Healthy Eating on a Budget

Meal prep

Setting aside a few hours on a Sunday can be a game changer for organising your food for the week.

This can mean making meals to reheat or if you prefer not to eat the same thing a few days in a row you can prep your ingredients and use them in several different dishes, this might involve marinating meat or peeling and chopping vegetables to have them ready to use.

Dishes like chilli, curry, stew and soup are great options for meal prep as they reheat well from being frozen. Freezing in small containers is useful as you can microwave the portions individually as needed rather than having a huge portion that takes hours to defrost.

See safe foods guide on storing food safely (opens in a new window)https://www.safefood.net/Food-Safety/Storing-food-safely

Buy in bulk

Pantry staples like pasta and rice are cheaper when bought in large quantities and are suitable to bulk buy as they have long expiry dates. Tinned beans and tomatoes are nutritious, affordable and super versatile ingredients.

Similarly, buying frozen fruit and vegetables can be more cost effective than buying fresh, with long expiry dates which avoid spoilage. There is a common misconception that frozen fruit and vegetables are less nutritious, but for the most part this is false and frozen options can be even preserve some nutrients better. This is because frozen produce is picked at its ripest whereas fresh fruit is picked at a less ripe and nutritionally dense stage so that it can ripen in transit. Including frozen vegetables in curries and soups is an easy way to increase your vegetable consumption.

Choose the right supermarkets

Large discount stores offer more affordable prices than some other grocery stores. Their own brand products can be particularly reasonable.

Some options of locations and bus routes for food shopping near UCD include:

• Stillorgan- E1, E2 bus routes.
• Dundrum- S6 bus route.
• The Merrion Shopping Centre- 47 bus route.
• Blackrock Shopping Centre- S6 bus route.

Commuter breakfasts and exam dinners

The UCD SU (opens in a new window)commuter breakfasts in conjunction with Healthy UCD provide free breakfasts on Wednesday mornings to those who have long commutes to college.

Healthy UCD partner with UCD SU to provide (opens in a new window)dinners for students during exam time. More on this closer to exams.