Student Grocery List

pasta, lean ground beef... a variety of things can be done with both

booze, condoms

This was an expected response, I guess I should've clarified that I already have THOSE essentials.

Good point about the pasta - as you can see I'm totally clueless about this.

Cheap!

Bananas, Oatmeal, Mac and Cheese. Frozen fruits and veggies are good because they won't go bad. The biggest problem feeding yourself is that half the shit you buy you will have to throw out if you aren't careful.

Do you have roommates? Take turns cooking for each other. If you cook for yourself you end up with more food than you can eat. Plus it sucks to spend more time cooking a meal than it takes to eat if no one appreciates it.

Never EVER go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. You will come home with 5 different kinds of pasta, or whatever you are craving at the time. You'll eat one and the others will sit in the kitchen until you throw them out.

try eating whatever ritz does.

Ritz just went sub-13 and all you're interested in is your grocery list?

Ritz just went sub-13 and all you're interested in is your grocery list?

Thanks for the pointers! I gotta get used to eating bananas again... when I was younger I was really sick and I had to take this disgusting Banana-flavoured medicine... whenever I smell bananas I think back to those awful times/or get a migraine.

I'll be living with 4 other senior students, none of whom I actually know very well (failed residency plans forced me into getting a house with some strangers), so hopefully the shared food thing won't be an issue (that is, if I don't totally botch whatever it is that I'm cooking).

Once you get a little more comfortable with cooking, try making your own bread. Its not as hard as you think and a whole lot healthier and cheaper. there are some great and simple reciepies online.

Other items that are my staples:

Oatmeal, whole grain cereal, cream of rice-all cheap and nutritious-easy to prepare. I also make my own granola.

Bananas, melons, plums, apples, peaches, necterines, grapes, oranges, avacodos (my favorite) I try to eat seasonally so fruit is pretty good now. Fresh fruit is kind of expensive nowadays but worth it!

Peanut butter

Yogurt, cottage cheese

Beans- cheap easy to prepare

Save whatever money you can for fresh produce (vegetables,fruit)

Thats pretty much all I need. I don't eat red meat and hardly eat any poultry at all. but I do eat fish and your best bet for cheap and protien packed are sardines!!! Of course if able to avoid fresh fish and know how to cook it right then thats the better option.

I make my own hummus too which goes a long for me.

Get a Crock Pot. There is lots of cheap, delicious and healthy stuff that you can make in a crock pot basically just by throwing a bunch of canned stuff in and turning the thing on. You can make a gallon of soup or chili and then just throw it in the fridge and eat it over the course of the week.

I usually make a big pot of chili once every month or so. If you want to do that, just get some ground beef, 2 or 3 cans of diced tomatoes, a big can of kidney beans an onion, some chili powder, salt, and pepper. If you want to add some heat, get some hot peppers as well. I usually use a mix of jalapenos and habaneros. I like to get some cheddar cheese and sour cream to put on top as well. Chop up all the vegetables and throw the meet and vegetables in a pan and cook them. Throw everything together in your crock pot, turn it on, and forget about it for 8 hours or so. Very little actual work for a whole lot of food.

Once you get a little more comfortable with cooking, try making your own bread. Its not as hard as you think and a whole lot healthier and cheaper. there are some great and simple reciepies online.

Other items that are my staples:

Oatmeal, whole grain cereal, cream of rice-all cheap and nutritious-easy to prepare. I also make my own granola.

Bananas, melons, plums, apples, peaches, necterines, grapes, oranges, avacodos (my favorite) I try to eat seasonally so fruit is pretty good now. Fresh fruit is kind of expensive nowadays but worth it!

Peanut butter

Yogurt, cottage cheese

Beans- cheap easy to prepare

Save whatever money you can for fresh produce (vegetables,fruit)

Thats pretty much all I need. I don't eat red meat and hardly eat any poultry at all. but I do eat fish and your best bet for cheap and protien packed are sardines!!! Of course if able to avoid fresh fish and know how to cook it right then thats the better option.

I make my own hummus too which goes a long for me.

