BS: Top 6 Cheap Eats!

One thing that seems to stress a lot of people out, especially when they first start uni, is what to do about lunches. I for one, had this problem last year as I had a full eight hour uni day with no breaks in between! :/ Nutrition and having a balanced diet is something that is very important for me and so I worked at coming up with ways of eating on the go, and also coming up with cheap, easy and quick recipes! Even though I still live at home with my parents, I know a lot of people that live on res! Rent is really expensive and so you don't want to spend exuberant amounts of money on $25 30g Acai packets when you can get cheaper ingredients that provide you with the same nutrients! In this post, I will include 6 recipes; 2 for breakfast, 2 for lunch and then 2 for snacks! I hope you enjoy the post and that you can get something out of it!

Breakfast

Smoothie Bowl

This, by far, is my favourite recipe to make at home when I have a little extra time before uni! It is super filling and provides you with a lot of nutrients to get you through the day!

Ingredients: 1 banana, 1 cup of frozen mixed berries, 1/2 cup of frozen mango, honey, cinnamon, coconut milk

To make this, all you have to do is put everything in a blender and blend it all up - it is literally that easy! You can have this as a smoothie (bare in mind it will be thick due to the frozen fruit) or you can pour it in a bowl and top it with your favourite things! I like to top mine with a dairy-free organic yoghurt from the brand Black Swan - it is naturally sweet and so delicious - and a cranberry granola sprinkle I get from Coles for about $2.50!

Toasted Tomato and Hommus Sandwich

I kid you not, I am addicted to this one! It is so simple and easy - perfect for those days you cannot be bothered making a gourmet meal, and is so cheap!

Ingredients: 2 slices of the bread of your choice (multigrain is my personal fave!), a couple of slices of tomato, hommus, salt and pepper

I think by now, we all know how to make toast! If you do not have a toaster you could put the toast under the grill (a toaster is sooo much faster though, haha). Whilst your bread is toasting, cut up a couple of slices of tomato, season with salt and pepper and then set aside. For the hommus, you could either buy a dip from Coles or Woolworths (they are about $2.50) or you could try making your own - it is super easy! When your toast is ready, spread hommus on both pieces of bread and top with tomato. I love to eat mine as a sandwich but you could eat each piece individually!

Lunch 

 Cous cous salad

I seriously cannot talk about this recipe without drooling! When I was in year 12, I became really interested in seeing what I could concoct with whatever I had in the house - this is what I created! Instead of using cous cous (you can buy wholemeal or white cous cous for under $3.00 and it lasts forever!), you could use brown rice or even quinoa if you were in the position to spend a little more!

Ingredients: cous cous (pearl or the smaller ones are fine), canned beans, canned corn, carrot, celery, egg, bacon or ham, parmesan

This recipe takes a little longer to make due to having to cook the cous cous in a pot, but if you wanted an even quicker meal you could instead use the microwavable packets of rice or cous cous that cook for about 90 seconds! 

To make it, boil your eggs and cook your cous cous. Season your cous cous with salt. You could even add a little butter to make it creamier. Mix your remaining ingredients in with the cous cous and top with the boiled egg and a little bit of parmesan (or any cheese you like)!

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This has got to be one of the simplest recipes of all time! You cannot go wrong with the class grilled cheese sandwich (well, unless you are lactose intolerant :/)! 

Ingredients: 2, 3 or even 40 slices of your favourite bread, cheese, butter, pepper

Put the first piece of bread in the grill with thick slices of cheese. Let the cheese melt for a bit and season with pepper before adding the second piece. Make sure the outsides of the bread are coated in butter - this will make it go golden and crunchy! Remember to keep flipping your sandwich so that the pieces of bread and grilled evenly and the cheese melts! The best thing is seeing the cheese ooze out - zomg!

Snacks

Orange juice with lime

I was not a big juicer until a couple of weeks ago when work gave me heaps of shifts! I work in merchandising and so I work long hours with short breaks. Because of this I wanted to have something that I could eat have throughout the day as I worked. I went out and bought a massive bag of oranges for about $6 (there were about 30 oranges in it) and started juicing!

Ingredients: 8 navel oranges, 1 tablespoon of lime juice, stevia (or sugar) to sweeten

Because I have a Nutri Bullet, I first juiced my oranges my hand and then blended it all up in it with the addition of lime juice. This makes it so light and fluffy - it is unbelievable! It is also insanely delicious and so healthy for you! I brought this to uni last week in a huge bottle and could not stop talking about how good it was! haha

Fruit Salad

One thing I really like doing is buying different fruit when it is on sale! My go to snack is a fruit salad as it is so simple and you can pre-cut everything and leave it in the fridge in containers ahead of time!

Ingredients: oranges, strawberries, watermelon, pear, banana (any fruit really!) and your choice of toppings - you could crush almonds, use chia seeds; cinnamon is a must though! haha

Although, in stores packets of chia seeds can be upwards of $10, from the nut section you can get small amounts of chia seeds for a couple of dollars. A little goes a long way - especially with the omega 3, protein and other healthy nutrients that are packed in them!


I really hope this has helped you in your day to day life! When I first started uni, scheduled meals was something I really struggled with as everyday is different! Preparation the day before is key! Stay tuned for Wednesday where I will be uploading a Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Review!