dannnex

college food pro tips that i am absolutely authorized to give, I've been doing this whole college thing for aaaaaaages (like 6 weeks)

1. get rid of the notion of breakfast foods and dinner foods. this is much easier said than done. it's rather instinctual. like, don't just be ok with "breakfast for dinner", you need to completely remove the concepts of "breakfast" and "dinner" from your mind. This allows you to do the obvious, eat things like cereal and eggs for dinner, but it also lets you combine. eat cereal and chicken at noon. have eggos and soup at 10 am. This is an important notion to grasp, it'll save you money and time. 

2. steal from your roommates Try asking your roommates for things. if you only need 2tbsp of flour for something, don't go buy a whole bag, just steal borrow some! 

3. get used to feeling like cooking is a waste of time. you'll spend like 20-30 minutes making some sort of food, and eat the entire meal in under a minute. it's important that you understand that this is necessary though, because cooking your own meals is healthier and cheaper, even if it's harder and feels like a massive waste of time. learning to meal prep can help, but in a college fridge there might not be room for you to save many leftovers. just get used to allotting more time than you feel is necessary towards making food. 

4. if it can be done manually, do it. don't buy a bag of shredded cheese, buy a cheese grater. saves a lot of money at the expense of a little time. 

5. limit indulgences. i've been following a rule where every friday i let myself buy an energy drink and a single sweet thing that's under 5$. (usually a pack of chips ahoy cookies ) but only on friday. helps you save money and eat healthier. i haven't had any sort of fast food yet. don't plan to.