Eating healthily can be a struggle for students. It’s much easier to stop off at the chipper on the way home than to cook yourself a balanced meal after a hard day listening to lecturers talk.
However, there’s a middle ground between a diet of sausage rolls and pizza and blowing your weekly shopping money on expensive ‘super-foods’. No one is asking students to stock up on goji berries and caviar, but a bit of broccoli and a few carrots wouldn’t go amiss.
An easy way to have a balanced diet is to plan ahead. A quick list on a Sunday will mean you know exactly what you are eating during the week so you will save time, stress and money while doing your weekly shop. Saving a tenner might not seem like a lot, but it will buy your naggin for your night out.
Shocker of the week: Tap water will not kill you. No matter what your Mammy told you, drinking water in Dublin will not give you worms. Drinking the au naturale stuff will not only save your money and the environment, but its always there meaning there is absolutely no excuse not to drink enough of the wet stuff.
Buying seasonal fruit and vegetables is key in saving money and getting the most out of your food. Seasonal fruit and veg is cheaper as there’s so much of it and tastier as it isn’t jet-lagged from being shipped halfway around the world. Leeks, lettuce, orange, peas and strawberries are in season right now just in case you want to invest in some after reading this inspiring article.
Packed lunches don’t exactly get the best rep as being a cool thing to carry around, but a brown paper bag lunch has come back in vogue recently. People just don’t have the money, even if we like to think we are loaded. It doesn’t have to be soggy ham and cheese sambos; a pasta salad or even DIY bagels are just as cheap and easy. If a packed lunch is too much stress and organisation for you, contrary to popular belief the college restaurants don’t just do chips and curry sauce. The nursing building always has something appetizing and healthy and the restaurant even has a salad bar.
Life doesn’t have to revolve around justeat.ie but once in awhile its no harm, everyone deserves a treat. But when the dominoes man knows your name and favourite toppings it might be time to try something a bit healthier. Bon appetite.
Claudia Gocoul
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