I have a love/hate relationship with my college’s dining hall.
As someone who hates cooking for herself, I like the ease of walking to the cafeteria and grabbing a meal. But I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of dining hall food, and believe it or not, sometimes I get sick of eating pasta every day.
Whether you have a meal plan or not, eating well on a college budget can be a challenge. Here are three ways to spice up your diet without emptying your wallet.…
September is here, and across the country, students are moving into new apartments. For many of you, this marks the first time with your own kitchen. If you and your roommates are still debating who’s going to buy what, be careful—it can be quite expensive to stock the cabinets and drawers.
If you start with a well-stocked kitchen, and you learn to use all of your kitchen supplies, you can save money on food forever. Cooking cheap and easy meals at home is my number one way to cut down on living expenses. Follow these tips to get everything you need on the cheap.…
Buying prepackaged guacamole or a jar of pickles may be easy and fast. However, the time and effort to make these yourself is totally worth the savings—plus, homemade varieties are almost always more delicious than their store-bought counterparts.
Here are my five favorite DIY condiments that are tastier and cheaper to make at home.…
Inexperienced cooks are often inclined to buy the easiest cuts of meat to deal with. Boneless, skinless chicken breast is a great ingredient for minimal prep work and fast cooking times, but it’s also the priciest chicken in the store (and not just because bone-in adds to the weight without adding to the meat). As with any prepared, or partially- prepared food, the store charges for a convenience factor.…
Boston’s Haymarket is, without a doubt, the best place to purchase cheap produce in the entire city.
As someone who is very budget-conscious, I am embarrassed to say I had never been to the Haymarket until this past weekend. I’ve always known about it, and people have recommended it to me dozens of times, but I didn’t think it could possibly be worth a special trip to the city.
How wrong I was!…
Pretty much everything is cheaper in bulk. Unfortunately, when you buy produce in bulk, it often goes bad before you eat it all.
I frequently buy large amounts of fresh food that’s supposed to keep well—like apples, potatoes, and onions. But, inevitably, I find a few rotten surprises a month or so later.
Lately, I’ve been making a conscious effort to avoid food waste. And thanks to intensive Internet research, I’ve learned ways to help avoid moldy strawberries, wilted lettuce, shriveled onions, and the spoiling of these other common produce items.…
One of my best tricks for cutting down on meal costs is to go meat-free. For me, this is easy, because I was raised on a vegetarian diet. (My parents were young and didn’t have much cash, which my dad says is one reason he stopped eating meat.)
However, I know a lot of people cringe at eating vegetarian, thinking it won’t fill them up or taste good. So, I’ve come up with four protein-packed meat alternatives and ideas for what to do with them. These foods not only are inexpensive, but they’re also delicious.…
Ramen is the epitome of broke food. And while that’s great if you’re pinching pennies, it’s less good for you in a couple other ways. First, ramen isn’t the most nutritious choice (surprise!). Second, eating ramen over and over gets boring—which could lead to a budget-busting takeout night.
Fortunately, it’s easy to spruce up your noodles. Here are three of my favorite cheap recipes for adding protein (to fill me up nutritiously) and flavor (besides the salty MSG-filled seasoning packet) to my ramen.…
I’m ashamed to say, but I haven’t been a great frugal foodie lately.
When it comes to budgeting, being an employed young professional can be more challenging than being a broke student/recent grad. That’s because saving money becomes a self-control issue, rather than a necessity.
As a goal for 2014, I want to put more money money in my bank account, not my belly, by being a better meal planner. If you want to do the same, check out my ideas for making this happen.…
Winter breaks are normally uneventful. Sure, it’s the holiday season, but outside of that, you tend to spend most of your quality time with your bed and Netflix. I wasn’t expecting much to happen to me these past few weeks.
Instead, I fell head over heels in love. With my mother’s blender.…
