It’s two in the afternoon, and after four hours of classes I have only one thing on my mind.
Food.
Luckily for me, I’ve come prepared with my daily lunch of a granola bar.
My friend offers to share some of her lunch, a single bag of chips.
Across the classroom someone pulls out a bruised banana.
Finding lunch on campus is difficult with a heavy course load. At times it may seem easier to just buy food from a nearby restaurant. However, eating out every day isn’t the healthiest option for us or our wallets. Packing a lunch not only ensures that you’ll eat lunch that day, but you’ll also have something nutritious and delicious (that won’t hurt your budget).
The hardest part about this process is the time commitment! But with these tips and tricks you’ll wonder why you never did this earlier!
Part One: The Basics
Before you start pinning every recipe on Pinterest, we have to cover the basics!
Firstly, think about your eating habits. Do you need a lot of little snacks throughout the day, or just one big meal? If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably devour your lunch within the first couple of hours of being on campus. I always need another snack to tide me over before I can go home. Similarly depending on how long you’ll be on campus you’ll need a storage container that can keep the food fresh.
I recommend a Bento Box with removable compartments! This way you can fit whatever amount of food you’ll need for the day. And you can buy ultra-thin ice packs separately depending on whether or not you’ll need them
Part Two: The Perfect Planning
I’m not gonna lie, the prospect of packing a lunch everyday seems impossible! And it might be, we all have busy schedules and no one expects you to make a quality meal for the next day when you come back from the library at eleven PM.
To make this routine even more stress free, consider planning a week ahead. On Sundays you can plan what you want to prepare for every day that week. This will cut down on the awkward “what do I want to eat” guessing game. Not only will this be beneficial to packing your lunch, it can also get rid of grocery shopping stress by knowing exactly what you need to buy.
Part Three: Pinterest Perfect Menu
Possibly the best part of packing your own lunch is the seemingly endless recipes you can find on Pinterest. Just pick your favorite one and get to cooking!
While it may seem like a lot of work to pack your lunch, consider all the benefits. Control over what goes into your meals, potential nutritious food, low-cost low stress, food.