Whatever you do, don't try making your own bread. How much bread do you want to eat? It's not like you can make it by the slice. Get a few boxes of dry cereal like corn flakes or Chex. Get some cans of tuna fish. Try a couple cartons of Parmalot milk that you can keep in a cabinet for those times when you forget to buy fresh milk and really want a bowl of cereal. How about noodles? Maybe some frozen vegetables? If you're sharing a kitchen you might not have lots of frig/freezer space. A fresh piece of salmon is easy to cook wrapped in foil and put into a toaster over. Easy to cook, easy to clean up. Instant coffee, tea, creamer. If you go to a wholesale club you could pick up a case of those healthy soups that cost $3 in the grocery store for a little cheaper and they're good. Do you have all the condiments? Ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, salt, pepper, mayo. How about olive oil? Vinegar? Red wine vinegar and olive oil is good on a salad. Garlic salt and oregano if you like it on pizza. Powdered milk is good in coffee or tea. If you make it to drink or use on cereal it will be nasty unless you chill it overnight but it's handy in emergencies. Shop the sales, whatever is on sale is what's fresh and moving off the shelves. How about frozen chicken breast? Or buy it fresh on sale and freeze it? Maybe some Pilsbury biscuit dough? Break it up into individual biscuits and freeze them then use what you need. They may even have something like that in the freezer section. Check it out, it's better than a moldy loaf of bread every time you want a sandwich. Good luck!

Thanks for the responses guys! I took your advice and got moved in OK. Hopefully I'll be able to make an appropriate grocery list whenever I go out based on the info here.

It's been a big help, so thanks!

Whole chicken. Not unusual to find it at $.99/lb. Learn how to roast it (not difficult, but doing it right makes all the difference). You'd be amazed at how many chefs select an expertly roasted chicken as their "last supper." One four pound chicken will feed you for probably 2-3 meals, plus leftovers for a sandwich or two.

Squid's Easy Roast Chicken

Thaw, rinse and pat dry inside and out. Chicken should be close to room temp, or at least not still partly frozen.

Salt and pepper liberally inside and out.

Optional: stuff cavity with chopped onion, carrot, lemon

Roll up a large sheet of tinfoil and make a spiral out of it. Put the spiral on a broiling pan or whatever you have.

Put the chicken on the tinfoil spiral breast-side up.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. When oven is hot, stick the bird in and leave the door shut. Leave at 425 for 20 minutes then turn down to 350. Don't open the door. Cook 40-50 more minutes.

Chicken is done when juices run clear. Skin should be golden brown and crispy. Serve with mashed potatoes and a vegetable and you have a "date worthy" Sunday dinner.

It really wasn't until I moved off campus in grad school that I got really into cooking.

Here's the perfect pancake recipe:

1/2 cup: whole rolled oats

1.5 tbsp: whole grain flour

2 tbsp: fat free cottage cheese

2 tbsp: water

3-4 tbsp: egg white or egg substitute

1 packet splenda

optional:

1 tbsp: jelly (I like blueberry)

1/2 scoop: whey powder

1 tbsp: fat free milk (could just do an extra 1.5 tbsp of water)

lots of spinach (I like spinach pancakes, what can I say)

Just mix it together, and you have amazing pancake batter made from scratch.

Something I'm going to do tomorrow:

http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.php?isid=1336

just water and vegetables. Or, you could run hot water over a can of Chef Boyardee until it's warm enough to eat

Bananas

Bread

Peanut Butter

Jelly

Mac n Cheese

Margarine

Milk

Eggs

Frozen vegetables

Spaghetti and Sauce

Oatmeal

Pop-Tarts

Pretzels

Pancakes

Syrup

A little later in the fall, you might want to be buddy-buddy with any guys who are avid hunters. Offer to chip in on butcher fees to dress any deer that they bag. Very solid and inexpensive source of protein that can be prepared in a large number of ways.

I would also suggest that if you want to purchase meat that you go in with your roomies and get it at bulk rates through a butcher rather than a supermarket. You'll save a bunch.

Why bother? You can get a big rotisserie chicken for around $5.

YOu can make many meals with this..chicken salads, pasta and sauce, chicken sandwiches etc