Fresh Drinks to Refresh You

Summer is a killer for my convenience food budget – by this I mean that when I’m outside and sweating in the too heat, or in my car with NO AC… the ads for ice cappuccino, frozen drinks and the like are very appealing.  And since many drive-through outlets have sales, I can most often get a drink for about $2.00 + tax.  However…

This does add up.  In summer, my desire for these drinks is at least daily.  If I’m at home, I’m 3 minutes away from the Canadian Icon of coffees, and if out in my car or on my bike, the main road I live on has at least 5 places I can stop at between home and my work.    Temptations are everywhere!

Because I am frugal (and honestly, a bit lazy – why leave my sunshine at home and my bikini to get a cold drink?), I have worked in my kitchen to make my own versions of frozen drinks at a fraction of the cost, and no mystery ingredients.  Here are a few.

Ice Capp:

- about 1 cup of cold coffee (left over from the last pot and refrigerated)

- about ¾ cup of milk (we use skim or 1%)

- about 2 Tbsp granulated sugar, powered sugar or chocolate syrup.

- 4 ice cubes

- BulletTM or extra strong blender

I found that my BulletTM doesn’t break ice cubes as easily as I expected so it’s better if I break the ice cubes in chunks first.  To do this, I put the ice cubes in a plastic bag, place the sealed bag on a cutting board, and then hit it with either the edge of a can, the handle of a knife, or a hammer.

After that, put all the ingredients in the blender and blend away.  I like to drink mine in a thermal mug (like the one I use for tea in winter) with a straw coming out through the drinking hole of the lid.  Cheers!!

If you are craving a healthier and less caffeinated drink, a fruit smoothie is probably a better option.  However, know that commercial fruit smoothie has a lot of added sugar to give it the strong taste it shows.  But here we can make it a tad healthier.

Fruit smoothie:

- about 1.5 cups soft fruit in chunks (apples are not good; almost everything else works)

- about 0.5 (1/2) cup orange juice (I find orange juice has a stronger taste than OJ)

- ½ cup (or an individual container) of flavoured yogurts (so that it’s sweetened).

- 4 ice cubes (optional)

- BulletTM or extra strong blender

Read above for advice about ice cubes.  The ice cubes here are optional and depend in part on how thick your smoothie is without the ice and how thick you like it.  Basically, put all ingredients together EXCEPT the ice.  Blend away and check for consistency.  Add ice if needed and blend again.

Cin-cin!

Using Leftover Food

Left-over foods that you would normally throw out are like free food if you can re-purpose them.  Here are two examples from my own kitchen.

Broccoli Stem Soup

I don’t really like eating the stems of the broccoli; when I cook broccoli, I just like to eat the smaller ‘twigs’ and the florets of the broccoli. The large ‘trunks’ of the broccoli can be tough.  However, I found a way to use them that is delicious: broccoli stem soup. 

First, ‘peel’ the broccoli stems to remove the tough outer skin.  Chop the peeled stems in small pieces.  Heat up approximately 3-4 cups of water in a pot.  Before it starts boiling, add a pouch or cube of chicken or vegetable broth concentrate. Add the broccoli pieces and let simmer until the broccoli is soft.  Take the pot off the heat and, using a stick blender, puree the broccoli and broth together.  Put back on the heat and add roughly 1-1.5 cup grated cheddar cheese (any kind you like; you could probably use Cheez Whiz if you wanted).  Let the cheese melt, stir well, taste and adjust seasoning (salt and pepper to taste).  Et voilà, great homemade soup!!

Crumb Muffins

This is a great recipe that uses cereal, cracker and cookie crumbs, or any combination of these.  Whenever you have a few bits of cereal at the bottom of the box or bag (you know when the cereal becomes like a ‘powder’ at the end) or cookie or cracker crumbs, pour them inside a plastic jar or container and seal it.  When all the crumbs together reach 1 cup, you are ready to make muffins.  Do NOT use bread crumbs, cake crumbs, or anything soft or moist crumbs (I tried, it doesn’t work).

First, soak the 1 cup of crumbs in 1 cup of milk, until the crumbs are soft and have absorbed the greater part of the milk (15 + min; you can do this in the fridge and leave for the day).  Add 1 cup of flour, ¼- ½ cup of sugar ( ¼ if using cereal or cookies; ½ if mostly crackers), 1 egg, ¼ cup vegetable oil, and 2 tsp baking powder.  Now, add some ‘bits’: ½ cup chocolate chips, ½ cup raisins, or ½ cup of nuts.  Also add a flavour: 1 tsp vanilla or ½ tsp cinnamon, or 1 tbsp coffee syrup.  Grease a 12-cup muffin mold (or use paper cups in the muffin pan) and fill to 2/3 each muffin holder.  Bake at 375⁰F for 20-25 min.  Remove from the oven and let cool 10 min before removing from the muffin pan.  Enjoy!  These can be very healthy if you use healthy cereal crumbs for your base and they freeze well.

