and the outside temperature. You'll have to try it for yourself.</p>
<p>
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What do you recommend from the supermarket?
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</p>
<p>Well, I recommend rice, beans, pasta, and things that are on sale.</p>
<p>More specifically, choose complex carbohydrates. Brown rice is filling, and so is whole-grain pasta. Oatmeal makes a quick, easy, and filling breakfast - much more so than your typical breakfast cereal like Cheerios. If you're going to eat bread, choose a whole-grain loaf that feels dense and heavy in your hand - there's no point in paying for over-yeasted, air-filled bread. (In my experience, I've had to go to a local bakery to get this kind of quality.) I suppose you could also make your own bread, though I don't know how to do that.</p>
<p>Beans aren't carbs, but they'll provide you with protein (again, filling) and fiber, which is good for you. If I'm feeling hungry and lazy, I can open a can of black beans, pour half into a bowl, season with whatever's on hand, and heat in the microwave. It's tasty and quick.</p>
<p>Learn to pay attention to what goes on in your local grocery store. Check the weekly circular for deals. For example, I'm personally not a huge fan of oatmeal, so I eat cereal in the mornings. I've learned that pretty much every week, my local supermarket has some kind of cereal on sale. So instead of paying more for cereal, I just buy a box or two whenever I see something on sale that I like. I think so far this year I've avoided paying full price on cereal except for two occasions.</p>
<p>Top ramen. Add some frozen vegetables and if you want (I hear peas and carrots work well-mushrooms too), some sausage or ham. I'm eating it right now (mushroom and spam) and it's actually pretty good. Plus top ramen costs like 35 cents a piece. Bring some water to a weak boil, and add noodles and whatever ingredients you decide to put in. Keep to a low boil until everything's cooked through, thawed and the noodles are cooked through. Then add the seasonings.</p>
<p>Obviously you can't carry this-I usually eat a big breakfast (toast, piece of sandwich ham, two eggs) and skip lunch altogether. Btw eggs are the cheapest source of protein ever. $2 per dozen and it's 12 meals if you have one per meal.</p>
<p>Or when you have time-make a ginormous batch of french toast, have 1 or two slices for breakfast, and then freeze the rest. To heat up, a few minutes in the toaster or oven should do the trick. And they taste pretty good at room temp.</p>
<p>Oh, and learn to make a few dishes which are what I call "refrigerator velcrow"-dishes like omelettes, fritattas, scalloped potatoes, that can basically serve to use up whatever little ingredients are left over in your fridge. And look for a trader joe's in the area. They're surprisingly cheap and their ready to eat frozen meals actually taste pretty decent. And of course, you can make your own additions to those.</p>
<p>My local grocery store (and many others) sell containers called 'fit & fresh' or something of the like. One that is for a sandwich is about $5, it is hard plastic so the sandwich won't get smooshed, and it has a snap-in gel pack that you can freeze to keep the food cold. Works great for me... I pack it at around 6am, eat the tuna in it around 3, which is still a nice cool, temp, and I usually pack veggies in there with it, and after all that time cucumbers I have packed are still crisp. For the money, it is well worth it. That cost me less than on lunch at a shop would, and has been used 3 days a week since the start of the semester and managed to save me way more than that.</p>
<p>For food at school I have found that I love doing tuna with mayo, diced tomato and diced cucumber in it with a bunch of triscuit thin crisps. I prefer this to a sandwich because I can eat a bit when I'm hungry around lunch time, and still have more later if I get hungry again. I also stock up on luna/cliff bars when they are on sale. $1.00 for a bar works for two snacks at school for me, all the protein fills me up before I can finish the whole thing. I tend to eat at every break in classes no matter what just because I'm used to eating less food many times throughout the day, so I have learned some tricks for quick/small/cheap snacks. Also, a good thing to buy is a bag of apples, they are cheap, and the apples are a small size and work for a fast snack. Plus they travel well!</p>
<p>You can also try to find out where the grad students in your department leave their lunches. Most departments have their own break rooms, generally with a sink, microwave, and refrigerator. Some even have toaster ovens or other amenities. I used to have my lunches in there since I could talk with some of the grad students I knew and occasionally professors when they didn't take their lunches back to their office.</p>
<p>Peanut butter, and do it on wheat bread for better health (I actually like it on white, but wheat is better for you). Canned if you are less picky. Buy the small tuna cans and open them. But if you want the mayo its a different deal. Stay away from the little kits if cost is a problem.</p>