My Goals for this Blog

        College is expensive. Between the over priced books you need for class, tuition, room and board, there is little money for anything, let alone for food. The little money we do have for food makes it hard to make healthy choices. It's not fair that over processed foods are the cheapest and therefore a staple in most college students diets. College dining plans are nice but again the healthy options are hard to come by. It's easy to think that since we aren't with our parents anymore that means we can eat junk all the time. What we don't realize is that the "Freshman 15" is very real. So what are we supposed to do if we want to maintain or lose weight while at school? 

   That is what I would like to explore this year. Keeping in mind I live in on- campus apartments, which have a full kitchen available to me. I will also have a meal plan that will supplement some of my meals. I went for a single declining balance meal plan, which gives me flexibility where "use it, or lose it" weekly does not apply. The stores I have available are Walmart (with a full supermarket), Weis, and Giant. None of these stores are convenient. Walmart has a bus during the week, Weis is about a 2 mile walk downhill and a very steep walk uphill to get back to my apartment, and Giant requires a car to get to. 

For the first few weeks of the semester I will be compiling a list of whole foods, their serving size and calories, their price, and price per serving. This gives me an idea of what my budget needs to be. It also will show me where the better prices for some foods will be. It is important to wait until you are local to create your budget since prices may be different than your home town. The goal is to get most of the foods we eat for the outside edges of the store and less from the inner aisles. Everytime I go shopping, my goal is to post: prices, and what I bought. During the week I will post pictures, recipes and snack ideas to keep track of what I have ate (the good ideas and the bad ideas). This is a learning experience for me so whatever input anyone can share with me will be helpful. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.