Don’t Buy anything Beyond the Minimum – The STRICT Minimum!

Saving money is easier when you don’t buy anything… Of course this is almost impossible because you’ll need at least a pencil and paper, some food, shelter, etc.  But what is the strict minimum?

A place on which to sleep.  It does NOT need to be a bed, unless you already own one that you can easily (cheaply) move to your university home.  Think outside the box!  If you sleep well when you go camping, perhaps a camping mat with some linens on top would work well for you; I sleep extremely well on my couch and if it were easier to move that, I’d take it as my ‘bed’; how about a mattress on the floor? an inflatable mattress? a futon? a hide-a-bed? a twin or double bed may be the conventional place to sleep, but it’s not the only one there is.  A sleeping bag as bedding works IF you can wash it once a while, especially after an illness.  If you can’t easily wash and dry it, a sleeping bag liner may work, or buy two sheets (one for under your body and one on top) and use the sleeping bag as a comforter.

A place to hold your clothes.  This does not mean you need a dresser or a closet (not all houses have closets – older ones often do not.  I know a foreign student on a budget who used free cardboard boxes in her room to store her clothing.  It didn’t look very attractive, but it worked and she did not need to try selling furniture when she moved back home.  Try boxes; plastic bins (transparent ones are practical); putting ALL your clothes in your closet, if you have one (my nephew does this – he has some cubbies for socks and underwear); hooks on the wall for some clothes (coats, jackets, towels, jeans, etc.).

A place to hold your other ‘stuff’.  What other stuff? school stuff and toiletries.  Of course, the same arrangement as your clothes can be used: cardboard boxes, bins, etc.  As well, books can be placed neatly in a pile on the floor, pens and pencils can be stored in smaller empty boxes (think of cracker or tissue boxes) or empty cans (or frozen juice concentrate) or mugs.

A place to study.  My daughter and niece both like to study in their bed; the spread out their books, their laptop and their notes around themselves.  Neither of them needs a desk!  I work better with a flat surface in front of me and I don’t like having my computer on my lap unless I’m writing from memory only – and not with a book next to me.  However, the kitchen table works for me, as well as my coffee table – a desk is NOT a requirement.  If you want a flat surface, look for a table, a shelf you can mount on a wall, or one you can anchor in a corner. 

The Internet. Nowadays, it’s difficult to pursue a degree without the use of the Internet.  However, having access to the internet does NOT mean that you need it where you live.  The school where you study most likely has wifi available to all students registered with them.  This means that as long as you are on campus, you have free internet.  If you are on a budget, plan on working in the library instead of at home.  As well, many small restaurants have free wifi: McDonald’s, Tim Horton’s, etc.  For the price of a coffee, you can use the internet after the library has closed.  Assuming that you only need to work very late once or twice a month (with internet access – you can do lots of studying without it!), that’s about $3/month, much cheaper than paying for home internet.

Textbooks.  Yes, you need access to textbooks – but access does not mean you need to own the textbooks!  Many schools have most textbooks on reserve at the library or older editions (perfectly good for studying) on their shelves.  Textbooks are often $100+ each, so the inconvenience of going to the library to study may well be worth $500 per semester (5 courses).  Other options for textbooks: buy a used one – even a previous edition if the professor okays it; buy it with a friend and alternate who takes it home at night (or alternate with a housemate taking the same course – if you are in residence, this is even easier!). You can now rent textbooks (google it online) or find some textbooks online.  If you have a similar textbook (same topic), as the professor if it’s ok to study from it instead of the recommended textbook.  I have once used a free copy of the previous edition of the required textbook and simply made photocopies of the assigned problem set (that was the main difference between the different editions).

Food.  Of course you need food – many of my other articles are about finding cheap food so I won’t dwell on this now.

