🍎What I eat in a week at University 🍎

 good evening, 

I am going to try and stick to Sunday as my regular posting day now as much as I possibly can - as a student it just makes the most sense as it's my day to relax. One of my 2021 goals is to put more effort into my blog and to post regularly in the hope of growing my little corner of the internet. 

Since coming back to uni this year I've decided to put more thought and time into cooking - last term I ate a lot of takeaways and not only was that financially irresponsible, it didn't feel good! Also, last semester, as a friendship group we would take turns cooking, cook for each other etc and now that I'm here living very independantly it is down to me to cook every night😂 I can't (and don't) make anything fancy, it's fairly basic but it's actually quite enjoyable and I do feel better for it. 

So, this week I decided to keep a little food diary so I could show you all what I've eaten this week and how most of it is really simple and pretty cheap - I'll do my best to break down prices for the dinners especially; just for reference I shop at Tesco! Please please please do not take this as what is necessarily a good, healthy balanced diet. I'm a student, we don't have the best eating habits, and sometimes we skip breakfast!! If you're a current uni student, looking to go to uni next year, or someone who maybe lives alone and hates cooking or spending lots of money, I hope you might find this a little bit helpful!

Monday

Breakfast:  peach yoghurt, a banana, fruit cereal bar, and a cup of tea 

Lunch: tortilla wrap with cooked chicken breast pieces, cucumber, sliced baby plum tomatoes and light mayo

a handful of plain tortilla chips, grapes, an apple and a bottle of water 🍎

Dinner/Tea: spiral pasta with Tesco tomato & mascarpone sauce, and then I added half an onion, half a red pepper and 4 mushrooms/ overall cost once you break it down by grams of pasta, half prices of veg, sauce etc was around 85p, and I have some left over!!

Tuesday

Breakfast: I woke up very late today, so skipped breakfast (don't do that, it's bad!) but I then went for a long walk and was really hungry when I got back

Lunch: leftover tomato & mascarpone pasta, and a bottle of water

Snack:  bit peckish after 3 hours working on my assignment, so I had a yoghurt and a double decker with a cup of tea 😋

Dinner/Tea: Didn't fancy cooking tonight, especially as I had pasta for lunch, so I had a toasted chicken & cheese sandwich, with some fruit and salad

Wednesday

Breakfast: porridge with apple, blueberries and a drizzle of honey, and a glass of cranberry juice. 

Lunch: cheese, cucumber, tomato, red pepper and onion tortilla wraps which I melted in the microwave to make a melted pocket type thing, (because I was cold!), with a few plain tortilla chips 🍅

Dinner/Tea: fish finger sandwiches with ketchup (costs around 50p)

Thursday

Breakfast: toast with Biscoff spread (my absolute favourite!)

Lunch: toasted tuna & cheese sandwich, grapes, salad and some plain tortilla chips 🍇

Dinner/Tea: pasta, with onion, mushroom, bacon and the rest of the tomato & mascarpone sauce I needed to use up (cost around £1)

Friday

Breakfast: apricot yoghurt, a banana, a cup of tea and 4 malted milk biscuits 🐄

Lunch: chicken super noodles :/

Dinner/Tea:  tonight I treated myself and ordered an Indian takeaway - I had a king prawn bhuna with rice and a poppadom (and a cheeky glass of wine!)

Saturday

Breakfast: I had a big bottle of water, a banana and a breakfast bar before heading out on my long walk to to do my grocery shopping

Lunch: came back starving as you can probably imagine, I had another melted cheese, cucumber and tomato wrap, with grapes, tortilla chips and a lemon & lime yogurt, and a cup of tea 🧀

Snack: must admit I snuck in another cup of tea and a Wispa gold while I was reading The Midnight Library! Never be ashamed of your snacks!! 

Dinner/Tea: I cooked Chicken tonight and rice with broccoli (1 chicken breast, half a jar of creamy mushroom chicken tonight sauce, and a pouch of boil in the bag rice, cost around £2.15)

Sunday

Brunch: Sunday lay in and morning routine meant it was around 11am by the time I got round to breakfast, I needed to use the rest of the bacon from earlier this week so I made bacon and fried egg breakfast wraps!

Snack: didn't have lunch due to my late breakfast but I got peckish during my assignment research so I had a cup of tea, a lemon & lime yoghurt, and a huge apple. 🍋

Dinner/Tea: jacket potato with tuna and cheese, with baby plum tomatoes and a few cucumber slices, afterwards I had a little raspberry trifle pot which was delicious!

So, there is my week! I think I got my 5 a day in on quite a few of the days, and definitely I've used a range of fruit and veg this week. However, I've also eaten chocolate bars, trifle, a takeaway and instant noodles - so what I'm here to say, is that's absolutely ok! I've studied hard all week and needed sugar and brain food, I've also had 2 long walks to stay active. Right now the most important things to remember are:

a) if you are hungry, EAT!

b) try to get a balanced diet, but do not feel ashamed of yourself or let anyone make you feel ashamed of what you have eaten

c) food doesn't have to be expensive, and whatever you can afford to eat is better than nothing

d) if you need help around eating, or affording good food, ask for help! Please! There are so many services out there if you think you may have issues around your relationship with food, and if you are struggling financially, never forget about your local food bank!

I think that's everything I have to say for now - I will be back next Sunday with a book review so keep your eyes peeled for that! 

Finally, when you comment, let me know what your favourite food/snack/thing to cook is? I need inspiration!

Until next time

xxxx