I've started spending 6 dollars a day for lunch at my college. OK, you say? What's 6 dollars?

Salami on white bread and a Red Bull.
A bratwirst and an Arizona Tea.
A piece of pizza and a Mountain Dew.

They also have plates of food that are far healthier, but they're almost always absolutely disgusting, and cost even more. There is nothing but bottled water for healthy drink, and we all know how I feel about spending 2 bucks on a bottle of tap water.

So next week I'm going to take my 6 bucks a day, that's 24 dollars for my 4 week day, and buy food I can prepare and take with me to school. I have bottles, soup decanters, cooling lunch boxes, and paper bags at my disposal. There's a microwave and mini-fridge at the school, too. I want to eat healthy, as I've started to gain weight that I really cannot afford to have (10 pounds for me is your 20 or even 30 pounds), and I'm starting to see the affects. I'm willing to spend 30 bucks a week, and I really want to have a variety of food. I can't really prepare much beyond making a PB&J, so that rules out some more elaborate dishes.

Any ideas?

turkey sandwich a bag of carrots and a juice box.

You aren't hungry enough if you think the food is disgusting, burgerboy.

This really depends on what all you like. Do you have any preferences, specific vegetables, meats, favorite foods, etc?

I'm not very picky at all. I'm not a big fan of pasta, I get an upset stomach with tomatoes, but I still eat them, and I don't like salads unless they're really well made. That's about it.

Avacado, Hummus, Tofu, Feta Cheese, Sunflower seeds = Guacahummusfu.

One of the most divine lunchs known to man, you simply spread it on bread, or crackers, or anything really and it tastes awesome.

just thinking as i go here Kirby, Don't know if any of these might help.

-Carrots
-apples, bananas, grapes, rasins

-or those prepacked fruit cup things

-Yogurt

-string cheese

-if you like tuna... Sometimes I get one of those little bags of tuna instead of turkey or whatever. They are nice too that they dont need to be refridgerated and have different flavors. The packs that have the crackers and everything you need are ok, but in my opinion they have way too much packaging for what is there.

-yes hummus is awsome.
Also have alot eggplant from my moms garden, I made quite a bit of baba ganoush out of them.


-Soynuts




also wanted say I know of the disguatingness of some of the mass produced healtier food choices in cafaterias. I even tried my schools cooked spinach, I like fresh spinach but that stuff tasted strongly dirt and salt and felt like warm stringy slime in my mouth.

Grilled chicken, (lite?) ranch dressing & lettuce on decent bread. Winnar.

I <3 my grill.

I saw this a while ago on Digg:

Shop Once, Eat for a Week

You probably won't be able to roast or sautee ingredients, but it may be a good starting point. You can subsitute raw vegetables for cooked, pre-cooked shrimp for raw shrimp etc. I've tried most of the recipes, and they're very good.

<3

Oh my God that list sounds awesome. I think I'm actually going to try this. Maybe I'll document it for you guys and see what you think.

And with their serving amounts and whatnot, I'm sure I can get creative and develop a similar routine for other weeks, using different foods.

Based on what you listed for your lunch in the first post, probably the best way to lose the weight is to cut out as much refined sugar and refined flour food from your diet as you can can. That means cutting out the beer, the soda, the candy, the pasta, the pizza, and the white bread. Actually, most (if not all) products from the store or in some kind of packaging have refined sugar or flour in it, so it will be very hard (at first) to get the better-for-you unrefined, fiber-rich stuff your body will thank you for. Also, eating as much fresh (preferably organic) produce as you can tolerate will also be a big win. You can tell you are eating enough fiber and the right food, when your stool comes out smooth and "clean" every day, where you almost don't have to wipe (i.e. being "regular").

I know this from my own experience over the last year. In just the first few months of being on the better diet, both my wife and I had lost inches off our waists that we have had for many years, completely unintended, but not really surprising.

And, I don't mean diet in the sense of short-term fad; I mean diet as in what you habitually eat every day. We are hooked on this new way of eating. I should note that I [used to] eat candy bars and drink Dr. Pepper every day as much as I could without feeling sick. I [used to not] enjoy most vegetables that much; I loved eating pasta and pizza, too. [Now,] we don't eat much pasta, but we do make our own bread from the closest to the grain of wheat that we can find in flour -- fiber-rich and actually really tasty in different varieties. My wife throws in a different (in-season) vegetable or fruit into the bread, and it gives each loaf a different flavor. Also, we now have completely homemade pizzas (except for the cheese), and we usually have hot peppers, eggplant, or just about any other vegetable on them.

The key to enjoying eating more vegetables and fruits is to get the (currently) more expensive organic, local, and in-season produce from, for instance, local farmers' markets. With removing the refined sugar from your diet, you can taste how good the real stuff is. I did, and I am never going back.

Take it one step at a time, especially with the increase in fiber, as it will cause discomfort as your body adjusts to the increase.

I could say more about this stuff, as it is an on-going adventure for my wife and me, now.

and together we can eliminate the need for wasteful toilet paper!

just kidding, actually Zeq's pretty right on the money.

also if you have a way of finding out how many calories you burn in a day that could be very helpful.

Something you can eat for cheap thats good, as mentioned a fairly plain sandwhich each day, maybe some cheese cubes (self cut a block or spend dollars extra for what a machine does in seconds) and a piece of fruit.

Bull****. Organic is absolutely no more healthy than genetically engineered products.

Genetically engineered crops have saved billions of lives. That is not an exaggeration. Buying organic products only supports the ridiculous luddite movement that is organic. Buying organic is at best an insult to anyone who is hungry or has died of hunger. At worst it seeds world hunger by indirectly supporting backwards luddite groups like Greenpeace who actively work against the spreading of genetically engineered crops.

