I Ditched The Meal Plan | My Thoughts

September 17, 2017 - 

One of my biggest struggles last year at school, was having to be on a meal plan.  I’ve grown up in a healthy household, and have always been super conscious about what I eat, so having to rely completely on a college meal plan was pretty difficult for me.  Now I’m aware of the fact that being on some sort of meal plan is all part of the college experience, and I’ll link a post that I wrote about a year ago about staying healthy while on the meal plan here, but in this post, I’m going be be talking about my experience of not being on a meal plan. 

This year, I lucked out and got a dorm room that has a kitchen, so I decided that instead of eating in the cafeteria, I would do all of my own cooking and grocery shopping.  While I’ve cooked for myself a lot in the past, the combination of a busy schedule and limited budget have definitely affected the way in which I shop and eat.  In this post, I’m going to talk about a few of the most important things to consider before you ditch the meal plan.

Consider Your Budget

For many, college is the first time in which we actually have to think about budgeting.  Before this point, our parents took care of little yet important things like buying groceries, laundry detergent, etc.  In my opinion, the first and foremost thing that you should consider when deciding whether or not to be on a meal plan, is your budget.  Look into some factors such as how often you eat out, how big your portions tend to be, and the cost of a meal plan at your particular school.  In my case, the meal plan was actually pretty expensive, so it made total sense to do my own shopping if I had a kitchen. 

Stick to the Basics

Don’t get me wrong, I love going out to restaurants and trying new dishes every now and then, but I’m also completely okay with sticking to the basics.  For the majority of the week, I go for budget-friendly, time efficient, and nutrition-dense meals (a few foods that I always like to have on hand smoothie ingredients, chicken, quinoa and oatmeal).  If you’re a total foodie who is constantly wanting to try new flavors and food combinations, cooking for yourself in college may not be the answer.  In addition to a limited amount of space and time, you also will have a limited amount of ingredients – especially if you’re trying to budget.  Things like spices, seasoning and oils can really add up, and more often than not, you’re in a crunch for time anyways.  Although cafeteria food usually isn’t the best quality, you will definitely have more room to enjoy a variety of foods with this option.

Consider Expiration Dates

Okay, this was something that I never thought about when I used to go grocery shopping at home, and has probably been the hardest thing for me to get used to.  Shopping for one person is a lot different than shopping for two or three, and you’d be surprised by how much longer it takes to get through food.  Rather than doing one big grocery haul, I try to split it up into a few smaller trips per week, and really only think in terms of a couple meals at a time.  I’ve found that a lot of grocery stores don’t have a ton of food that is catered around one person, so I’ve started to be much more conscious about what I buy, how I store it, and when I eat it.  I freeze all of my fruit, and make sure to dry all of my veggies completely after washing them so they don’t get soggy in the fridge.  I don’t usually buy bread, but when I do, I’ll take half of the loaf and freeze it because I can never get through the entire thing before it starts to go bad.  Additionally, I always like to keep dry foods such as rice, quinoa, oatmeal, pasta etc. on hand because I don’t have to worry about those dates.

Plan Out Your Meals

Meal prepping has become crucial for me, and has made my entire experience so much easier. I don’t usually go so far as to have everything ready to go in tupperware, but I do always have an idea as to what I’m going to have for breakfast lunch and dinner every day.  By doing so, this eliminates the time consuming process of deciding what to eat on a day-to-day basis, and I also am able to make sure that all of my meals are up to my nutritional standards when I plan in advance.  I usually stick to the same breakfast and lunches, and then switch up my dinners every few days.  One thing that has made cooking for one way easier has been to cook double the portion and then have leftovers the next day.  Not only do I find it so much easier to cook a larger portion (I don’t know why, but it’s just way easier for me!), but this trick also saves a lot of time and energy.

All and all, ditching the meal plan was definitely the best option for me.  While it takes a little bit more time and planning, being able to be completely in charge of what I eat has taken a lot of the stress out of being in college.

Good Luck!

-sb