Dinner Side Discussions: Balancing Meals and Budgets

While overall prices continue to soar, and more people begin to feel the economic pinch in their pocketbooks, it’s a good time to start thinking like you did in college. Wait, what? So I am telling you to think about a surreal world of late-night midterm papers, passing out on couches, mooching off friends, and submitting yourself to questionable cafeteria food? Not at all.

College may be the first time you realize that you have taken meals for granted. If you don’t have a meal plan in college, finding a meal can be a challenge. Running from here to there, there is little time to think about cooking, let alone grocery shopping, weekly planning and budgeting your money. And who wants to make a meal for one? This is when you resort to snack on cereal or order pizza, right? Well, studies have shown that too much of that behavior won’t have you fitting into any spring break bikinis.

Now that I’ve painted the food apocalypse for some of you out there, I will now show you the way to escape from that end. First off, it’s about planning. If you don’t want to end up eating plain rice, apple sauce, pepperoni or other random pantry items for dinner, I would suggest making out a list. You are probably envisioning a grocery list, right? Jot down a few things that sound good and figure the rest out later? Wrong. This is a weekly meal list and should have you salivating by the time you finish.

How: Dedicate 15 minutes a week to planning out your tentative schedule and planning meals around this. If you know you will have a few hours on the weekend, treat yourself to a more advanced meal, or make a special dessert that will last for the rest of the week [or not, if it’s tasty!] Have scrumptious meals to look forward to and this will motivate you to stick to the list and eat healthier.

Now you can see how easily this will fold out into a comprehensive shopping list because you already know what’s on the plate for dinner each night. Also, have might make a template for your list so that certain things like milk, eggs, bread and other commonly purchased things remain consistently on it.

This kind of listing assists you in two ways: (1) budget money because you have a list of exactly what you need, not everything you think you may need; and (2) help to ensure that you have a balanced meal that you look forward to each night.

So what goes into the list when time and money rule your meal structuring? A balanced meal doesn’t mean pairing meat with potatoes every night or even adding the occasional bagged salad. Fruits and vegetables are most often neglected because they seem like extra fluff to your meal, but don’t underestimate their potential to steal the dinnertime show. Stuffing artichokes, squashes, and peppers can make a light meal into a hearty one, while stuffing your steak, chicken or pork with carrots, spinach, zucchini, apples, or dried fruit can be an excellent alternative to bacon, cheese or bread.

Fresh produce too expensive? Explore the frozen realm! Realize that there are times during the year where things are not in season, and frozen is a great alternative. Plus, many frozen fruits and vegetables are frozen fresh.

Once you are at the grocery store, the list has everything you need. Don’t let sales tags, bright colors, or wafting smells and samples lead you astray! Veering from what is planned might suit you at the moment, but leads to vegetables rotting and items going to waste.

Secondly, as daunting as it may be to handle raw chicken, this is the perfect slate for culinary creation magic to happen. Utilize the boneless, skin-less chicken breast. Breaded chicken patties have nothing on the “raw talent” of a chicken breast. You can pan-fry them for a chicken stir-fry or fried rice dish, toss some bread crumbs on them for baking, boil or steam them for shredding into chicken salads or chicken pot pies, dunk them in milk, egg and flour and deep fry them, or just shroud them in BBQ sauce and put them on your George Foreman grill. Stock up on plastic wrap and tin foil: wrap up any leftovers and freeze for up to two weeks. It’s a great source of protein and makes an excellent dinner for even the pickiest eater.

My third tip is to make leftovers into rollovers. In other words, separate your leftovers to make your life easier on another day of the week by offering yourself options in the future. This is how pre-planning your meals ahead can help: if you had tacos one night, you can make an omelet with cheddar cheese, onions and tomatoes the next. But if you can’t separate the meal out, then take some for lunch. This is an excellent way to conserve food, time and money.

How I did it: Scout out the nearest dollar store and buy a multitude of Tupperware in all shapes and sizes. Then store the parts of your meals separately: the meat, the starch, the dairy, the vegetables, etc. Sometimes you just can’t bear to look at those baked beans in the back of your fridge any longer, so yes, there will be instances where you just throw things away.

This should get you off to a good start, now the rest is up to you. Enjoy! See you at the next Dinner Side Discussion.

About the Author

Rachel Disselkamp is a seasoned young cook. She began building her culinary expertise in high school when he mother began to travel, putting Rachel fully in charge of meals. This was no ordinary grilled cheese and Campbell’s soup endeavor. Her responsibilities included menu planning, grocery shopping, budgeting, preparation, cooking and clean-up for a family accustomed to gourmet dining. Encouraged to experiment with many different ingredients and methods she quickly mastered a variety of cooking tips and tricks and began cooking meals and holding food themed parties.

Rachel founded a cooking club that boasted nearly 100 members working to instill a greater appreciation for the art of cooking in young adults. Rachel is on a mission to not only share her love of cooking, but also to teach others to cook on their own, inspire them with new ideas and to relish the culture of food.

Rachel reaches out to a growing following of food enthusiasts through her blog about cooking at college at virtuosocook.com. This year, after abandoning the campus meal plan, Rachel is conquering the “Ramen Rage”: a rut many students find themselves in - eating instant, pre-made foods simply because they think that it’s the easiest and cheapest way to eat on campus. Her blog addresses the issue of budgeting not only money but also time while not sacrificing a healthy, delicious and adventurous diet.