Is skipping a meal plan to save money a good idea?

[GreenPrint]

Hi,

I'm not really sure if this should go here but I was wondering if it would be a good idea to not have a meal plan for next semester and save like 2000 dollars. I think it would cost more money to get my own food. But I thought maybe if I got like 50 pounds of rice that would last me for the semester. Rice is very cheap per pound and one pound can last one person a incredible amount of time. You just have to have a microwave and something to put it in, both of which I have. Do you think this would be a good idea. I could certainly get 50 pounds of rice for less than 2 grand and 50 pounds is a lot and may even be enough to go into part of the next semester.

 

[Pengwuino]

Eh... rice for 4 months straight?

 

[GreenPrint]

if it saves me money i don't see why not lol

 

[micromass]

Eh... rice for 4 months straight?

Yeah, it's genius, isn't it?? I wonder why not more people do it...

 

[trojan2012]

Have you ever ate the same thing day after day like that before? I can say from experience it is very very hard to do when you have no choice, so I can only imagine how difficult it would be having a choice.

 

[Pengwuino]

if it saves me money i don't see why not lol

I think I can eat the same food 3 times in a row before I feel like shooting myself. I mean, rice can be complimented by a ton of foods, so I really hope you mean it'll just be a base for what you make :)

 

[Evo]

Rice is nutrionally deficient on it's own, it is unwise and unhealthy to consider eating nothing but rice.

 

[Topher925]

I eat rice by the truck load but I always put vegetables, tofu, and sauce in it. Otherwise its just empty calories. I give you about 2 weeks before you start suffering from complications of a nutrition deficiency.

 

[turbo]

I was SO glad to get rid of the meal-plan after my Freshman year. We were required to live on campus the first year. After that, I cooked my own meals in my little dumpy apartment. Properly-prepared baked beans, lentil soup, biscuits, spaghetti, chili, vegetable soups, breads... I saved a LOT of money and ate like a king.

 

[Snicker]

Most of the calories consumed by the human population is rice.

 

[dlgoff]

Rice is nutrionally deficient on it's own, it is unwise and unhealthy to consider eating nothing but rice.

Even chickens demonstrate this. I gave Roger a little rice treat (~1tbsp) one day and she loved it. So the next day I gave here another. Next day...NO EGG. It took two days to get her back on schedule with her high protein diet.

 

[turbo]

I ate a lot of rice, too, and potatoes. But legumes, tomatoes, and other vegetables with *some* meat made up my diet, along with flour (for breads and biscuits) and minimal amounts of dairy products. Pasta can really stretch some tomato-based sauce, especially if you can afford some strong hard cheese to grate over the dish.

 

[Evo]

Most of the calories consumed by the human population is rice.

And unless the rice is properly supplemented, people will suffer from manlnutrition.

The most common nutritional deficiencies in rice based
communities are:

· Iron deficiency - the most common nutritional
disorder affecting between 2 to 5 billion people.
The principal effects are on brain development
and cognitive (i.e., thinking) and physical ability.

• Zinc is low in the diets of 2.5-3 billion people. While
zinc controls many body functions, the important
effects of deficiency are on the prevalence of
diarrhea in infants and poor growth rates in
children.

• Vitamin A deficiency - the leading cause of
preventable blindness in children affecting the
eyesight of around 200 million pre-school
children.

• Iodine deficiency - the world’s most prevalent – yet
easily preventable – cause of brain damage
affecting an estimated 1 billion people.

• Selenium deficiency - causes weak muscle
development and therefore heart disease and is
important in resistance to virus infections
including HIV/AIDS and influenza. An estimated 1
billion people are at risk to selenium deficiency.

• Protein-energy malnutrition (i.e., starvation) -
causes half the worlds annual child mortality and
an estimated 850 million people are at risk.

• Calcium deficiency - emerging as a problem for the
growth of healthy bones in children.

http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/factsheetsPDFs/Health_and_Nutrition/fs_nutrition.pdf

 

[turbo]

I used to make "French Soup" (a depression-era dish) quite regularly, but it was a lot more than just rice. Start with stewed or canned tomatoes, add diced potatoes, rice, chopped onions, scallions or leeks (ours were always salted) and add water to adjust for the number of people that you need to feed. If there was a *lot* of water needed, my mother would add a tiny can of tomato paste, too. Because of the salted scallions or leeks, there was no extra salt needed - just a bit of black pepper. The soup is plain, but wonderful.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

There's nothing wrong with trying to be a student existing on a budget but it is vitally important that you maintain a varied diet with the appropriate nutrition. Many people I knew at uni became sick or lethargic (really unhelpful when work needs to be done) because all they did was eat pizza every day.

 

[Moonbear]

In today's economy, meal plans provide an assortment of nutritious meals at very low cost. For those who haven't visited a university dining hall in a long time, you'd be surprised by the variety and attention to nutrition that goes into the food offerings today.

You can't live on rice alone, and if you don't have access to a kitchen, you're going to end up resorting to take out and processed frozen foods that are not healthy. Plus, unless you have roommates to share in the food budget and eating, without a large freezer to store leftovers, you'll waste a lot more food trying to cook for one person.

The only real issue with meal plans is resisting the temptation to over eat when presented with so many selections served buffet style. Watch your portions and you'll get the best bang for your buck on a meal plan. Besides, there's also the social aspect of shared meals with friends in college.