College – one of the best and most exciting times in our lives! If you’re a student or a parent of a college student, I’m sure you’re minding your wallet – especially in the kitchen! How do you plan for, prepare and eat college meals cheap? Frugal healthy meals aren’t just for the busy, single executive or stay-at-home mom. When you’re in college, it’s crucial to maximize your time by being efficient with cooking and ensuring that you’re eating well so you can stay focused in school.
If you take the time to plan ahead, make a list and stick with good habits, whether you’re living on campus or off-campus, it’s easy to eat and make college meals cheap without compromising on your health.
Read on to learn about how to do college meals cheap.
If you’re a college student, your living situation will generally fall into three categories: living with your parents if you live close enough to campus, living off-campus in a dormitory, and living in a house or apartment, either solo or with roommates.
For the sake of this article, let’s focus on the two most popular scenarios for finding the cheapest college meals:
1. Living in a dorm-style living arrangement and accessing an on-campus meal plan
2. Living off-campus in an apartment or a house, either solo or with roommates
Doing College Meals Cheap While Living in a Dorm
Here are the essential steps you’ll want to undertake to prepare and cook frugal meals during your time in college.
1. Eat Filling and Healthy Foods
If you’re living in a dormitory, you might have an on-campus meal plan which allows you to pay for meals using a debit card-like payment system or something similar. When you visit the dining room, you’ll choose your food, go to the cash register and swipe your card to pay. The amount you pay is deducted from your card, just like a debit card. It’s really easy to just swipe away every time you need to pay for something. Why? The card doesn’t feel like real money! Before you know it, your balance is low, and you’ll need to top up again.
What can you do to make sure you’re using your precious dollars effectively so you can stretch your dollar while a college student? While the most obvious choice might be to just eat less or choose cheaper foods, that actually isn’t the best choice. Why? When you eat less, you’ll feel a lot hungrier later in the day. Often, you’ll feel so hungry that your eyes will be bigger than your stomach, and you’ll tend to binge on food later in the day.
Usually, the food we crave when we’re extremely hungry entails processed junk. Our bodies are trying to get full as quickly as possible, and carbs are a quick solution to increasing our caloric intake! However, processed food causes a rapid spike in blood sugar. Once that spike declines, it’ll cause an energy slump. Additionally, processed foods are generally not as filling as whole foods, so you’ll feel hungry soon again!
Instead of eating less and eating cheaper, processed foods, stick with whole foods. Try to eat a full, protein-breakfast early in the morning. Focus on nuts, seeds, eggs, lean meats and fruit. These foods are generally more expensive. However, in the long run, you’ll save money. Why? When you eat more filling food, you’ll feel fuller longer and won’t feel the need to binge on unhealthy junk food just a couple hours later after scarfing down those fried potatoes. Eating the cheapest foods will cost you in the long run.
2. Stock Your Fridge and Cupboard with Nutritious Snacks
Have a fridge in your dorm room or apartment? Go to the local grocery store and stock up on healthy, filling snacks. Some of the best cheap foods for college students on the go include nuts, cheese, yogurt, protein bars and fruit. These snacks are filling, calorically dense, and most important of all, healthy!
If you don’t have one, consider getting a mini fridge if your campus allows it. When you stock healthy snacks in your fridge, you’ll be less tempted to go for that bag of chips in between classes – or meals! If you consume healthier snacks, they’ll fill you up, and you’ll be less tempted to go for that plate of mid-day curly fries in between meals.
3. Stick to a Meal Schedule
College schedules can be strange. One day, you might have an 8:30am class and another one at 3pm. The next day, you might only have class from 7-10pm. Irregular schedules can make it difficult to stick to a routine. However, if you can stick to a relatively consistent eating schedule, your hunger signals will be in check. What does this mean for frugal eating? When you stick to a regular eating schedule, you’ll set aside time to eat healthy food. If you’re constantly eating at different times of the day, it can be difficult to plan your designated time to go to the dining hall.
Forgetting to eat or skipping meal time can cause one to quickly solve their hunger problem by going to the vending machine for a sweet or salty treat to tide them over! There’s nothing wrong with a treat every once in a while, but when you do it all the time, it will blow your budget.