Shelter.  Obviously you cannot live in the streets while going to school (or at any moment in your life!); it’s not safe and is very unhealthy.  However, if you cannot live at home or with a relative, having your own bedroom in a student house or living in residence are not your only options.  Look for a shared room – if students can manage in a shared room in residence, surely that can be done in a house or an apartment.  Look for a room at someone’s house (not a student house); since you are not sharing equally the entire cost of the house, the rent is often cheaper (you may not have access to much more than the kitchen, the bathroom and your room, not the entire house).  Think of unusual spaces in houses: can you partition the living room and use part of it for a discounted rate? Can you use a winterized porch in someone’s house (if there is another outside door) or part of an unused basement? If you have access to an RV, would the rent in an RV park be cheaper than renting a room somewhere (assuming you live in a somewhat sunny area – Vancouver?)? You can also housesit for a family who is going out of town for a while, but unless you have a stream of housesitting jobs, this won’t work even for a semester.  However, it may for a summer semester, or it can help you offset your travelling costs for a few weeks.  If you are doing a co-op program and need to move to another city to work, look for the alternate shelter as well, AND try to sublet your room while you are gone from campus.

Clothes.  You obviously cannot attend classes naked, but you did not start the school year naked either.  Use your old clothes and only purchase items that are needed because without them you 1. are too cold (such as winter boots) or 2. you cannot get part-time employment.  I will write about getting dressed for a job interview at the end of your degree in another article.  If you need clothes to keep you warm, ask around first – most people I know own extra hats, mittens, even winter coats that they do not wear often or at all.  Winter coats are expensive items so try to get one for free if possible (it’s harder with boots because of the different sizes).  Unless you are down to fewer than 5-6 pairs of socks (same for undies), you don’t need to purchase them.  Three pairs of jeans and 4-5 tops should work for most of the school year.  You are not in school to be a fashion plate but to study.

A phone.  Unless you live at home and can use the home phone, you’ll need a phone to communicate with classmates and family.  Get the cheapest plan, even if you can only text.  It’s often enough.  You can use Skype on your computer, for free, for phone calls.

A computer.  Unless you are learning skills that are very hands-on, like woodworking, most likely you will be required to have full access to a computer.  If you can use the family computer at home, perfect!  However, most people need a laptop computer to work on.  Find a good deal well before you start university (otherwise you may be rushed to buy one and will end up buying something more expensive).  Also, unless you need specific software for your course (engineering studies often require these), a text editing software, slide show, spreadsheet and internet browsing may be all you need.  Don’t go overboard with the fastest PC around and consider using your older sister’s discard.

Transportation to school.  If you live close to campus, walking will be fine; as well, many university fees include a bus-pass so you should be able to commute for free.  If you are too far to walk and the bus isn’t free, consider a cheap bicycle (or a hand-me-down one); once purchased, they are free to use.  Make sure to dress appropriately when it’s cold (ski goggles keep me from crying when the wind is strong).  If you have the choice between a long commute and moving to campus (or close to), look at the costs: I choose to live at home, in the far suburbs of Montreal when I attended McGill, because a used car was much cheaper than renting downtown Montreal, and even if I had some ‘wasted’ time in my commute, I did not need to work part-time during the school year because I lived at home and ate there too (my parents did not charge me rent nor food money).  I made enough money during the summer to cover all my costs.  If you are living away from home to attend school, travelling back home once or twice a year is almost a necessity (I say ‘almost’ because you can survive without in most cases); minimize the cost by sharing a car ride with someone else, or flying when the prices are low (and not checking luggage).  Transportation can be very expensive and you need to add this to your budget BEFORE moving far away from home to study.  Another option is to limit drastically your visits home; international graduate students, on a very low income, often do not go come every year.

Communication with family.  It’s very depressing, literally, not to have any contact with your family if you do not live at home (if you live at home, I’m assuming you speak to them for free!).  A cell phone is ok, but plans are not cheap.  Free ways to chat are great: use Skype or Facebook messenger, or use your email.  Pen and paper letters are fantastic too – when I lived in Poland for 18 months, my mom and I wrote letters to each other, 2-3 per month.  I still have copies of them and enjoy re-reading them.  A letter within Canada costs less than a dollar to mail.

We sometimes have to rethink what the bare essentials are – and start there.  Start from the ground up to decide what to spend money on, not from what you enjoy living at home and trying to cut down.

Save $5 from Your Food Budget

Food is one category of spending where you have some wiggle room – tuition fees are fixed, and so is rent (once you sign onto a lease).  However food is pretty flexible: eat at home and spend little or eat out and spend lots.

For people with very tight budgets, one concern is how to buy multiple of on-sale items if there is only enough money for this week’s groceries.  The trick is to spend $5 less than your weekly budget (so if your weekly budget is $50, only spend $45); this extra $5 is to be used when there is a great sale of something that 1. you use and 2. you can store and won’t go bad quickly.  For example, if you eat cereal for breakfast most mornings, buy a box or two when the type you like goes on sale, whether you have some left or not; chances are they won’t be on sale when you NEED some.  The same goes for most of your ‘staples’: cereal, rice, oatmeal, cans (soup, tuna, spaghetti sauce, fruit), salsa, pasta, granola bars, cake mixes, cookies, shampoo and toothpaste, toilet paper, tissues and other bathroom products, women’s sanitary products, etc.   Most produce are fantastic buys when they are low-prices, but you cannot store too much of them because they will not keep.  Meats can be purchased when on sale and frozen, but you need to eat them within 6 months or so, so buying 30 lbs of ground beef and completely filling up the freezer is typically not a good option.

