Eating out every day for lunch sounds glamorous, and yes, it’s true that you don’t have to make the food yourself or wash your own dishes. But let’s be real: we are broke and starving college students.
Buying lunch between classes every day can cost anywhere from $35 to $50 a week. That’s up to 200 buckaroos a month…just on lunch!
So maybe you should try the alternative–bring a lunch. Yes, I know what you automatically thought: cool kids eat hot lunch and the weirdo kids bring cold lunch. But this isn’t elementary school, and it’s cool to save your own hard-earned cash.
Plus, I have some odd (yet cheap and delicious) recipes for you to try.
Chili Pasta
Ingredients:
-Two chicken breasts
-Two cans of chili
-Two boxes of mac and cheese
-Salt and pepper
-Sriracha (optional)
Instructions:
1. Grill the chicken. Cut into bite-size pieces. Place in large bowl.
2. Make the mac and cheese. Place in large bowl with chicken.
3. Pour chili into the large bowl with the other ingredients.
4. Mix together.
5. Add salt, pepper and/or Sriracha to taste.
6. Place in three to four Tupperware containers and stick in fridge.
Now you have lunch for almost the entire week, and all you have to do is heat it up at school!
Bacon-Banana Wrap
Ingredients:
-One tortilla
-Half of a banana
-Two slices of bacon
-Three tablespoons of peanut butter
-One tablespoon of honey
Instructions:
1. Spread peanut butter and honey on tortilla.
2. Cook bacon and cut into little pieces. Place on tortilla.
3. Slice banana and add to tortilla.
4. Roll tortilla up.
Super fast and surprisingly very delicious!
For those who like to snack during classes, try these recipes out:
Haystacks
Ingredients:
-Two cups of crunchy chow mein noodles
-One cup of Nutella
Instructions:
1. Mix Nutella and noodles together in bowl
You can either eat your haystack right away or put it in the freezer to save for later. Easy peasy!
GORP Balls (who knows why they’re called that)
Ingredients:
-Two cups of dry cereal (your choice)
-One cup of mini marshmallows
-Half a cup of dried fruit bits
-One-fourth cup of candy pieces (M&M’s, Reese’s Pieces, etc.)
-Two cups of peanut butter
-Three tablespoons of corn syrup
Instructions:
1. Mix cereal, marshmallows, fruit and candy together in one bowl.
2. Mix peanut butter and corn syrup together.
3. Pour PB and CS into bowl with other ingredients.
4. Roll into individual bite-size balls.
5. Let dry on counter or in fridge.
6. Put in Ziploc bags.
A weird but very tasty snack to keep in your backpack!
With these bizarre bargain-budget bites, you’ll cut your lunch bill in half, freeing up some extra cash for cat-sweater shopping, LARPing, your hidden collection of miniature Bratz dolls or whatever else you’re into.