Tip: if your class schedule is different every day, schedule your meal times and try to make them the same time every day. For example, if you have class from 5-7pm on Monday and Wednesday but don’t have it until 7pm on Tuesday and Thursday, you can choose to always eat at 4pm and then again before bed. If you don’t have class on Fridays, try to still eat an early dinner at 4pm. Since you’re eating at the same time every day, your body will be in check with hunger signals, and you’ll be less likely to crave food at random times! Sticking to making and eating cheap easy college meals is easier when you aren’t constantly spending money on snacks.
4. Doing College Meals on the Cheap With an Accountability Partner
College is an incredible time to meet new people and make friends who share common interests with you! When you live on-campus in a dorm, you’ll have the opportunity to meet tons of people who are in the same boat as you. After you get to know a few people, why not bring up the topic of saving money and living frugally? Find one or two friends who are interested in saving money and living a healthy lifestyle. Plan a time to eat lunch or dinner together once or twice a week. Go to the on-campus cafeteria together and choose your meals together. When you choose your foods with other people, you’ll be able to make a positive influence on each others’ habits!
If the thought of being frugal all the time overwhelms you, why not try a designated day for frugal shopping and cooking? A Frugal Friday challenge is an awesome way to practice intentional frugality one day a week. On this designated day, focus on only making and buying budget-friendly foods. Over time, add one more day per week or month where you track your grocery spending and participate in frugal meal planning and cooking. Eventually, your frugal habits will become like second nature!
While you’re at it, undertake a no spend challenge for a week. If you’re feeling ambitious, why not try a no spend month where you forgo all non-essential purchases? One of the best things in life is getting together and enjoying the company of others. Engaging in simple pleasures such as meeting with friends can help you stay motivated and on track with your finances, so don’t be afraid to talk to that person sitting next to you in your afternoon economics lecture. You might spark a new friendship!
5. Invest in a Quality Water Bottle
Another expense that can hurt your budget – water! While water technically isn’t a ‘meal,’ along with food, it’s an essential that we need to consume to survive. Guess what? When you drink water before a meal, you’ll tend to feel fuller faster – cutting down on the temptation to eat tons of unhealthy food.
Additionally, investing in a quality, BPA-free water bottle will save you money spent on buying bottled water. Another great benefit: you’ll cut down on plastic usage. A win-win for the planet and your wallet! Most colleges have refillable water fountains, so you can quickly refill in between your afternoon lectures. It might seem like an obvious tip, but it’s really one of the best and easiest frugal hacks that everyone should do!
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Living Off-Campus
While I’ve covered living on campus, no article on cheap college meals is complete without covering living off-campus. Many students spend one or two years on campus, then spend the final two or three years living in an apartment or house off-campus. Living off-campus is an exciting time to gain independence, learn how to live with roommates, and maybe even hone your cooking skills!
Living off-campus means that you’ll be responsible for cooking your own meals. Let’s go over how you can make college meals cheap.
What is the number one and most important way to make super cheap meals while ensuring you’re still eating well during these important years of your life? Simple – planning!
Choose one day per week that will be your designated planning, shopping and meal prep day. On this day, you’ll undertake the following steps:
- Review your pantry, fridge and freezer to see what you already have
- Pick wallet-friendly meals and create a frugal grocery list
- Bring your list when shopping
- Undertake meal prepping to save time and money
1. Review What’s In Your Pantry, Fridge and Freezer
Before going grocery shopping, check to see what you already have in your pantry, fridge and freezer. Don’t toss that jar of pasta sauce – put it to good use! Bored of pasta? Why not blend up some garlic and spices and create a tasty pizza sauce? Additionally, check your freezer for any frozen meats or vegetables that should be used before they get freezer-burnt. Doing college meals cheap means being resourceful!
In addition to checking your fridge and freezer, It’s also important to look in your cupboards for canned food. Canned food lasts a long time, but it does have an expiry date. To avoid wasting money on canned food, only buy what you think you’ll use in the next couple of months. Remember, you can always go back to the store to get whatever you need!
