College vs. Healthy Lifestyle, Is It Possible To Have Both?

College gets stressful. No one wants to come home and cook after a long day of classes and studying, let alone pay for the groceries that are required to cook the meal. This is why a lot of students choose to eat out more, which ultimately means eating less healthy food.This shift in diet can lead to the dreaded “freshman 15”. 

What is the “freshman 15”

Everyone in college has heard of the dreaded "freshman 15".  If you don’t know what this is, it is the term used to call the typical weight gain freshman may experience when starting college, usually due to eating out more as meantioned previously. What many students don’t know is that this can be avoided, and that eating out isn’t actually cheaper. In this blog, I’m going to show you how you can eat healthy meals and avoid the freshman 15. 

Aren’t healthy foods foods more expensive?

A misconception of healthy foods is that it can be expensive. While this may be true to a point, (especially if your shopping a store like Whole Foods) this isn’t necessarily the case. The problem lies with students eating out frequently AND choosing to buy healthy foods. If you invest in yourself and the fuel you put into your body, the cost isn’t as large. Another way to lower your walmart receipt total is to find which staple items you want in your diet. These are items that can be used for a variety of dishes and snacks, and will help make your shopping trip less stressful. 

Here’s what my staple shopping list looks like: 

Eggs (12 count).................$0.70

Yogurt………………………$3.47

Granola………………….....$3.48

Lettuce……………………..$1.48

Strawberries……………….$5.14

Grapes……………………..$4.23

Cheese (shredded)............$1.88

Milk (gallon).......................$1.99

Ground Beef (1 lb).……….$3.94

Chicken Breasts (1.5 lbs)..$7.63

Bread……………………....$1.98

Eggo Waffles………………$2.38

Pasta Sauce……………....$1.98

Pasta……………………….$1.28

Frozen Pizza………………$3.50

Frozen burritos……………$3.42

In total, this all costs me under $50 ($48.48 to be exact). The quantities and brands you choose to get will cause the price to vary, but this is a good starting place. From here, you can choose what additional items you may or may not need. Items like chicken, beef, eggs, cheese, and lettuce can be used to make a variety of items. I included thing to have as a snack as well as some items that aren’t considered super healthy. I don’t expect myself to eat perfectly clean 100% of the time. I have some meals that are easy to make, and others that take a little more time, that way I can always make something that fits with my schedule. With this list, there is a good mix of perishable and nonperishable foods, in order to keep the cost low for following shopping trips. This will usually last me for about two weeks. Meals from eating cost on average of $5-$7, which means you only get about 7-10 meals for the same price. As you can see, when you eat at home, you get more for your money and put better fuel into body.

Check out my other blog post for more tips on saving money at the grocery store.

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