I don't think I'll go so far as that, Zeq. I just want to eat cheap but not grease and fat. I usually eat pretty healthily when I give time to prepare things.

I agree with most of what Zeq posted. However, Emon's right, though not quite to the extreme that he paints it. Refusing to eat GM foods is pretty dumb. However, make sure that you are washing your produce when you get it, especially if it isn't organic. Some of the pesticides/herbicides used on the crops are just plain nasty, and a lot of produce doesn't get washed before it's packaged.

Like Zeq said, stay away from refined sugar, though I'm not 100% convinced about refined flour. Then again, I used to run cross country and track in high school, and one of the things we did was load up on carbohydrates before a race. Old habits die hard I guess. If you do want to eat a lot of bread or pasta, try to go with whole grain stuff when you can. It provides more nutrients than non-whole grain products. See if you can find a local, trustworthy bakery to get your bread. I get mine from this small European shop which imports European-style bread from Chicago and New York that is made without any additives used in the major plants. It tastes so much better than regular white or wheat bread, and doesn't contain who knows what preservaties. However, I will say this: nothing beats plain cheap white bread for grilled cheese and PB&J sandwiches.

Yeah, but organic produce doesnt taste like ***.

plain cheap wheat bread (roman meal or the like) beats it hands down.

Yeah, I couldn't imagine a grain PB&J. In general, grain bread isn't my thing. Although, a family friend owns a business in the same building as a bakery, and the baker literally forces entire loaves of wheat bread at me that tastes like the best summer day in your entire life.

Nasty in what respect? The natural pesticides produced by plants are generally far more toxic than artificial ones. Without artificial pesticides, plants produce their own, more toxic alternatives. Or if they don't, organic farmers spray them down with natural pesticides. Of course this is all okay since it's "natural." :downs:


Neither does GM produce. In double blind taste tests, people aren't able to tell the difference. Not to mention the fact that there's no biochemical reason for them to taste different.

Go to Wal-mart and buy some off brand Whey Protein and something to mix it in.

It will last you a week, even drinking 4 shakes a day, and costs less than $30.

Well, at least around here, the organic fruits I've tried taste better. Different types of apples and whatnot, so its not really a fair comparison. At any rate, organic food prices are dropping to near the same as the alternatives, so I prefer to buy organic when possible.

They could be more in season, or the GE crops you've had are just plain bad in your area for an unrelated reason.



You still get less for your money. How is it smart to buy organic?

Really, Greenboy, I like you, but it seems sometimes you have such a straight up hippy bias that you can't see thinks any other way. Whatever that means.

Do whatever you want, I don't really care. But when groups like Greenpeace actually succeed in convincing starving, third world countries that gigantic shipments of GE crops are "poison" I get really, quite pissed off.

k heres what you do, get some romain lettuce, bell peppers, some caesar salad dressing and tortalini... i know youre " not a big fan of pasta" but this is friggin awesome, and mix it up...mmmmmmm delicious, trust me, im studying to be a chef:P

Lot's of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats.

Well, I just went to the store and bought an organic avacado. Regular avacados were 2 for 5, and organic ones were 2.00. So I bought organic. A lot of processed organic foods taste better to me than the normal equivalent. Although I'm perfectly happy with a natural foods type thing that isn't organic.. I just don't like overly processed and preservative packed food.

And also, I have nothing against GE stuff, its just that I prefer to support local farmers and whatnot.

Says Greenboy.

...What? I'm stating my opinion.
If its about my name.. I made this when i was like 11 or 12. I wasn't a hippy at all then. I just liked green, and i was a boy. Some awesome admin should just rename me Michael. Itd be pretty sweet. >_>

I grew up on wheat bread sandwiches. Milton's bread is my favorite.

I just can't eat white bread; it's like there's nothing there.

I like 12 or 20 grain breads with lots of nuts. >_>

oats & honey is good too for a less hearty bread.

Fair enough.

Amen.

If you're worried about weight gain, just try having sandwiches without butter and eating fruit instead of crisps and chocolate when you want a snack.

You could make a smoothie and take it in your flask: banana, berries and ice. Personally I like blueberries and raspberries

With respect to eating salads, I tend to go out and buy as many different salad items as available and just mix and match them: Lettuce, bell peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, beetroot, onions, spring onions, sweetcorn, gherkins, celery, spinach, grapes, cheese cubes (not too many), tuna, anchovies, mackerel (oily fish is good for you) ham, chorizo, egg, bacon (1 rasher - not streaky), chicken, green beans, broad beans, olives...

And as a simple salad dressing: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, pepper.

Hope that helps a bit - Good luck

Just remember, if you use healthy-sounding ingredients, especially foreign ones, or call it a salad, it'll still be good for you no matter how much crap you add.

If you aren't fat I wouldn't worry about eating "health food"

if you have a tendency to snack, keep fruit around to munch on. The fruit can also replace side things like chips and fries with your lunch.

Also - I don't know how much water you drink, but if you don't drink that much, you really should replace the soda with your meals with water. Pick up things like regular water and I'm a big fan of Vitamin Water and the like too. (Just to mix it up and whatnot - though a warning, they can be a little expensive so just pick up a few)

Eat it RAW

You knoww, like the way WWE wrestlers do

Go to the international foods in your grocery store and go to where the Chinese food is. Chinese food is very healthy for you and very cheap to prepare (Broiling chicken with sweet and sour sauce and rice is my favorite).

I'm not fat as much as I am gaining more weight than a dwarf is supposed to have. Keeping a good healthy weight is really important for maximizing my health. As I said earlier, 10 pounds for me is like 30 or 40 for you.