Comments on: Cheap Meal Ideas for Single Graduate Students

By: bp share price

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By: Doctor Stock

Doctor Stock — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:44:10 +0000

Great – I just sent this to a couple college students who left yesterday for school overseas.

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:29:03 +0000

@Penny – good job on avoiding the pasta. I know it can be hard – a good compromise might be “rice” noodles, though, if you still want to work with noodles.

@Derek – exactly, pasta is so easy to make. Rice takes longer to cook. Good for you at being able to use up ingredients. I always find that’s hard – I’m more inclined to go back to the store to get what I need to do it “right.” (i.e., the way I like it)

By: Derek

Derek — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:51:55 +0000

Pasta has always been my go to meal when laziness strikes. I have heard of Quinoa before but haven’t tried it yet. I do salads and home made pizzas all the time. A big pizza will last 3-4 meals for me. It is also a good idea to take advantage of the food you already have. Sometimes I just round up a bunch of random ingredients that I have and try to make a meal out of it. Better than letting the items spoil and go to waste.

As you point out drinks are a huge waste of money and calories. Water is definitely the smartest way to go. I have a bunch of tea but I always forget to make it. I need to get in that habit.

Great post thanks for sharing!

By: PennyStocks

PennyStocks — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:47:15 +0000

I hated the college diet, I still avoid pasta whenever possible. I NEVER go out to eat pasta and I rarely cook it at home. Some of the other things I ate were just cheap and I would never eat them now anways, but pasta ewwww.

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:22:16 +0000

@Alex – ha ha – I love how you make it sound so easy! But you’re right… it can be tiring to plan meals and groceries constantly, but it’s the only way to avoid convenience foods.

@Craig – hey, if you are cooking for yourself everyday it sounds like you’ve already broke that barrier! I guess making a good dinner never gets easier, we just learn to plan and tolerate it better:)

By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:03:49 +0000

Being a recent college grad I don’t have a lot of patience with making dinner but always cook for myself everyday. I use simple and cheap meals like fish, chicken, meats with standard spices to keep it cheap, simple, and fast.

By: Alexander Rinehart, MSACN

Alexander Rinehart, MSACN — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:41:44 +0000

Another great article! I like how you recognize the connections between health/finance/food. The same habits lead to the same results no matter the category.

People base food choices on taste, cost and convenience. This is great for the food industry as it gives them the recipe for profits, however for the consumers we sacrifice our health.

Although you clearly lay out that it’s cheaper in the long run to eat well (let’s not even bring up the health expense discussion), I think it’s important to recognize that grad students are busy people. They live off coffee and convenience food. All-nighters are “normal”. So it all comes back to planning. You have to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon preparing meals in advance, pre-grilling some chicken for salads, pre-chopping vegetables. Making brown rice or quinoa in advance so you can put together healthy meals quickly.

Luckily grad students are used to having to plan, so planning for healthy food choices should be a prioritized homework assignment. When you maintain health you’re much more efficient with your work and produce at a higher quality.