Are you a college student? Are you trying to eat healthy, but don’t have the funds or the time? Well, I as well fall under that category. As a fellow college student who attempts to eat healthy on a budget, I have come up with what I believe is a realistic way to eat while not having a lot of time to prepare, or a “baller budget.” Now I am by no means Gordan Ramsey, but with research and through trial and error I feel confident in some of the recipes that I have to share with you guys. While reading this please remember that these are supposed to be healthy and cheap. There might be better ingredients out there, or tastier meals, but these options are what fall under the HEALTHY and CHEAP category. Also, before reading this please understand that these are options that I personally have enjoyed, not all of these you may enjoy but I am choosing meals that I feel are liked by a wide range of people.
Now first, obviously we have to start with what is easily the most versatile meal, and you guessed it. I am talking about breakfast. Whether it’s breakfast during breakfast time, breakfast during lunch time, or breakfast during dinner time. It always hits. Every single time. I am going to start with just a few favorites then get into the other stuff that I also enjoy. The first and an absolute go to for me is egg whites and avocado on whole wheat bread. You can even substitute eggs for egg whites, it is also a personal preference to be honest. Yes, this is extremely simple, but it is fast, easy, healthy, and fairly inexpensive. Do not worry, the more complicated stuff is coming. If the taste is also too bland for you, you can also throw hot sauce on that, I recommend Texas Petes. It is tasty and also has no calories. Personally, I like to eat a light breakfast before I get my day started just to hold me over till after I finish all my work. Then I can put myself in a food coma. Another breakfast favorite you can do with avocado and toast, is a Caprese Avocado Toast. For this toast, the ingredients you will need are fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and balsamic glaze. Throw all of that on whatever kind of bread you choose and you will be more than satisfied when you start your day. Personally, I recommend sourdough, but it really is all personal preference. Now even though I enjoy keeping breakfast on the lighter side, I also sometimes tend to wake up with a sweet tooth. A healthy option that you can use to satisfy that craving is yogurt parfaits. You could use regular yogurt, or greek yogurt. Personally I like to use the Oikos Pro, or the Oikos Triple Yogurt, to keep the parfaits to as little sugar as possible, but once again it really is up to you. Then comes the granola part, I usually go for the Kind brand, they have so many flavors, and are high in protein. The many flavors keep the constant parfaits from getting old fast. Then lastly you can use whatever type of fruit you want, I usually go with strawberries or blueberries, but fruit is the most versatile ingredient in most healthy meals (easy to substitute). You can also add some honey on top if you really would like. This is also good because it can last a few days if kept stored correctly in a tight. Another thing I enjoy to have in order to satisfy a sweet tooth craving, is make smoothies. My go to is a simple strawberry and banana smoothie with milk as the base and you can also add any kind of protein that you would like! Also when buying your fruit, I recommend buying frozen fruit. It just is able to stay preserved for a longer period of time, so you don’t have to keep buying fruit all the time.
Now to go into meals that are typically eaten later on in the day (not saying you can’t eat them whenever you want). A few of these ingredients have recipes with similar foods, so you can pick and choose which ones you want to make for the day, and not have to buy more ingredients. The first one is kind of interesting but bear with me. After all, everyone knows that eating healthy can get boring at times. So first up on the menu for lunch and dinner time meals, is chicken kabobs. Yes, you read that correctly. This is not an original recipe, the link for the website where I found the recipe for this will be located at the end of this blog. The first step to this is to marinate the chicken. Personally, because I always forget, I like to marinate the chicken only for about 2-3 hours, but the longer you marinate the better the flavor will be. The goal however is to not marinate the chicken for more than 24 hours, this will cause it to turn chewy. The marinade that was suggested via the website at the end of the blog, is olive oil, lemon juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic and black pepper. Obviously, you can alter this however you feel. I have stuck with this one and I think it works great. Then an absolute must have for the kabobs are peppers, as the vegetable. Everything else you put on it can be personal preference, but do not forget the peppers. Onions and some squash or cucumbers is another solid addition. Then you are just going to want to leave it on the grill for about 20 minutes, if the chicken is not cooked through, then obviously you should leave it on for longer. 20 minutes should suffice though.
Chicken is a very versatile ingredient when cooking food. There are so many different ways that you can cook chicken. Another recipe that I would like to enlighten you guys with, is a chicken almond recipe that is healthy. This is an easy to make almond chicken. What you will need is chicken breast, eggs, almonds, paprika, oregano, garlic powder, salt, thyme and olive oil. The almonds you will want to be raw almonds, the chicken you will want to be halves so it is easier to cook, all you need is a ½ tbsp of salt, regular or smoked paprika whatever you prefer, and whatever garlic powder you like. Then you are simply going to want to coat the chicken with your seasoning in your beaten egg, and then bake the chicken for about 22-25 minutes depending on how thick the chicken is. This should help you come out with the perfect keto friendly almond chicken that you so desire. After you are done baking, you should let it rest for a few minutes before cutting, and lastly enjoy.
Here are the links to where we originally found some of the recipes we have tried:
https://dinnerthendessert.com/yogurt-parfait/?ssp_iabi=1677124167063
https://www.simplejoy.com/chicken-kabobs/?ssp_iabi=1677124098232
https://www.playpartyplan.com/paleo-almond-chicken-recipe/?ssp_iabi=1677123545482
