The Best Foods and Snacks For Students On A Budget

With the amount of food that I go through as a student in Pittsburgh, I decided that a review of what’s-good and what’s-not is in order, for my own reference in the future, and for anyone else who finds this useful Will update this whenever I have new food.

Boston Market Salisbury Steak

A great frozen dinner with nice tasting steak and a side of macaroni and cheese. Great when you just don’t feel like cooking, but want something substantial.

Rating: 4/5

Hot Pockets Philly Steak & Cheeese

Comes in a pack of 12 at Wal-Mart where I got them. I think the other supermarkets have these as well. They make fantastic snacks, but the crust seems a bit thick, and my pockets always seem to explode in the microwave oven.

Rating: 3/5

Hormels Compleats Turkey Dressing With Gravy

Urgh. These food packs from Hormel come in a little-sized portion that’s barely enough. The mashed potatoes inside don’t taste like mashed potatoes, but thankfully the turkey is okay if you’re not too picky.

Rating: 2/5

Archer Farms Potato Chips - Lemon Pepper

These potato chips from Archer Farms (Target’s home-brand of organic food) are pretty alright, but can’t really compare to Kettle-brand potato chips.

Rating: 3/5

Kraft Snackables Cheese Twists

I didn’t know Kraft made these until I decided to pick up a pack. They’re pretty good - cheesy, but not too cheesy, so if you’re into cheese, but hate it when the smell/taste gets a bit overwhelming, you might like these as handy snacks.

Rating: 3.5/5

Damascus Bakeries Whole Wheat Roll-ups

These are great alternatives to normal bread and pitas, as they’re huge and can hold much more contents. You can use them as pizza crust too!

Rating: 4/5

Fibre One Oats and Chocolate Chewy Bars

A great tasting granola bar with bits of chocolate to top it all off and make a fantastic snack.

Rating: 4/5

Prime Food Chicken Shaomai with Mushroom

With an odd texture and a taste completely different from what authentic siew mai should taste like, these are bad enough to throw out immediately, unless you’re an absolute lover of chicken and mushroom.

Rating: 2/5

Hillshire Farm Deli Select Club Sandwich Variety Pack

A staple of any starving student is the quintessential ham and cheese sandwich, and this variety pack gives you 3 different types of ham to fill your sandwich with.

Rating: 4/5

Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Bars - Fruit and Nut

I love these granola bars! If you’re tired of the chocolate bars around, then this will make a welcome change. Crunchy, and sweet, with a good mix of nuts, these bars make an excellent meal-on-the-go.

Rating: 4/5

Tyson Teriyaki Grills

Think of these as gigantic nuggets. The sauce is pretty good, but the meat seems processed. Not a bad taste overall.

Rating: 3.5/5

Weight Watchers Whole-wheat Pita Pocket Bread

I don’t like how normal pita fills you up so much, so I tried this brand, which promises a lower carb ratio in their pitas. The pitas are indeed thinner - so if you like the fullness of normal pitas, then this isn’t for you. Overall, I like them and think they’re great!

Rating: 4/5

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Budget, Fast, and Easy Meals #2

I’m going to show you a very simple way to get your daily serving of greens with just some broccoli, carrots and Parmesan cheese. All this stuff can be bought from your local grocery or supermarket, so it’s easy.

Just cut off all the unwanted part of the broccoli, and slice it into bite-sized chunks. Next shave the carrots and also slice them up into bite-sized chunks. Dump them all into a container (I used a metal container) and place this into a pot, half-filled with water. Now cover the pot, and leave it to boil for 5-8 minutes. Once that’s done, your meal of veggies is done! You can add Parmesan cheese now and if you like it a little more melted, just microwave the whole bowl for a minute. Done

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Budget, Fast, and Easy Meals #1

As a student studying abroad, budget meals that are easy and quick to prepare are a must to learn. Here’s one of my favourite meals that barely needs 5 minutes to whip up. You can buy and store the ingredients for several weeks in advance too. Basically it’s a chili cheese ham wrap, and here are the ingredients that I got from Target:

House-brand flour tortillas (pack of 10)

House-brand cooked ham

House-brand cheese singles

Canned chili (this is the stuff that they put on hotdogs)

Put it all together, and throw it into your microwave until it’s nice and hot. I had to put it for 1.5 minutes on my microwave, but it varies from microwave to microwave. The end result, just wrap up and eat:

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