The Red and Black

Issue date: 8/9/07 Section: Variety

Media Credit: TYLER GOFORTH Ramen noodles and Easy Mac are two popular items among University students due to their ease of preparation and inexpensive nature. [Click to enlarge]

If you're not on the meal plan, there is no shame in yearning for a stale, half-eaten Moon Pie next to your apartment door.

Or there is, I'm lying and you're too hungry to care. Regardless, your food budget may need some tweaking. Consider the following:

When you're able to cook without setting fire to the complex, think about buying pastas, chicken broth and rice in bulk.

Additionally, potato slices work great either with a skillet or steamed in a toaster oven, setting you up with protein and carbohydrates.

If you crave meat and less starch, frozen beef patties, ground turkey and sausage packs can be purchased on the cheap, though with the downside of additional fat.

For those with nothing but a microwave and a prayer, there's the ubiquitous Ramen supplemented with frozen vegetables to offset the nutritional value of cardboard.

Mac and Cheese, 99¢ frozen foods and bananas are also worth considering. Keep to water and milk for cooking and drinking, and lay off of the soda cartons.

If you're dying for "real" cooking, dorms and apartments often harbor community kitchens.

Skimping at breakfast can starve you in the afternoon, so try barreling through your fellow classmates packed with leftovers from the last night.

Or think about eggs and oatmeal - both cost-effective and reasonably healthy, at least in comparison to the week-old nachos and Natty Ice in your mini-fridge. If you're going to go with cereal, buy in bulk and go generic - the taste is largely the same. And if you're always on the run, pop a multivitamin.

A majority of students shell out for junk that's just not cost-effective, such as gourmet, brand-name purchases.

Alcohol kills the budget, whether by the case or by the bar, but looking out for specials can help pad the wallet.

Stuffing your face with french fries only works for so long, so try to split the cost between friends or cut the fast food altogether.

Additionally, think twice about feeding a dollar every day to the vending machine - five dollars buys you sandwiches for a few days.

Finally, think about parties, clubs and events serving free food and drinks.

Don't go hoarding, though: when the "Cult of Eternal Damnation and Other Happy Fun Times" requests your membership, you'll appreciate a mouth able to mumble the word "no" without thirteen pizza boxes weighing down your timely escape.

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