Without that extra $5 saved for on-sale items, it’s difficult to take advantage of the sales because you can only buy for the week.  This happens often to people on a very tight budget: they cannot take advantage of sales because then it means not eating vegetables in order to stock pile toilet paper.

In my family, there are some food items we ALWAYS buy on sale: we stock pile when they are on sale, and we never have to go without: peanut butter; butter (we freeze it); cereal (there is always one type on sale so we never run out); shampoo and conditioner; soap; soft drinks; pasta sauce; salsa; and English muffins.  It’s easier for us because we are not on a tight budget; we can afford to spend an extra $10 in order to stockpile when items are on sale.

So save the $5/week; and save in the long run!

Healthy and Hearty Breakfasts the Frugal Way

It’s very tempting to eat out for breakfast when you are in a rush because of an early class (or a late night studying) and you are famished.  However, breakfast food is cheap and it breaks my heart to spend $7+ for breakfast when you should be able to make it at home – fast – for a few pennies (or nickels now that we are doing away with pennies).  Here are a few ideas.

Oatmeal: I’m all for instant oatmeal because it’s fast; however, it’s high in sugar and not so healthy.  If you use only half a package of instant oatmeal (the flavoured type), add the same amount of plain quick cook oatmeal, milk (not water) and you microwave it, it’s much healthier.

Eggs: eggs a fantastic source of cheap protein.  However, cooking them in the morning is tough since it makes a mess in the pan and it takes time.  Another option is to cook ahead of time your eggs when you do have time.  My favorite recipe is ‘egg in a hole’; you make a hole in a slice of bread (eat the small piece of bread); prepare a pan like you would for cooking eggs (melt butter, etc.); place the piece of bread in the pan and add the eggs (with intact yolk, or scrambled) by pouring it over the hole (yes, part of the egg will leak under the bread, but a large amount will cook in the hole, in the bread and around the bread).  You can batch cook these, especially if you scramble the eggs.  The advantage of this dish is that your bread is cooked with the egg – easily reheated in the microwave on a rush morning.

Pancakes: I love pancakes, and I’m often too lazy to make them from scratch.  I buy the complete mix (to which you only add water – no eggs, no milk) which is cheaper by portion since you only add water.  To make my pancakes healthier, I add a bit of plain oatmeal (regular or instant – whatever I have) and some wheat bran (which I use in other recipes so it’s on hand as well).  If I want more crepes than pancakes, I add more water to make the batter thinner.  Easily cooked in batches, I save the leftovers in a container in the fridge and microwave in the morning.  Real maple syrup is expensive on a student budget; if you can’t handle the fake stuff, go with jam, PB or chocolate sauce instead.  If you are having crepes, savory topping are great too: grated cheese, ham, etc.

If you have more time and love to cook: of course, if you have time to spare once a while, you can prepare breakfast burritos, egg XXmuffins, etc. to freeze and reheat later.  Frittatas and quiches are also great breakfast food.  If you enjoy baking, even if it’s only the cake mixes, you can whip a batch of oatmeal or bran muffins (from a mix) and either offer some to your friends or freeze in groups of what you would eat in a day (for me it’s two: one for breakfast, one as a snack).

Leftovers: we often think of breakfast foods as toasts or other starches, eggs, and perhaps cheese and ham.  However, any food you enjoy in the morning is breakfast!  Cold pizza, left-over pasta, anything goes!

Continental breakfast: if you are typically in a real rush and can’t be bothered to cook ahead of time, there is always continental breakfast: stock the fridge with small yogurts and partition dry cereal in small bags.  In the morning, grab a banana, a yogurt and cereal – a complete breakfast!!

Bon appetit!

Cheap and Healthy Snacks

Most people spend wayyyyyy too much money on snacking, including coffee and a pastry from the coffee shop, the snack from the machine around 4pm when you are heading home or to another class, the mid-morning snack you purchase because you skipped breakfast (wanted to make an early class).  These add up quickly.  Here is a list of instant snacks that are healthy and, if purchased at the grocery store, are pretty reasonable in cost.  Make sure to leave one or two in your school bag to make sure you have an emergency snack at school at all time.

