As a student, you are often busy with academic and social issues. So there is no wonder that you haven’t got enough time for cooking and eating lunch in the middle of a busy day. The pizza here, take-out Chinese food there, and you notice how your unplanned lunches drain out your student budget too quickly.

So that till the end of the month you are fed up with ramen noodles you only can afford to buy. This all will have a significant negative impact on your physical and emotional health. Check out some handful tips to organize your lunches properly and eat healthily on a student budget.

Plan Your Meals

The primary step is to organize your lunchtime properly. This means you need to plan your meals. You can opt for conservative means or get the use of modern apps. The same way as your smartphone helps you with your homework together with Pro-papers, it can assist you with programs for meal planning. You can get ready eating schedules or adapt them for your needs. Here are some ideas to take into account:

• Use seasonal products;
• Exploit products you like and that can be used for cooking different dishes;
• Choose apps with simple recipes suggested;
• Select apps that will generate shopping lists for you automatically;
• Set notifications and memos not to skip preparation or eating time.

If you organize a meal plan properly, it will help you to reduce the waste of time, products, and health. Select appropriate applications and turn your lunchtime into an efficient one.

Go Shopping Wisely

Shopping for food is another point that is to be organized wisely so that you can benefit from your lunchtime with no hurdles. Consider the following tips to make your shopping sessions more efficient:

• Always have a shopping list to reduce impulsive buying;
• Mind the shopping list from your meal planner;
• Never go shopping hungry or you will buy more than you need;
• Compare prices in different supermarkets;
• Remember that you don’t need to buy every bargain.

Every time you are ready to go shopping for food for your student menu, bear in mind that you have to buy only the things you really need and stick to your limits and healthy eating habits.

Cook More

Students often lack time to cook lunch or any other meal at home, so they end up ordering take-out or eating junk street food. This results in serious harm both to the student’s budget and health. Still, if you manage to organize your preparation time properly, you will find it easy and pleasant to cook at home or at the dorms and devour homemade lunch.

The first thing is to cook in bigger portions even if you are going to eat on your own. This way you will have a spare portion for the next day saving time and products. Just store it in the fridge or freezer and preheat it before mealtime. This way a tasty homemade dinner will turn into a ready-made lunch for the next day.

Besides, you can add cooking Saturdays or Sundays to your routine. Your task will be to spend a good part of your weekend in the kitchen but you will have prep-meals for the whole week. Cook one-pot dishes, bake vegetables, prepare wraps, place everything in good-quality containers and freeze your ready-to-heat lunches with ease and pleasure. Such preparations will deprive you of unnecessary hassle during the busy week and reduce waste on quick take-out or cafe lunches.

Get Armed with Snacks and Take-Outs

Lunchtime is the most tempting one for your unnecessary waste on food. Your buddies invite you to eat at the cafe nearby, street food next to your university smells so good, a friend is ordering a take-out to eat outdoors between the lectures and proposes you to join. Your temptation will have no chance to be implemented if you get armed with snacks and homemade take-outs.

If you know that you are going to eat lunch not at home or at the dorms, get prepared in advance. Throw in your bag a container with some prep-meals from your cooking weekends so that you can heat it up either in students’ canteen or in any cafe nearby.

If you don’t have such a possibility, it is better to get armed with ready-made snacks. Prepare packages with dried fruits and nuts, get a granola and yogurt jar, make a sandwich with dinner leftovers in the morning or in the evening beforehand, add an apple or banana and a water bottle. This way you will have no need to order anything in a cafe or street stalls. Your delicious and healthy lunch snack will wait for its time in your bag.

Having a healthy lunch on a student budget is possible. Just put some effort into selecting simple but tasty recipes, shop wisely, and get prepared in advance, so that you can stay full and energized during a busy week with no hurdles.