2. Pick Wallet-Friendly Meals and Create a Frugal Grocery List
After you’ve taken inventory of your fridge, freezer and cupboard, decide on what you’ll eat. Planning ahead isn’t just for long-term finances – it’s also important to ensure you’re maximizing savings while eating well on a weekly basis! The best cheap foods for college students also have the following characteristics:
- Filling
- Nutritious
- Inexpensive
Choose ingredients that encompass these 3 characteristics. Pro tip to make very cheap meals: focus on the ingredients, then build meals around them. That way, you can mix and match different ingredients to make different meals with healthy and cheap food ingredients.
For example, let’s say that you choose pinto beans and brown rice as your bases for the week. You can make many different meals for the week, including:
- burritos
- tacos
- quesadillas
- nachos
The foods listed above are all healthy and filling – if you choose whole grain chips and bread. Of course, this list is non-exhaustive. You’ll want to buy some vegetables and sauces to make these complete dishes!
Personally, when making a grocery list, I like to break it up into four categories: breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Each category contains at least one grain, fruit, vegetable and protein. For example, my list might look like this:
Breakfast
Meals: peanut butter banana smoothie, banana blueberry oatmeal
Ingredients needed: peanut butter, bananas (one of my favorite budget foods because of its taste and versatility!), almond milk, oats, frozen blueberries
Lunch
Meals: smashed chickpea sandwich, club sandwiches
Ingredients needed: whole-grain bread, chickpeas, mayonnaise, red bell peppers, pickles, celery, mustard
Dinner
Quesadillas, nachos, burritos, tacos
Ingredients needed: tortillas, nacho chips, cheese, tomato, lettuce, onions, black beans, sour cream, salsa
Snacks
Blueberry banana smoothies, homemade popcorn
Ingredients needed: protein powder, blueberries, bananas, almond milk, popcorn kernels
One note: notice how I used the same ingredients for more than one meal. Buying larger packages and/or in bulk can help you save money since the cost per unit is generally cheaper. While smaller packages cost less, you’re generally spending more in the long run. If you’re truly serious about finding and cooking the cheapest food to eat, stick with the larger packages – if you can afford it.
Not sure where to begin for your starches and protein? Some of the best and cheapest food for college students include rice, beans and lean meats. These are the cheapest foods to buy when broke or a budget. Why? They’re filling, nutritious and versatile. You can use them in so many different dishes, including pastas, stews, casseroles, wraps and burritos. Additionally, you can’t omit flour from your list – in my opinion, it’s the best food to buy on a budget. Why? There are so many different dishes you can make – from pie crusts, cakes, cookies, pasta… the possibilities are endless – and won’t break the bank!
Other cheap food to buy that I didn’t mention before include:
- Apples
- Mushrooms
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Frozen vegetables
- Frozen fruit
To ensure you’re staying on track with your finances, create a weekly grocery budget. Set a rough limit to account for any items that may or may not be on sale that week. For example, you might want to keep about $20-30 of wiggle room.
3. Bring Your List When Shopping
If you’re serious about doing college meals cheap and living frugally while in school, always, always bring a list to the store! Generally, when someone brings a list to the grocery store and sticks with it, it’s a lot easier to avoid spending money on unnecessary items. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional snack or other treat, but over time, going over budget can really hurt your spending! Focusing on frugal food with the occasional treat (one per week or so) will help you stay on track.
When you go to the grocery store, try to buy store brand items instead of the name brand. Store brand items are just as good as the name brand and they’re almost always cheaper. If you truly want to commit to focusing on foods to buy on a budget, only purchase the name-brand item when it’s on sale and the same price or cheaper than the store brand variety.
4. Doing College Meals Cheap by Meal Prepping
I’ve covered how to plan really cheap meals based on what you have and re-using ingredients for multiple meals. What about actually making healthy frugal meals that are college-student friendly and don’t break the bank? If you want to do college meals cheap, one important way to save time and money is to meal prep. What is meal prep exactly? This term refers to preparing a large batch of one meal, portioning it into containers and eating the same meal for several days in a row, saving you time and money.
How do you save time? When you only have to cook once instead of every night, you save hours of time usually spent preparing and cooking. As mentioned previously, when you buy larger portions of ingredients, you’ll generally save more money, since the cost per unit on larger portions is generally cheaper.
