As any busy college student could tell you, it’s hard juggling academics, extra-curricular activities, a social life, adequate sleep, and a relatively healthy lifestyle. There never seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done, especially not when it comes to cooking my own meals. Attending 8+ hours of classes and meetings every day means being on campus from mid-morning ‘til late evening without adequate time in between to fit in a full meal. And with on-campus dining options being both vastly overpriced and not overly appetizing, my only option (besides starving) is to bring some sustenance from home. On top of this, coming to college has made me very frugal – I can’t seem to justify spending $12 on a couple of mediocre pizza slices when I know that money could last three meals if I cooked it myself. Hence, my new love for meal prepping (sorry Kevin, you’ve been replaced).
I’ve realised meal prepping doesn’t actually require as much cooking as I’d thought (though it does require some). What it really means is thinking ahead and making life a little easier on your future self. So without further ado, here’s a brief breakdown of an average Sunday or Monday evening in my life:
I generally buy rice, pasta, and noodles from a corner store on the way home earlier in the week. I then take a bus down to my local grocery store (Safeway is the closest to me, but if I’m coming back from class, I’ll take the longer route via Trader Joe’s because their products are cheaper) for a few items. My staples include a good amount of pita bread and a tub of hummus, a cheap pile of tortillas, and some cheese. The tortillas and cheese make for a quick quesadilla, either in the morning if I have a couple of extra minutes to make it, or when I want a snack after dinner. The pita bread and hummus go with me to class so I have an easy, filling, and delicious snack on the go. I also buy about a pound of chicken breast (though you can substitute this for tofu if you’re vegetarian), assorted frozen vegetables, some garlic-y pasta sauce, plain greek yoghurt, an onion, a bunch of scallions, and a tomato. I generally have some soy sauce, vegetable oil, chilli flakes, turmeric, garam masala, chilli powder, chilli paste, and garlic paste on hand at home so I don’t need to buy those as often. These items all go towards my main meals. For breakfast (which I’m not the biggest fan of), I usually keep some bananas, an apple, and some mandarins handy.
Step 2: Prep the main meals.
I generally make two or three main meals for the week. Option A is generally either a tomato pasta or spicy noodles. Option B is rice with some preparation of chicken. Option C is a simple vegetable or chicken fried rice. All of them are great, filling options that don’t take long to make. And they’re simple enough that I can generally have more than one thing going at a time. Here’s a serving of my spicy noodles:
Other options:
Take a step back to look at all the meal prepping you did and feel proud! Not only do you have a full week of meals in front of you, but you also have a great picture to send to your mom to convince her you’re not dying in college.
If you like breakfast more than I do, feel free to prep some overnight oats or keep frozen fruit for smoothies in advance. And if you need more snacks, don’t feel guilty – I keep a stash of chocolate near at all times. Do what feels right for you! And it’s super easy to find a microwave on campus (I recommend the one outside Terrace Cafe if you’re on the Berkeley campus), so you can heat up your food on the go without being late for class. Believe me, you’ll save a lot of money by meal prepping. And don’t forget to send your mom some pictures! I guarantee she’ll be proud.