Eating Healthy on a Budget

As college students, we often must stay within a budget, especially when it comes to food. We also need quick, convenient meals, but eating out can quickly hurt your wallet. While the stereotypical solution is to resort to eating ramen noodles every night, this doesn’t provide enough nutrients to fuel our hard-working brains and keep us going. Although eating healthy can be more expensive, there are many ways to nourish the body on a budget!

With the huge number of fast-food options around campus, it’s hard not to take advantage of their convenience. However, cooking at home will provide the best nutrition for your money.

Before you go grocery shopping, plan out some meals for the week and make a list. This makes sure you can build plenty of balanced meals and makes it harder to buy unnecessary items. Instagram and Pinterest have an abundance of healthy meal inspiration. If a recipe calls for an expensive item or something you don’t have on hand, make substitutions!

Look for items that provide the most nutrients for the least cost. While some meat can be pricey, other protein sources such as beans, tofu, and eggs are very cost effective. Grains and potatoes are great nutrient sources for a good price. Frozen fruits and vegetables are cheap, nutritious, and you don’t have to worry about them spoiling. For fresh produce, find the items that are on sale!

If you can buy some staple pantry items in bulk from a wholesale store, that is a great way to save and make sure you always have nutritious food on hand.

When cooking your meals, cook them in bulk to save you time down the road. Instead of taking the time to cook several healthy meals throughout the week, you can cook some staple items in bulk and put together leftovers over the following days. You can change things up by putting your prepped protein in a wrap versus with rice, switching up the vegetables, or using different seasonings and sauces. This allows you to get creative, save time and money, and still eat healthy.

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive or boring, it just takes a little planning and some creativity!