- an apple, an orange, a banana: easy to eat, fat-free, and always healthy

- raw carrots (buy ready to eat bags and divide in small bags, ready to grab from the fridge); English cucumber slices (no peeling necessary, just wash and slice); raw sweet peppers; celery (for a crunchy and low-calorie snack if you eat because of nerves)

- canned fruit in juice: open and partitioned in smaller containers

- high fiber, low-sugar granola bars – buy in boxes at the grocery store (much cheaper than by the unit)

- hard-boiled eggs: cook 2-3 at once and store in their shell, in the fridge (don’t forget to label them)

- nuts – full of protein! be considerate and ask your class neighbours before opening your snack – they could be allergic.

- raisins and other dried fruit.  Even in small, individual serving size boxes (instead of buying them in bulk), they are cheap.  Large bags of trail mix at the grocery stores are affordable – just remember that a portion is actually quite small since they are full of protein (and some fat) and fruit (and sugar).

- dry cereal: granola cereal, or larger piece cereal (such as square piece cereal) are easy to put in a small bag or a container; they are typically low(ish) in fat, low in sugar (don’t buy the multi-colored ones!), and full of added vitamins and mineral.  Much healthier than chips or chocolate.

- store bought muffins and cookies: if you have a sweet tooth, these are as healthy and much cheaper than the ones purchased at café and restaurants.  They are also often in much smaller servings (but the financial savings are per gram), keeping your waistline trim as well.

Even buying single-serve bags of snacks from the grocery store, although not completely frugal, is cheaper than buying from a café, a cafeteria or a machine.  A cheaper option would be to buy a large box of the snack and partition it at home.

Businesses prey on the busy student; don’t be a fool – bring your own food, and stash a couple of emergency snacks in your backpack.

Fixed vs. Variable Expenses and the Wisdom of Gail Vaz-Oxlade

If you are a fan of Gail Vaz-Oxlade and her shows, Money Moron, She’s a Princess, and ‘Till Debt Do Us Part, three TV shows about people who spend foolishly, you already know about the difference between fixed and variable expenses.  A fixed expense is one that does not change from month to month, and therefore over which you do not have much control.  Tuition fees, rent, utilities are pretty much fixed expenses.  However, most of the rest is variable expenses: food; clothing; transportation; entertainment, etc.  Not that these do not exist, but they can be trimmed; usually, there is lots of wiggle room between what we spend in each of these categories and what we need to spend.

Assuming you cannot change the budget of your fixed expenses, you need to look at your variable expenses to bring them down.  First step: write down everything you spend for a week.  Whenever you get home, pull out your receipts and write down what you spent since the last time you were home (home refers to wherever you are staying while at university).  An easy way to do so is to have a pad of paper at the corner of your desk or dresser where you’d typically ‘unload’ your purchases and wallet.  You’ll probably trim your expenses that first week as the week develops and you see on paper how much you are spending and on what – this is the affect I get anyway!

After a week of spending, put items into categories: food; clothes and gifts; entertainment (bars, movies, etc.).  Look at your spending and see if there is an area that is outrageous: do you spend money on restaurants many times a week? Do you use shopping as a hobby instead of when you need something? Is your entertainment spending larger than your share of the rent? If any part of your spending seems unless you have a category which is extremely low on spending (like $5 on gifts), trim it by 20 % and use that as a budget for the following week.  Twenty percent is normally do-able unless you are already very frugal.  Twenty percent is only reducing your food spending from $50 to $40.  For most people, it means reducing some restaurant expenses or fancy coffees.

Many people in Ms. Vaz-Oxlade’s show find that it is not difficult to live on less when they try.  Yes, they miss the shopping and the going out at first, but these are quickly replaced by much cheaper or free activities: you like clothes? Try designing your own on paper, or learn to sew; you like a night of drinking and music? Try it at home and make it BYOB.  Stop eating out; only buy what you can use and need.

And if you have not seen the show (available on Slice cable TV and http://www.slice.ca/til-debt-do-us-part/ ), you may want to watch a couple of episodes.  A few things that Ms. Vaz-Oxlade says in most of her shows:

- There are fixed and variable expenses: you can reduce the variable ones

- If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it

- You should not have consumer debt: the only debt to have is a mortgage (and maybe student loans)

- Shopping is not a hobby

- Make a budget that balances

- If you can’t handle credit and debit cards, learn to live on cash.

Sure, it may be easy to laugh at the mistakes people on her show make, but often we find that we make at least some of the same mistakes.  It’s worth a look at!

Can you go TOO cheap?

