Healthy Meals To Lose Weight For College Students

Eating healthy on a budget is hard for anyone, but specifically college students. In this post, we’re sharing our best healthy college meals and tips for budgeting and meal planning.

College is an interesting time.There are so many changes and opportunities to learn about yourself.Most college kids are very intimidated when it comes tocooking. You go from mom and dad making your meals, to 100% dorm food, to holy shit I have to feed myself AND feed myself on a budget.

Simple

Linley, Emily, and I were quite the anomalies because we’ve always had a major interest in cooking, even in high school (heck, middle school!).

Simple Meal Plan To Lose Weight

The three of us knew the basics of how to cook grains on the stove, meat in the oven, veggies in a pan, etc. and I remember allotting myself $40 a week for groceries and meal prepping every weekend before meal prep was a thing all over the internet.

Speaking of the internet, blogs weren’t even a thing yet and neither was Pinterest– two major resources for recipes and meal inspiration today. If you’re a college kid today, consider yourself lucky with the amazing technology and resources we have! Don’t know how to make chili? Google it! Out of brown rice? Buy it off Amazon and get it in 12 hours. NUTS.

I remember when my little brother went to college, he called me and asked me if I could teach him how to make a handful of meals that wouldn’t take him all day to make, were healthier options, and inexpensive. I loved spending time with him, teaching him, and sharing tips and tricks.

Keto Meal Prep

Good news, my brother cooks healthy meals all by himself now. I figured, why not share all the tips and tricks I taught him and used myself. If you’re just starting your healthy food budgeting journey, welcome! I hope this helps 🙂

I am so thankful that I learned how to budget at a young age (thanks Dad). I know it doesn’t always come naturally to some people, but the more you practice the easier it is!

Figure out how much you can afford to spend on groceries, make a budget, and try and stick to your budget. I would budget $40 a week for groceries knowing that I would meal prep meals for the whole week.

Food And Diet

Choose recipes that can share ingredients such as overnight oatmeal + oatmeal cookies OR chicken pad Thai + baked chicken so that I could buy things in bulk to save cash.

I would also budget out some cash-money for going out. I tried to save by not eating out a ton during college and I if I were to do it all over again, I would have gone out a bit more. I would have set more extra cash aside for more happy hours and dinners out with friends!

At FFF, we shop a couple of different places for a few different reasons. Some places have better prices like Trader Joes and Fresh Thyme. Where some places have better produce Lunds and Byerlysand Whole Foods.

A Super Budgetfriendly Bulking Diet For College Students Who Are Trying To Put On Muscle

We also try and make one trip a month to Costco to save money on our bulk items like oatmeal, flour, chocolate chips, paper towels, olive oil, etc. You have to figure out what stores are closest to you and what makes sense!

Sale prices are a lifesaver. Go to the grocery store with a semi-open mind. If a recipe calls for red bell peppers, but green peppers are on sale for 99 cents –> DO IT. It’s ok to swap out similar ingredients, especially if you can save a couple of bucks!

Bulk items can save you SO much when you’re on a budget. Try to buy all of your staple items in bulk, that way you will be able to spend your budgeted grocery money on specialty items more often. I made you a list below to give you an idea of my staple bulk items:

Diet For Teenage Girls: 9 Easy Tips And 2 Simple Diet Plans

I stretched my money out by making larger meals and bulk snacks at the beginning of the week. It’s no secret that I love to meal prep. If you’re new to meal prepping or just need a refresher, check out my Meal Prep Kitchen Essentials post for products and tips that will make the process easier and check out our Meal Prep page for all meal prep recipes.

P.s. Your slow cooker and Instant Pot will be your best friend. If you don’t have one, get them now. Below are some of my favorite meal-prep must-haves!

Here are a few things I suggest bringing with you to college. Plus, if you’re planning to cook in your dorm room the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker are an ovenless dream.

Expert Backed Foods To Eat To Lose Weight

Guys, eat whole, fresh, and healthy ingredients as much as you can. However, don’t miss out on fun happy hours, $5 burger nights, and fun events with friends. It is all about balance!

Learn how to freeze this recipe for later in our Make-Ahead Breakfast Recipes Freezer Meal Prep post! Plus, you’ll get 7 other freezer breakfast recipes, too!

There you have it. Most of the tips and tricks I used when I was roaming around the University of Minnesota. It took some hard work, as I was struggling with an eating disorder for a good chunk of my college career.

Healthy Student Budget Meal Plan

I am happy to say it all worked out and today I am so excited for you to start your budgeting journey. Below I am sharing some of my favorite budget-friendly recipes. Remember to choose recipes that sound good to YOU and have fun!

And now, here are all of our best healthy and easy college meals that are affordable and simple to make! Remember, don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone.

From Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos to Oatmeal, we love breakfast. PS: check out our favorite Freezer Make-Ahead Breakfast Recipes you can make before you go to college.

Healthy Eating For College Students” (part 1 Of 4)

One of the best things you can do as a student is to pack a lunch to-go. This will save you so much money in the long-run and make sure you’re making healthy choices all day long.

We have a great post with all of our favorite healthy lunch ideas HERE along with 21 bento box lunch ideas HERE.Check out some of our fav meal-prep lunches below!

You can never have enough healthy snacks packed in your bag as a college student. Check out some of our best on-the-go snack recipes you can make in bulk!

Healthy College Meals: 66 You Can Easily Make When You're Burned Out

Here are a bunch of dinner recipes for college students in apartments. I specify “apartment” because most of these need an oven or stove to create!

And finally, healthy dessert recipes for all of that late-night studying you’re about to do! These sweet treats are made with whole ingredients yet will satisfy your sweet tooth instantly.

Lee is the founder of Fit Foodie Finds and based in Minneapolis, MN. She started this website in 2010 as a way to share her love for real food and wellness. The internet has changed so much since then and so has Fit Foodie Finds. Today we're a female-run recipe website publishing hundreds of tried and true recipes developed and tested by our team.

Insanely

From Flab To Fab: 10 Weight Loss Tips For College Students

Subscribe Join the Squad! Join the Fit Foodie Squad and stay up to date on our latest recipes, fit foodie finds, and more! Join now!Calories in VS calories out. It is really as simple as that. If you are consuming more calories than you are burning each day, your body is holding on to those excess calories and turning them into fat.

The good news is, our bodies are created to burn calories. Someone who weighs 150lbs will burn approximately 46 calories an hour while sleeping. The human brain burns calories for “energy” (memory, information processing, calculating, etc) and even simple tasks like standing up and walking to another room are burning calories.

Food is the biggest factor in how much weight you lose… or gain. Junk food will derail your fitness gains faster than you can imagine. No amount of exercise can make up for 600 calories of pure sugar. On the other hand, eating the right foods will do more for your weight loss goals than 6 hours at the gym ever could.

My Best Tips For Healthy College Meal Prep

Sometimes the “experts” make it seem complicated by telling you to spend an entire day on meal prep, or giving you meals plans where every recipe has 15 plus ingredients.

Meal planning can be as basic as scribbling down your known favorite meals and snacks. Most of my favorite meals are the easiest to make. Unless you love cooking, spending time making complicated meals does not make you want to eat that food any more than if it were easy.

Tracking what you are eating can actually be an incredibly helpful tool. It does NOT have to be something you do forever – even tracking for a few days can be an eye-opening experience. As you keep a journal of what you are eating, you will notice where most of your calories are coming from. This way, you can see what is really worth it to you.