While at university you will definitely miss your home, not your parents so much, but your home where you must have eaten nicely cooked food on a daily basis. While at University you will discover the world of Fast-Food and become specialised in many of the menus each restaurant chain offers such as: which one is cheaper, which one makes you fuller and which one is worth sharing. However, with such a “variety” of food, cheap and fast, it is no wonder that some either over-indulge or refuse to eat it because they have some sort of aversion against it and cannot afford healthy food either.
Studies shows that most students gain weight in their first year at university, while some lose weight significantly. This article expands upon this issue by offering some advice with regards to keeping a healthy balanced diet.
Veggies are the number one priority when it comes to a balanced diet. I should actually say veggies and fruits. It can sometimes be quite expensive for students to buy a whole bunch of vegetables, but there is a cheaper alternative: buy frozen vegetables and cook them as indicated on the packaging. They still retain their nutritional value and they can also last longer than fresh vegetables.
If you are a meat eater, then there is no need to despair either. Meat has some very important nutritional value as well, but as usual, it is rather expensive in supermarkets. A good idea would be to shop directly from butchers as they sometimes have cheap deals going and you will have no worries when it comes to how fresh the meat is. Moreover, it may be better to buy in bulk from them, for instance buy meat to suffice you for two weeks as this may come with a discount as well.
Shopping in the evening can prove to be less expensive. Most stores have discounts for products which are close to their sell-by date such as bread, fruit or cans of various food. You should not worry about the fact that they are too close to their best-before date, as they can be frozen and eaten later on.
The best way to shop for food is to buy it all at once. By this, I mean that going one day per week shopping with a list of ingredients you need for what you plan to eat the following week would be very helpful as you can keep your budget to a limit. Additionally this will also prevent you from being tempted to overspend and save you precious pennies.
These small tricks can help you stick to your weekly budget and eat healthy as well. Once you know how to shop without overspending, you just have to practice your cooking skills and stay away from Fast-Food.<