As a poor student, I once decided to cook everything from scratch.  My reasoning was that I enjoyed cooking (well, baking), and it would save me money, plus I would eat healthier.  I also decided to buy local, in-season, or cheap food.  As a result, I bought cabbage, turnip, dried beans, etc.  You can already see the disaster.  My beans weren’t fully cooked (it takes hours to cook them!), and I never liked cabbage or turnip.  So the result was that I ate out almost every night that week.

Later, a few weeks older and definitely wiser, I bought food I enjoy: eggs, salsa, carrots, lettuce and avocados, tomatoes.  I made tomato sandwiches to take with me to avoid buying lunch, made a great salad to eat with an omelet spiced up with salsa.  Eventually, I learned to make my own salsa (tastes better than stored-bought, but not cheaper since I couldn’t buy tomatoes at a discount price), bought a bread-maker on sale to make my own bread (I still won’t make it completely by hand), and I can make killer salads and my own salad-dressings.  I learned that going too cheap can result in a larger expense to correct the mistake.

One of my friends once bought very cheap bed sheets; after a few washes, they were almost falling apart.  Same for socks, too cheap means holes for your toes.

However, there are some items that you CAN go cheap for, without much or any negative effects:

- Food close to the ‘best before’ date – that is what that date means: BEST before – not unsafe or unhealthy to eat after! As well, you can often freeze the food and eat it later.

- Trendy clothes – especially if it’s an item you know you won’t wear for long

- Formal wear, if you are buying for one event – such as a formal dress/gown

- An item on sale because it’s being discontinued; if it doesn’t work, the warranty should still be valid and the company will replace it with one of equivalent value.

- Decorative items; if their sole purpose is to look good and they won’t be handled much, they should last even if cheap.

What NOT to buy because it’s cheap?

- Anything you do not want or do not need: if you hate pink, do not buy a pink shirt because it’s cheap.

- Anything where you suspect the low price reflects the low quality

- Anything sold ‘as is’ if you are not prepared to fix whatever doesn’t work.

So, is it possible to go too cheap? Absolutely, especially if it will be costly to repair the mistake.  Be wise in your frugalness.

Batch Cooking

Batch cooking means just this: cooking in batches so you don’t have to cook as often because you have large quantities of food prepared.  This is typically a method used by larger families of at least a couple of kids – a parent makes 2 lasagnas at once and freezes one so there is one ready for next week.

However, batch cooking can cook for the single student too.  Say you would like to eat spaghetti; making an elaborate sauce for one serving does not make sense; you cook for 30 min and ‘inhale’ the result in 12 minutes! So you eat the sauce right out of the jar, letting the hot pasta heat up the sauce – yuk!  However, what if you spent 30 minutes making the sauce and had some for 5 extra meals? Now, that’s an interesting idea.

Depending how much you eat, a recipe for 4 or 6 may give you food for only 2-3 meals or for 5-7 meals.  It also depends if you like lots of sides to your meal: do you eat spaghetti with a salad and bread, or just a plate of spaghetti?

Pick something you eat often and you enjoy making: my example is spaghetti (sauce), but it could be something else, as long as it freezes well: Sheppard’s pie; chicken pot pie; quiche; chili; etc.  Instead of making only enough for 1 or 2 meals (or 1 meal with a bit of left over), double your recipe.  Yes, it may take and extra 10% time to cut more vegetables, but compared to making the entire recipe on a different night, it’s a very small amount of time.

Now you have two choices: either you cook the recipe as one (like chili) and save a few portions to freeze for later meals, or you divide the recipe in separate containers and cook separately (like for Sheppard’s pie). Either way, you end up with extra servings ready to freeze and eat on another day.

Now for the freezing part: you will need containers to freeze and a labeling system.  If you are sharing a freezer with others and they like to freeze food too (or keep some vodka in the freezer), you will need to minimize the space you use: square containers take up less space for the same amount of volume.  I like the disposable Ziploc ones (except I don’t dispose of them – I reuse them over and over).  Some people like to spray a light coat of Pam (an oil spray) to create a thin barrier between the food and the container so that the food does not stain the container (tomato sauce of any kind will do that); I don’t care about the stain myself.  Another space-saving method is to buy good quality freezer bag and to freeze the food in these – they can be packed almost flat in the freezer (do NOT try this with cheap sandwich bag – you can imagine the mess when they break).  If you have lots of space, empty 1 liter yogurt containers work very well!

