Thursday, February 9, 2012

College, Budget, and Healthy Eating


College is a balancing act of studying, class, sleep, eating, and having a social life. Being on the go as most college students are all the time makes it very difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle. One of the biggest complaints students have is being broke and not being able to buy food.

Ramen=College students best friend.

But for those who do not like the zero nutritional content found in foods like ramen and the cheap fast food that’s oh so good but oh so bad, there is a way to eat healthy and for cheap . Of course, you will not be eating filet mignon, but that is a small price to pay for being healthy and maintaining your budget

Here are some rules on being healthy and cost friendly:

Don’t eat too much meat: Meat can be high in fat and pack on the calories; it is also pretty expensive too. If you are going to buy meat eat chicken, it is very healthy for you and is very versatile, you can put it in almost anything! By cutting back on meat you are saving major bucks and maintaining or even losing weight.

Farmers Markets: Farmers markets are a great place to buy fruits and vegetables that are cheap and delicious. Not only that, but you get to know the people who actually grow the product and sometimes they even let you go to the farm and let you see for yourself!

Canned and frozen veggies are healthy: A common misconception is that frozen and canned vegetables are bad for you, but what consumers don’t understand is that very little nutritional value is lost when they are canned and frozen. In canned they are preserved and frozen the nutrients are literally frozen and preserved. They are also cheaper than buying fresh and can longer.

It is possible to maintain a lifestyle as well as a budget in college , you just have to think about the alternatives and be smart about spending.

Alexandra Kennedy
@alexkenn2

3 comments:

  1. This post gave me a lot of good tips on eating healthier on a budget. I have never really liked ramen or fast food, and I always ate really healthy, delicious food growing up because my mom is an amazing cook. When I came to college I quickly discovered that I could no longer afford to eat the way I did when I lived at home. I usually buy fruits and vegetables and not a lot of meat, but beyond that I was not sure what to do to eat healthier. This post gave a lot of good tips. I did not realize that the perimeter of the store had the healthiest choices, but thinking about it, that makes a lot of sense. I am excited to use more of these tips to eat healthy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This post was good for providing tips on eating on a budget. First of all, most of us college students don't like to budget because generally we don't have a lot of money anyways. So taking advantage of some of these tips will definitely make shopping on our college student budgets easier and less stressful. Buying from the farmers market was definitely option that I have forgotten about and am definitely going to take advantage of.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really enjoyed reading your Blog; it was very relevant to what a lot of college students go through every day. It is very easy to eat unhealthy when dealing with a busy and stressful lifestyle. Plus, many people believe that it costs too much to eat healthy; when that's simply not the truth. You gave great, simple advice on how to eat healthy on a budget and with a little planning, there is no reason eating healthy can’t be affordable.

    ReplyDelete