A couple of weeks ago, one of my fellow bloggers asked me to write about eating healthy on a college budget. While eating healthy might seem difficult to do on a college student’s income, many of my adult (employed) clients also complain that it is too expensive to eat healthy. However, I am here to share a few tips on eating healthy on a limited budget.

Cut Back on Protein (Meat Sources)

A common misconception many Americans hold is the amount of protein one needs. Most of us get way more protein in our diets than is required. In addition, many think the best source of protein is animal protein. If you take a look at your grocery bill, you might find that protein is the most expensive. Therefore, a first step would be to decrease the portion sizes of animal protein in your diet and increase calories from healthy grains such as brown rice or oats. In addition, choosing more “meatless” sources of protein like beans, nuts or soy can be an excellent way to cut costs as well as get more fiber and less saturated fat in your diet.

If you have a freezer, buying protein in bulk, such as the large bags of chicken-breast or turkey-breast cutlets can save you money. You can buy a bag of chicken breasts, which should feed you for at least a month, at Sam’s Club for for less than $10 a bag.

Canned tuna is another lean, healthy source of protein. If you are concerned about the mercury content in tuna fish, choose “light” tuna over “white” or albacore tuna. Light tuna comes from a smaller tuna fish, and therefore contains less mercury and is just as nutritious.

Peanut butter is another great source of inexpensive protein. Don’t worry about buying reduced-fat peanut butter. It typically is more expensive, and the type of fat in peanut butter is heart-healthy. Reduced-fat peanut butter tends to contain more sugar as well.

Get Grainy

If your bread products tend to mold fast, store them in your freezer to make them last longer. In addition, buy grains that can be more versatile than bread. For example, tortillas can be used to wrap veggie pizza ingredients, tuna fish salad, egg salad, beans and cheese, etc. I didn’t do my research to see if crockpots or slow cookers are an “allowed” electronic device in the residence halls…but the crockpot can be a great cooking tool for anyone. Toss together brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, green chilies, broth-based soup and spices and voila…with a couple of 50-cent canned goods, you’ve created a meal for a week.

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies

I can’t write a blog without mentioning my two favorite food groups! When it comes to purchasing fruits, it is usually cheaper to buy them in bulk bags if possible. If you don’t feel you can eat them in a timely manner, share the fruit with other dorm friends and then you can take turns purchasing them. When it comes to purchasing vegetables, buy the frozen bags of veggies. Sometimes you can find them on sale for less than $1 per bag, and frozen veggies are just as nutritious. Pop them into your crockpot of soup and increase your veggies for the day.

On Sale Snacks

Healthy snacks such as string cheese, yogurt or granola bars are sometimes pretty expensive. However, it is pretty common to find at least one brand of each of these types of snacks on sale at any given time. In particular, look for the generic brands. Generic brands are just as nutritious as name-brand items. Compare the cost per unit to get an idea of savings between products.

Make a Request from Home…

One thing I never forgot to do in college was to raid my parents’ freezer or pantry for canned goods or frozen items that would last until they reached my dorm or apartment. A great tip I read last week was to have mom bake her meatloaf or meat “ball” type of casserole in a muffin tin. This makes it easy to use a little at a time for marinara sauce, form into a hamburger patty or throw into a casserole dish with some rice.

There are many more tips on the Web, but I hope at least one of my tips will find its way to your belly!