Being a broke college student means that you sometimes have to sacrifice a lot for your education. That typically means making your limited grocery fund stretch enough to fill your stomach. Sometimes the food you eat is simple, bland or a little nauseating, but at least it gets the job done and it doesn’t break the bank. Here are 17 foods that we’re all too familiar with.
1. Eggos
The perfect breakfast staple. Pretend you’re as badass as Eleven when you walk out of a store clutching a box or two.
2. Packaged ramen
If you ignore the sodium content, it’s the cheapest dinner option you can buy from a corner store, so that’s a big plus.
3. Grilled cheese sandwiches
Bread and cheese—what’s not love? Easy on your bank account, kind to your soul.
4. Boxed macaroni and cheese
When in doubt, buy a week’s worth of Easy Mac, and you’re set.
5. Frozen meals
Hot Pockets, pizza rolls, POGOs, McCain Smiles… the options are endless.
6. Chef Boyardee ravioli
The bland tomato sauce never gets old when you can buy a family-sized can for only a few dollars.
7. Granola bars
Need a snack? Eat a granola bar. Quick breakfast? Granola bar. Wanna get an endless amount of crumbs in your bed? Granola bar.
8. Peanut butter
Peanut butter is the poor man’s Nutella. You can spread it on anything and feel like you have your life together because it has protein and is, therefore, “healthy.”
9. Chicken nuggets
Eating like a five-year-old never felt so good.
10. Pasta
Pro tip: If you’re crying over your student debt, use your tears as a pasta sauce substitute.
11. Pizza
Pizza is the go-to cheap food for any student. Whether it’s frozen, leftover, ordered in or something resembling a pizza slice in the cafeteria, it’s a college staple for a reason.
12. Rice
If I’m really desperate, I go for Minute Rice and pretend like it’s an acceptable base for every meal.
13. Oatmeal
Oats cost next to nothing, which means it’s all I eat every morning.
14. Your roommate’s food
Look, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s not your fault that you ate their Chinese takeout when you were hungover.
15. Leftovers
Any food left in the fridge for more than a day is fair game. Week-old pizza? A tinfoil-wrapped burrito? Unidentifiable casserole? All worthwhile dinner options.
16. Anything in a can
I find that nearly any food you can buy in a can, you’re able to transform into something resembling a meal. Some items just take more creativity than others.
17. Wine
Technically not a food option, but when you can buy a bottle of wine for less than a bag of groceries, sometimes a girl has to go with the wine.