Choose A Day to Meal Prep
Just like taking inventory, deciding on meals and making a grocery list, you’ll need to decide when you’ll meal prep. Generally, the best day to meal prep for college students is a time when you don’t have tons of classes or extracurriculars. The day and time you choose doesn’t matter – just pick a time and date you can stick to. Why choose the same date in time? You’ll be a lot more likely to stick to meal prep if you make it a habit. Tip: add it in as an event to your calendar and stick to it, just as you do with going to your early morning accounting class regularly (hopefully!)
If you have a group of friends, why not host a dinner party? Find some frugal dinner ideas, then go shopping together. Then, prepare and cook your frugal meal together! Need some inspiration for group meals on a college budget? Check out this article for some ideas on inexpensive meals for large groups. Frugal cooking doesn’t have to be boring – it just takes some planning.
Prepare Variations of the Same Dish
If you’re truly on a student budget, here’s another great thrifty and frugal tip: prep the same meal and eat it every day. If the thought of that bores you to death, you can choose 2 dishes instead of 1 – for example, eat the same thing 3 days in a row, then another dish for 3 days in a row. Another way to keep things interesting: make a dish where you can swap different ingredients in and out.
For example, let’s focus on a few frugal dinners for the week. Let’s say you want to do a Mexican rice bowl for the week with beans and rice as the core ingredient. Both of these ingredients top the list of the best cheap food to buy when broke or on a budget. However, but the exact same bowl bores you to death. Here’s a sample grocery list:
- Black beans
- Pinto beans
- Six bean mix
- Ground beef
- Chicken thighs
- Brown rice
- Cheese
- Avocado
- Sweet potatoes
- Tomato
- Lettuce
- Jalapeño
- Mango
- Yellow and green bell peppers
With this list, you can make many different combinations. Here is an example of 3 to try out:
- Shredded chicken with pinto beans, brown rice, cheese, lettuce, tomato and sautéed white onion and green bell peppers
- Spicy pinto bean bowl with ground beef, rice, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and a mango jalapeño salsa
- Six bean bowl with shredded lettuce, tomatoes and yellow bell peppers
The core ingredient (rice) stays the same, but you’ve just mixed and matched the other ingredients. This is just one example of varying up the many different cheap meals you can make. Have fun and be creative! Batch cooking on a budget doesn’t have to be boring! – in fact, it can be fun and easy! If you’re not sure where to start, begin with one or two items. Each week add a new frugal food item or two to your list and plan recipes around the items.
Need some inspiration? Check out Pinterest for some easy, frugal recipes you can make. If you’re in a rush, check out this lazy student recipes article for quick and easy meals.
Want to keep organized and make sure you aren’t eating the same thing every week? Create a frugal meal plan that you can post in a visible place in your apartment or home. When you see it every day, it’ll remind you to keep on track with your frugal habits. Check out Pinterest for ideas on how to create a frugal meal planner.
While being frugal, keep in mind that it’s okay to treat yourself every once in a while. Even if you’re on a student budget, it’s ok to have the occasional chocolate bar or eat something different every day. If you’re trying to eat as cheaply as possible, you’ll miss out on trying new foods. There’s nothing wrong with focusing on cheap food items – so long as they’re nutritious and you enjoy eating them. However, if you can afford it, don’t always go for the cheapest food you can buy. There’s a distinct difference between being frugal vs cheap!
Conclusion – College Meals Cheap
Cheap college food, shopping and meal planning doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice quality or flavor. You don’t need to eat ramen noodles every day! You can find ways to live super cheaply without compromising your health and sanity.
Plan ahead, use ingredients you already have and consider frugal meal planning, and you’ll be able to make college meals cheap! Create a routine, stick with frugal habits, and don’t be afraid to mix up recipes and try something new!
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Janita is a frugal living expert and owner of Frugal Fun Finance. With over five years of personal experience finding and trying out the best ways to make and save more money, she's eager to share her knowledge. Janita's strategies have helped her save thousands of dollars for funding investments and traveling to over 20 countries.
Janita completed training in personal finance at The University of Western Ontario and McGill University, two prestigious Canadian universities. Her expertise has been shared on GoBankingRates, Yahoo Finance, and NASDAQ.com.