A very important part of this system is labelling: if you don’t label your food, A. someone else may eat it if you share your freezer; B. you will not know what is in the container (chili looks a lot like spaghetti sauce once frozen); C. you may eat someone else’s weird concoction!  What I find works for me is masking tape (not the one from the dollar store though – the good quality stuff from a hardware store), about ¾ inch wide.  If you stick masking tape on a warm and dry plastic lid, it will stay on, even after you freeze the container.  However, do not try to label an already frozen container like this: the humidity on the container and the cold will prevent the glue of the masking tape from working properly.  On the piece of masking tape, I would write my name (if sharing the freezer), the name of the dish, the number of servings (in case I freeze in different quantities), and the date (so I don’t forget about a dish made 6 months ago).

In my kitchen batch cooking, I have found a huge number of dishes that freeze well, and a few that don’t.  For example, soups are great if frozen with the pasta a bit undercooked (you can remove the soup to be frozen from the pot before the soup is ready, and then continue cooking the portion you plan on eating now), but cream soups tend to have the milk separate during the freeze-thaw process (it doesn’t alter the taste, just the texture).  My favorite scone recipe does not freeze well baked, but the raw dough freezes will so I will make twice the recipe (I only thaw a half recipe at the time), form into four dough shapes and bake one and freeze three.  Most of my muffin recipes freeze very well so I will make a double batch (24 muffins), freeze 18 (I can eat 6 muffins in a week), and put a frozen muffin in my lunch bag every day after the first 6 are eaten for breakfast; the muffin thaws between breakfast and lunch and keeps the rest of my lunch cool.

You may wonder why I love batch cooking so much. It’s not the cooking as much as the lack of need to cook on other nights – it’s great to take out spaghetti sauce from the freezer, cook some pasta and TA-DA! Dinner is ready!

The Housemate Agreement

Unless you are a very lucky student who is not sharing living space, most likely you have to put up with other people where you live.  One great way to make the process less painful for everyone is to come up with a good Housemate Agreement – this way, everyone is on the same page and agrees to the same ‘rules’.

Cleaning: obviously (or not – you may want to point this out!), each person should clean their own room and clean after themselves in the kitchen and bathroom after they use it.  However, there is lots of clean up to be done in common rooms, such as the entry way, the hall, the kitchen (just cleaning after cooking and eating is not enough), the bathroom, etc.  Make a list of what should be done weekly (including shoveling the snow and mowing the lawn if you are responsible for some outside areas) and divide it up.  A tip: if everyone chooses to be in charge of cleaning the room/are they are the most ‘picky’ about, the cleaning will be done very well.  For example, I’m picky about bathroom cleanliness; I don’t like touching the toilet seat if there are any hair around or on it.  I don’t like the soap muck around the sink.  Therefore, in a shared house, I’d be happier cleaning the bathroom, not for the act of cleaning it, but because I trust myself to do a job I can be happy with.  Make sure people are accountable for their cleaning: once a week should be a minimum (since many people are sharing these spaces) so a check list is not a bad idea – put a check mark after your chore when you are done.

Bills: it’s not a good idea for one person to have his/her name on all the bills and for others to give that person money each month to pay the bills.  Why? Because every time someone is short of money, the same person suffers.  Have each person handle one bill and have one person calculate who owes what to whom every month.  Or even better, find a place that charges rent inclusive of everything1

Noise: if you know the people who are sharing a house/apartment well, you probably know how much noise these people make.  Sometimes though, we know people a bit and have to make a quick decision about sharing a home.  Have an honest discussion about noise: would it be all right if everyone tried to be quiet (in case someone is trying to study or sleep) after 11pm and before 8am?

Food: decide together if you want to share some food (such as salt, pepper, flour for baking) or if should all foods should be individual.  It can be a little silly to have 6 salt shakers in the house; however, it can be frustrating to want an omelet and find no eggs left.  A bit of both is probably best.  Share what lasts a long time should be shared (you can share the cost).  And label what is yours or others won’t remember if they finished their chocolate chip cookies bag and they will eat yours.  A tip: buy plastic bins, label them with your name, and put your food in them in the fridge, freezer and pantry.  You can also keep some pantry-type food in your room if there are no issues with pests.

Car: if one of you has a car, find a way to get a ride to the grocery store without taking advantage of the person who owns the car.  Let’s say Bob has a car.  Yes, Bob would be paying for gas, maintenance of the car, insurance and such even if nobody else ‘bummed’ a ride to where Bob is going.  However, it’s not fair that everyone gets the convenience of the car but nobody except Bob pays for it.  Put a jar in the kitchen and put in $1 or 2 whenever Bob gives you a ride.  He’ll appreciate it and will be more likely to make a small detour to drop you off next time he goes out.  And make sure the responsibility of shoveling the driveway is not added on to Bob’s list: he should not have extra work to do when everybody gets rides.

