A cheap, accessible meal plan for college students

By Emily Branson / Photo Editor

For college students everywhere, food is one of the most important, but often most overlooked, aspect of their life. Students are perpetually hungry, but rarely have the time or money to make themselves a home-cooked meal every night.

They resort to unhealthy fast food or microwaved meals that don’t fill them up. In order to provide a middle ground to this issue, we set out on a $10 budget to get as much sustainable food that we could.

While it doesn’t seem like the ideal place to shop, our journey took us to Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree is known for selling everything for $1. That being said, we were able to purchase nine items for a total of $9.86. The items we purchased are things that are convenient to cook, appetizing to college students, and many were somewhat nutritious. Those items included:

• One can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup
• One package of Knorr Cheddar & Broccoli Rice
• One liter of Mountain Dew
• One M&M’s ice cream sandwich
• One box of Eggo waffles
• One box of Welch’s fruit snacks
• One box of pizza rolls
• One box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
• One box of Marshmallow Mateys cereal

With all of these items, a college student could easily make breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with possible snacks, drinks, and a dessert. This low-budget shopping experience shows just what a little bit of money can do, and certainly proves to be a cheaper alternative than eating at fast food restaurants regularly.

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