What's the best way to stay away from fast food when your a college student?

[Mfit]

Being a college student is tough when your always on the go. I want to reduce the amount of times I eat out because not only does it hurt my pocket, but it also hurts my body. So what is the best way to save money and eat well balanced and healthy meals?

[Neillenszqui]

i know its tough, for me ive started to cook all my meals i plan everything in advance.  my advice to you would be to just be prepared, if youre eating in the school cafeteria look around and know where the best/healtiest food options are or you can cook your meals like me.  theres nothing wrong with eating similar meals daily, hell there have been days ive had grilled chicken and veggies 4 times in a day.  invest in your health and it will pay for itself.

[Cybertekkno]

I'm not in college anymore, but I work full time and it's the same situation for me.  What I do is pre-plan meals.  On the weekends I make oatmeal, cream of wheat or hardboil a week's worth of eggs. I diving them up into daily servings and freeze the hot cereals for breakfasts, and keep the boiled eggs in their shells in the fridge for breakfasts and or for adding to salads.  I also always make extras for dinner, so the extra portions can be divided up, packaged, labeled and frozen for the next week's lunches.  On the weekends, I also love to make large portions of soups (split pea, lentil, 15-bean soup, etc) in one or two crock pots.  Once the soups finish cooking in the crock pot, it can be divided up into dinner and lunch portions and then be stored in the freezer.  Also, rice dishes also freeze well.  I hope some of these suggestions will help you...

[LCHFmom]

I tend to prepare several meals for the week on a Sunday afternoon / evening.   If you are in college, and on the go - may be a good option for you to cook meals and also make homemade "snacks" ( granola/bars, trail mix, etc) so you have items on hand even if you are not home. 

[nat9966]

I agree. The primary advantage of eating fast food is the convenience. You have to make other options equally as convenient as going to a fast food restaurant.

[Yelena36]

My daughter is a celiac, so eating fast food is never an option for us, even if we are in a rush.  Instead of heading to the drive thru, hit your local grocery store. Get a piece of  fruit, a small wedge of cheese, some bread (or gluten free crackers in our daughter's case) and a carton yogurt and you have a great healthy  on the go meal that requires no cooking. For a family of 4, we can eat this way for about $10 a stop. We keep a bin of plasticware and napkins in the car. 

[Vicki-Z]

Not knowing what your living situation is I don't know if this would work for you but my son is a student and lives with a like minded roommate and this fall they joined Emeals.com. They are vegetarian and very concious of their snacking and sweets intake. Anyway, they just have a pact that every Sunday they pull the menu off the website, buy only what's on the list and they've worked out a schedule for who cooks on what nights. They have the same things for breakfast every morning and have easy lunches that they can take with them. If they happen to eat out it's not that big a deal cause they've done 90% of their eating from their own kitchen. Emeals has so many options as far as how many meals per week you want to cook and what type of meals etc. The trick is to use what you buy and stick to it. The vegetarian plan they are on gives them a main dish and a side dish each night. They eat it, it's gone and they are ready for the next night.  The other night he told me they've been doing this since mid August and have not had a repeat meal in all that time and there was only one meal that they didn't like at all. I can't hardly believe this is the kid who I couldn't get to eat half the stuff I cooked when he lived at home.

[smhermione]

In college and now I tend to have Lean Cuisines on hand in the freezer so that I have a meal I can have quickly and I know won't break the bank calorie-wise.  I try to have my lean cuisine for lunch and cook more for dinner.