As of September I officially became a university student. This meant I could no longer rely on my mother buying me Marks and Spencer’s superfood salads or ready cooked salmon fillets which would literally blow my budget for the…well…year. I needed my food to be cheap, quick and of course healthy.
So, first things first, the DO NOT’S of student eating.
- Ready Meals: Yes they may be at the height of convenience but they will be about three times the price of any meal you could make yourself. And if they are che
ap, I can pretty much guarantee the ‘chicken pieces’ have probably never seen a chicken before. See: horse meat scandal of 2013.
- Pre-Prepared Vegetables: You will often see ready sliced mushrooms or ready cooked microwaveable vegetables in supermarkets. These may be convenient, but you will definitely be paying more for the privilege. Whenever I buy vegetables I take them out of the packet, wash them, slice them and re-bag them. This makes it much easier and quicker when it comes to cooking and saves money.
- Lighter/Fat-Free Options: This may seem like a slight contradiction, but if fat, sugar or salt has been removed from an item, it has more than likely been replaced with chemicals or so
me other nasty things. I’m not saying opt for full fat milk or full fat cream, but instead of having 15g of Lurpak Lightest just have 5g of normal Lurpak.
- White Pasta, White Bread, White Rice: I’m sure many people reading this will already have knowledge of clean eating, but if you don’t, and insist on eating pasta 7/7 meals a week, just swap it for whole wheat pasta. Same goes for brown rice and brown bread. There can be up to 3g sugar in each slice of white bread!
- …I know it’s obvious, lord I hope it’s obvious, but Super Noodles, Pot Noodles, Rustlers Burgers, Cup-a-Soup. Just no.
Here are the DO’s of student eating.
- It is essential for almost every meal you eat to contain protein. Even from a ‘non-fitness’ perspective protein is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood. Not only that, but it fills you up for longer. I make sure I eat eggs every morning or a scoop of protein. An egg costs about 20p and you can make up scrambled egg in the microwave in less than a minute, so no excuses. If you are opting for scram
bled eggs or an omelette, use all the whites and only one yolk, as whilst being high in nutrients the yolk is also high in cholesterol.
- Vegetables are a perfect way of filling out any meal, especially when on a budget. I like to incorporate a lot of vegetables into my breakfast because it really helps to fill me up. If you are a fan of smoothies, ditch the high sugar fruit and have a kale, beetroot and apple smoothie!
- Forget cheap alcohol and baked beans, stir fries are a students best friend. A perfect way to get in your protein and carbohydrates, as well as those micros
, and they only take about 10 minutes to cook. Most supermarkets offer deals where you can buy a sauce, noodles and vegetables for about £3. Just watch out for high sugar contents in your sauces!
- Whilst rice packets are slightly more expensive than buying rice in bulk I would say it is 100% worth it for the convenience. You can buy a packet of brown rice from Sainsbury’s for 50p which you bang in the microwave for 2 minutes.
- Bake-in-the-bag seasoning sachets are literally the best things in the world, as fa
r as meat seasonings go. You simply open up the cooking bag provided, pop in your meat of choice, vegetables and seasoning provided and give it a shake. Then oven bake for 30-40 minutes. The best part, each bag is about 50p and does for a whole chicken.
- The holy grail of the carbohydrates the
sweet potato. I put mine in the microwave for 10 minutes, then t
op it with some tuna mixed with Total 0% yoghurt and a sprinkling of cheese. That is a filling, healthy meal for about £1.50.
- Finally a little shopping tip i’ve picked up is to shop late or on Sundays. I’m a bit of reduced counter junkie. Last week I bought two pieces of Salmon for just £2 as well as packets of kale and spinach for just 69p. As well as this, check if your local supermarket does a student discount. My local co-op has 10% off with an NUS card which really adds up over a few shops.
So that is my ‘brief’ guide to student eating, I hope it was somewhat informative! Follow my instagram @dionnelifts for more ashteically pleasing meals. Next post will be a dummy’s guide to IIFYM. Bye for now X
DIONNELIFTS 