Laundry: if you are lucky enough to have laundry facilities in your house or apartment, be considerate of others and only start your laundry if you can take it out promptly and dry it, so you can leave the appliances empty so others can use them.  It is frustrating to always have to take one housemate’s wet stuff out of the washing machine on a regular basis.  Make sure you empty the lint catcher (on all dryer, and some washer) so that the appliances run efficiently, saving you money; as well, you landlord may not have to replace an appliance if it was not used properly or if it was neglected.

Overall, be kind and put expectations forwards so that there are no misunderstandings between housemates.

Desperation

How do you know when you are desperate for money? When do you consider yourself poor enough to ask for help?

My first answer is: it depends.  If you are the type of person who finds it a need to download a new song from iTune, I’d answer, ‘later than you think’.  If you are willing to go hungry in order not to burden anyone, I’d say ‘earlier than you think’.

So what does real desperation look like? As a student, it looks like the following:

- You do not have enough money to buy food so you are not eating (and I’m not talking eating out, but you are too poor to buy noodles from the grocery store).

- You do not have enough money to access the material you need to study (you can’t get the textbooks you need or the drafting tools you are required to use).

- You do not have secure shelter, warmth, clothing to keep you healthy in the weather you face every day (could be rain boots, could be a winter coat).

We are therefore describing basic student needs, not anything extravagant.  Notice that I have not mentioned tuition – more about tuition in a later post.

If you are in any of these situation, please speak up – and get help.  Here is where to get help.

- The Financial Aid Office – every university and college has one.  They will work on strategies with you so you can get money that you need (it could be in the form of a loan).

- Your parents – they may be broke, or unwilling to help, but they may have $25 that will help with groceries for 1-2 weeks.  Beware: they may not be keen on helping you if you spent all your money on clothes, partying, and electronics and now have no money left.

- The Food bank: some universities have them just for students.  Most cities have them.  At city food banks, you can usually get one week’s worth of non-perishable groceries per month and they help a large number of people.  Do not feel that you should not use food banks: they are for people who have fallen on hard time, just like others in your situation.  Once you have a job and are making money, you can donate to the food banks that have helped you.  Use the food bank if you need to.

- ‘Soup kitchens’ are organisations that prepare and serve meals to people in need of a hot meal.  Check your phone book.

- Some organisation will GIVE you clothes if you are in need (of course the Salvation Army has some for sell at very low prices as well); St-Vincent of Paul is one.  At our local one here, you can get a loaf of bread and clothing for free.

- Use your university; stay at the library for studying (free internet and warmth and quiet); plug in your computer and phone to charge them; use the textbooks on reserve at the library or another textbook on the same topic to study.  If you need to, ask the secretary for left-over food after a seminar – tell her you are short on money and could use a bite (administrative assistants have lots of experience with students struggling – they may even save you a piece of pizza after a meeting!); check out events with free food.

- Use your social circle to let people know that you are looking for a few items: a winter coat and boots, for example.  It’s unlikely that nobody you know will have an extra item.  Many colleges and universities have clothing drives to help students with warm clothes when winter is near – check out if there is something like this around you so you can get warm clothes for free.

- If you have lost your shelter altogether, go immediately to the Office of Financial Aid; this is a crisis and you need help right away.  Ask a friend for shelter (in exchange for chores around the house and/or tutoring).  Go home (if you can afford it) for a week or until you can figure out what to do.  Do not live homeless; it is dangerous.  You may need to forfeit your semester in order to stay safe.  However, most likely there is an emergency solution to your problem.

Of course, the best idea to avoid a financial crisis is to budget well and to be conservative in your spending, but sometimes there are unexpected problems that come up: your parents suddenly withdraw their financial support; your apartment burns down and you need a new place to stay; you suddenly get ill, withdraw for a semester and need to do an extra semester that you had not budgeted for, etc.  As an adult with a job, you are expected to have some emergency savings; as a student, it is very difficult to do that because your budget is tight with no extra money to put aside (unless you have more money than most – in that case, save!).  However, if you are spending on unnecessary items, keep in mind that whatever reason you have a larger-than-most cash flow may not last and be smart about having a contingency fund or plan.

Also, be aware of precursor clues that you are getting in financial trouble: you money is running out faster than you had expected; you are dipping in your ‘emergency food supply’, etc. 

 

The bottom line: if you are in a desperate situation, ASK FOR HELP; there is help for these situations and the help is designed to help YOU.  Do not feel bad as there will be opportunities for you to ‘make up’ for the help later in your life.  Right now, you need to stay afloat and stay healthy.  Help is there; use it.