In your experience, how high is the quality of college-based meal plans and services? Are these services offered at affordable rates and what alternatives exist that would help a college student eat on a dime? I find that cracking an egg into my ramen, as well as adding a generous portion of chili powder and if I'm lucky fresh vegetables, can make even the lowest quality noodles taste good. Maybe not restaurant quality, but generally the egg and chili powder won't cost you that much and will give you much needed healthy protein. Generally, buying bulk beans and rice has also proven to be a lifesaver. You can make a million stir fry dishes and bean quesadillas cost nearly nothing. Salt is the best flavor you can get for cheap and add to nearly any food. Pepper has broader applications than what most people use it for, and I believe a bit of garlic powder should be in every kitchen. It's all cheap. Feel free to add whatever tips and deals you know about to this thread. Recipes are also much appreciated.
Over chips and potatoes are also a good staple good. Potatoes loose will go off quicker than frozen chips though. On a budget you could eat for £2 per day with good nutrition although you would probably get bored quickly. Cycling potatoes based and rice based meals can alleviate this somewhat but you still need a treat day now and again.
Potatoes / rice / pasta. Those three are all very cheap and go well with most different kinds of sauces. Most sauces are obviously cheaper when bought in a larger can, so buy the biggest/cheapest one you can and then in order to change your meals you can have it with any of the 3 above. You can also make your own sauces, or if you don't feel like doing that much effort, add things such as beans into already existing ones. Omelettes are also amazing. You can throw in pretty much anything left over so you won't have to throw it away. Also something simple and super cheap is for example an onion & potato omelette. Add a bit of salt and sugar and it's lovely.
The university I went to had an EXCELLENT meal plan. I would still go to a grocery store and make some of my own meals, but realistically, a lot of times it was still cheaper overall for me to eat at one of the local places that accepted a plan. My favorite two places were a mix of hot food, salad bar, and grocery items. For one "swipe," you could choose 5 items. That might be main dish, two side dishes, salad, and a drink. Or it could be 2 warm sides, a protein shake, a salad, and a dessert. Or it might be a main dish, one side dish, and 3 grocery items even. So for me, I might choose the latter option and end up with a meal for right then, plus a box of macaroni and cheese, a pack of poptarts, and an apple, which would feed me later in the day, too!
Aside from potatoes ad onions, what kind of vegetables do you think I could add to this diet? Are peppers affordable enough to buy on a regular basis for cooking? My problem is that I don't want to get locked into a diet made almost entirely out of cheap carbohydrates. What kind of meat would you recommend for money-saving purposes?
The food at my college is kind of bleh. They offer the same food for lunch as they do for dinner. Actually there are fewer options for dinner (they remove some of the breakfast items that they offer for lunch). My school does offer a DCB (declining cash balance) for a little place next to the cafeteria that has a Chick Fil A, a chinese place, and a sandwich place so that definitely helps the overall quality of meals that I eat at school. Needless to say, I love going home to have an actual cooked meal full of love haha.
On a budget, carbs are always going to be your filler foods. Ramen noodles are a great start, you can buy cheap cuts of meat, cook dice and freeze it and add a few erts to the noodles along with carrots and broccoli for colour, flavour and nutritional content. If you have the freezer space, frozen vegetables can be added to many meals - an omelet for example. For fresh vegetables, keep in mind what is seasonal as these items are often lower in price at the right time of year. College based meal plans are a good idea if you live in a dorm and have no cooking facilities but they are not economical if you can cook for yourself.
Thank you all for your input. c: I think I'm about to be on the ramen diet for a while and all the ideas for adding things to it are very helpful. Do you recommend any particular brands or flavors?
The problem with the college meal plans is if your classes run over the meal times, you are screwed. It seemed almost every semester this would happen to me, and I would never be able to use my meal card for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was usually just two of them if I was lucky. You should really try to switch up from just ramen noodle dishes though since they have a ton of sodium, msg and a high amount of bad fat in the noodles themselves. If you invest in a jar of tahini, which is a little pricey, you can make homemade hummus pretty cheap too and enjoy it with pita chips and/or some fresh veggies. Or make yourself some hummus and veggie pita sandwiches. One jar of tahini will last you a long time. Personally I would always make sure I had some eggs, bread, fresh veggies, a few different pastas, and some olive oil and fresh garlic on hand. Oh, and some romano or parmesan cheese. And a few cans of crushed tomatoes.
Oh man, hummus was a really good call. I love hummus. Your suggestions for things to make up meals or season them are pretty on point, too. Olive oil and garlic are incredibly versatile. And I totally agree about class times running through meal times. Our lunch lasts from 11-2 and stops service immediately until dinner at 4. The company that runs the university dining program tries to cut as many hours as they can to turn a profit.
Peppers can certainly be affordable, especially if you have a farmer's market nearby or a local grocery store that carries produce in-season for cheap prices. Keep in mind that peppers can be frozen, too, so if you find a good deal on them, buy a few extra, go ahead and slice them up, and then freeze them. They won't be as good raw after you thaw them, but they're perfect to put in stirfries, etc, at that point.
I am currently in school and have once lived on a meal plan. At my school, the meal is not to expensive but not real cheap. The quality of the food is honestly great. I loved my meal plan because there were many places to eat on campus with a variety of foods. The food was really good and you didn't have to worry about cooking or grocery shopping. On the other hand. You can save a lot more money not getting a meal plan. You can eat way cheaper. When money is tight, I'll buy ramen noodles and put a piece of cheese in it with hot sauce and I thought it tasted quite good. Personally, I would choose to eat off campus because of my own money problems.
