Cy Whitling | Crumbs
illustration by danlin li | crumbs
School is here, the days of working full time and eating large are gone. As Moscow fills back up, it is time to pinch pennies and tighten belts. One great question stands before all of us: “Should I have money or should I eat?”
College is a time of change, of compromise and our appetites stand between our wallets and financial security. In the crazy hustle of college life it’s tempting to skip cooking and just eat out, which is a great way to spend all of your money on food and not on awesome spring-break road trips.
The key to saving money on food is being prepared. Plan your meals. If you wing it you will spend a fortune on snack foods. I am here to offer some quick and easy tips designed to help you stay alive and save money.
Let’s start with breakfast. It is tempting to skip breakfast but the cereal boxes say that it’s the most important meal of the day and who are we to question their unbiased wisdom? Instead think creatively.
Throw some granola in your yogurt and call it a parfait. Make breakfast burritos the night before and heat them up in the microwave. Don’t lie to yourself, you won’t have time to cook in the morning, you’ll be busy trying to make it to class on time.
For some people one of the hardest parts of transitioning to college life is not having their mom pack their lunch every day. I realize it can be a hard fact to deal with, but don’t compensate by wasting money on fast food.
Pack your own lunch. Contrary to what your friends tell you, brown bag lunches are cool. For the price of one fast food lunch you can buy a week’s worth of PB&J supplies and maybe even some cookies and carrots to add in . Plan ahead, schedule out your meals, buy all of your food at once and then stick to that schedule.
Dinner is a wild card. By this point most of us are tired and hungry. We want food in our mouths and we want it now. Be strong, don’t succumb, there are plenty of low budget options.
While most cheap meals (ramen, PB&J, bread and water) lack protein, hotdogs are an affordable addition. Throw some cut up hotdogs or an egg in your ramen. Fry slices of hotdog and make a sausage sandwich.
I wouldn’t recommend putting hotdogs in your PB&J, but if you are feeling classy you can throw some hotdogs and bread crumbs on a box of mac-and-cheese and call it gourmet pasta.
Remember, college is a time of compromise. Going with ramen now means tacos on the beach later. Just make sure to plan ahead and avoid impulse eating and you will be well on your way to that trip of a lifetime.
Cy Whitling can be reached at [email protected]