Healthy Grocery List: College Edition
HEY PARTY PEOPLEEE what is UP (P is reading this over my shoulder and said "I literally can imagine you saying that" so obviously I'm like super duper authentic!). Ok this is a post I have been desperately needing to read, so I hope it helps you guys out!!! Eating healthy in college can be really hard on a budget, so I put together a basic list of healthy essentials that are on the cheap-er side. I usually spend between $50 on food a week, $70ish if I need to buy non-food stuff too but that’s generally only once a month!
I have a $100 weekly budget and at the beginning of last semester I found myself left with $0 at the end of each week and I was getting takeout multiple times a week…gross, I know. After being sick of having absolutely no money, I decided to revamp my grocery shopping experiences. Now I am better at staying within a budget and actually having money left over at the end of each week that I can SAVE for fun shit like vacations and clothes.
And I do live in my sorority house so not only does this list have my favorite go-to items, they even all fit perfectly in a mini-fridge(!!!), so like yeah…you’re about to have a healthy cheat-sheet :-)
Let’s get down to business.
Some common sense grocery tips:
· Don’t go when you’re hungry
· Try and only go once a week. I am so guilty of midnight trips because I didn’t plan ahead and ran out of water or whatever, and those little charges add up!
· Kroger and Ralph’s (and I’m sure every other grocery store) has a rewards card that you can sign up for. You enter your phone number when you’re checking out and you save LOTS OF $$$ and you earn gas discounts
· Take your own bag(s)! Using a reusable bag is great for the earth and it helps you buy less if you only walk in with one or two canvas bags
· Download your grocery store’s app! Kroger/Ralph’s offers coupons on their app and they even have the prices and aisle numbers for each product so you know exactly how much you’re going to spend and you won’t have to wander around the store like an idiot aka me lolol
· Stick to the edge of the store as much as possible. The unhealthy foods are on aisles, whereas fruits and veggies are normally on the outer side (does that make sense or am I confusing y’all and making it so much more complicated than it actually is?)
Now for the good stuff!!!!!!
A HEALTHY AND CHEAP YUMMY GROCERY LIST:
dairy
Milk (if you’re into it). Buy a half gallon and it will last a while! Fairlife chocolate milk is a really good snack alternative that’s full of protein so you stay full longer
Feta cheese! I hate salad dressing and prefer to do without it so I really rely on feta and my other toppings to bring the flavor.
produce
Avocado…yeah. No explanation needed. It's not necessary to buy organic according to the dirty dozen, so I normally pick up a bag of 4!
Organic berries…definitely bought four non-organic packs of these bad boys today bc they were on sale (4 packs of strawberries for $5 ka-ching), but according to the dirty dozen list you should always buy organic berries bc they are covered in pesticides…GAG. Anyway, buy a bunch at the beginning of the week and wash + package them that day and you’ll have a week’s worth of snacks/desserts ready for you!
Lemons/limes make water so much better. This semester I have consumed enough soda to last a lifetime so I am trying to find healthy ways to make water more fun, and this does the trick!
Lettuce!!! I LOVE salads and can eat 2-3 bags of romaine lettuce in a week. Salads are so so filling and still so good for you (and so fun to customize!).
protein
Organic rotisserie chickens make planning meals SO EASY! At the beginning of busy weeks P and I will get one from Kroger and cut all of the meat off the day of and package it up for the week and it is a delicious and nutritious minimal-effort meal that you can take anywhere. One day it's a sandwich, the next it's a salad — the possibilities are endless!
Organic eggs are great for lazy dinners! I go back and forth between eggs and egg whites, but both are healthy and delicious ‘breakfast for dinner’ starters.
packaged/other
Earth Balance ‘butter’…I read about this on Hustle + Halcyon and I just had to pick a pack up when I was killing time at Fresh Market. I was vegan for a bit in high school but I somehow never heard of this vegan butter! My fam was eating toast this weekend and I put regular butter on one of my dad’s slices and Earth Balance on the other and he literally couldn’t tell a difference, so if you’re hesitant about the taste don’t be!
Lightly salted rice cakes — one can be a snack or you can go for two and make it a meal…recipe coming soon! Mini rice cakes also make for a super fun snack.
LASTLY, HERE ARE SOME BASIC ESSENTIALS YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE ON HAND! I WON’T GO TOO INTO DETAIL, BUT YEAH…THEY’RE ALL PRETTY GREAT:
- Chia seeds
- Honey
- Seltzer water…lemon-lime is my current fav and you can make it fun by adding a milkshake straw!
- Organic multi-grain waffles
- Powdered peanut butter
- Red pepper flakes
- Chocolate of some sort...obviously