Riding the Bus

Sometimes, life hands us lemons and when you don't have car, getting around can seem nearly impossible. I know how that feels because I was careless in college. While I did have roommates who would occasionally take me to the store when they went, there were times that I had to make that journey alone. Thankfully, my school was a local bus hub which featured three downtown express buses and 3 local metro buses. Over time, I found the perfect combination of riding the bus to get groceries.
At first, I used the plastic bags. Not only were they wasteful but they were hassle to walk around with. Then, I moved on to tote bags but they would eventually hurt my shoulder. Finally, I realized that using a backpack was the smartest way to go! Here are some of my favorite tips for surviving college AND grocery shopping while on the bus!

Supplement What You Have for $30

Hello Clean Eaters!

I decided to do another $30 weekly grocery list since it is one of my post popular posts! This time, I went shopping with the knowledge that I had a little bit of food leftover in my pantry to supplement my new buys but, I will try my hardest to only use the foods you see on the list below!

Now, if you have been following me on social media (Twitter and Instagram especially) you know that I was once a workout fiend who ate vast amounts of food. It felt like I was eating every hour on the hour. Every meal contained some form of protein and I lugged my cooler around campus. I even trekked up the four flights of stairs to work every day (took the elevator a total of 3 times in two years) and walked to and from school. I must have been burning 1,000 calories because that doesn't even include my workouts! A typical workout includes 15-20 minutes on the stair master (you read that right) where I burned 300-400 calories before I even worked out! Then you have the actual weight lifting in itself and the cool down jogs. When I think about, I think I probably burned closer to 1,500 calories or even 2,000 calories on some days. I’m not sure, maybe I am exaggerating on the number of calories I lost but my point is that I was active. I ate like a horse because I had to fuel the machine that I was.

But now, my lifestyle has calmed down. I am a working woman who spends most of my time commuting or working. I am not in the gym like I used to be because my free campus rec membership expired when I graduated. I do have a gym at my apartment complex but it’s less than average. There are two treadmills, a couple sets of dumbbells, two benches, and two under-inflated exercise balls. Coming from state of the art to this, I knew that I wasn't going to be as intense as I used to be. I know what you are thinking, you can always go running on the treadmill BUT I hate running. I like to do occasional sprints and jogs but since I stopped running track, running isn’t the same anymore. And with the dumbbells, there is only so much you can. Granted, there are tons of great dumbbell workouts out there; but they do get repetitive and mundane. I don’t have the variety to switch up leg days or target which upper body muscle I work on that day. I still live a healthy lifestyle, but I am not as active. With that being said, I eat less because I move less. There is no need to pay to feed the old me. If this $30 list will get me through the work week, then it can for you too!

(Disclaimer, this is just a supplemental list to the few foods I already had in my pantry and closet)

Grocery List:

List	Cost
Green Giant Steamable Broccoli	$1.68
Green Giant Steamable Broccoli	$1.68
Seasoned Chicken Quarters on sale and a great steal	$2
Real Liquid Eggs	$1.98
(2) Green Bell Peppers	$1.16
Yellow Bananas	$1.15
Frozen papaya mango, strawberry blend	$1.46
6oz blackberries SALE	$0.97
Small red potato's I got lucky with this one! It was actually $2 for 4 small red potatoes but I guess it didn't ring that much	$1.00
(4) Limes	$0.57
romaine lettuce	$0.98
Larabar pack	$5.22
strawberries SALE	$1.50
all natural almonds	$1.98
Ground turkey	$3.47
	$26.80
	post tax $29.01

Meals

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Scrambled eggs w/ bell pepper	Roasted potatoes steam, broccoli,  baked chicken	Ground turkey salad w/ dried cranberries and olive oil	Blackberries and strawberries / Lara bar
Scrambled eggs w/ bell pepper	Roasted potatoes steam, broccoli,  baked chicken	Ground turkey salad w/ dried cranberries and olive oil	Blackberries and strawberries / almonds
Scrambled eggs w/ bell pepper	Roasted potatoes steam, broccoli,  baked chicken	Ground turkey salad w/ dried cranberries and olive oil	Banana / Lara bar
Scrambled eggs with w/ bell pepper	Roasted Brussel sprouts, brown rice, baked chicken	Gluten free pasta and spaghetti sauce	Banana / almonds
Scrambled eggs w/ bell pepper	Romaine salad w/ brown rice	Frozen gluten free burrito with brown rice	Blackberries and strawberries / almonds

As you can see by my list, a few things were added on from my previous stash. The dried cranberries have been in my fridge for weeks now (yes, they are still good) but I figured it's time that I actually use them. Brown rice and olive oil are staples that I ALWAYS keep with me in my pantry. Everything else on this list was a necessity as I had close to nothing in my fridge.

Thank you for reading!

Eating Clean in College

Birthday Countdown!

Hello all! I have been counting down for my 21st birthday for the past year but it is literally around the corner now! So to get ready, I have decided to make these next 60 days count. I will be training my body but instead of training it to handle more liquor, I will be making it look better! So 60 days from now, I will be the best version of me YET. Just wait on it...
Right now, I am in my last week of summer school and went grocery shopping yesterday to fill my frigde up one more time with healthy goodies.The list below will supplement the remaining food I have left in my fridge and pantry. Here is my haul:

 Dairy:

• 2% Milk
• Dozen Eggs
• Dannon All Natural Yogurt

Produce

• 1 pint of strawberries
• 1lb bananas
• 2 avocados
• 3 cucumbers 
• 1 head of romaine lettuce
• 2 mangos
• 2lbs of green beans

Frozen

• 1 bag of broccoli
• 1 bag of mango, papaya mix

Meat

• 1 salmon fillet
• 2 steak fillets- lean cut
• 2 lbs of chicken quarters

Pantry

• 1 bag of Oloves Lemon and Rosemary Olives
• 1 box of Peanut butter cookie Lara Bar
• 3 individual Lara Bars (1 peanut butter chocolate chip, 2 chocolate chip brownie) 

Let the food prep begin! Feel free to join with me on Twitter/Instagram using #eatclean21
-Eating Clean in College

09/15 Shopping Trip

Hello readers! It has been well over a month since I have officially been grocery shopping! Over the past few weeks, I have supplemented my diet with a few quick trips to CVS here and there but nothing to serious. Well...I finally got the chance to head to the grocery store so here is shopping list!

1 lb of green beans - $1.51

1 tub of Dannon plain yogurt- $2.38

1 can of corn- $.48

Baby carrots - $1.44

Chicken drumsticks - $2.55

Top sirloin steak- $4.33

2 Cans of store brand tuna- $1.36

1 Cucumber - $.58

1 White onion - $.57

2.35 lbs of red apples - $2.75

2 Avocados - $1.16

1 Potato - $.50

1 Jalapeno- $.06

Air freshener- $.88

Total- 20.55

Stay tuned this week so see what I cooked!
-Eating Clean in College

Sunday Night Prep

There are many things that you can quickly make that will help you make your meals faster! The trick is to maximize on the one night a week where more people have nothing to do-Sunday night! For me, this is the time where I do all my grocery shopping so it makes sense to go ahead and chop, cook, or marinate the foods I purchased. If you spend a couple of hours Sunday night, you can get breakfast for the week taken care of, school lunches out of the way, or even a couple dinners or two. Not to mention snacks nuts and produce.

• Marinate all meats and seafood and place in freezer bags. Freeze those you plan on using later in the week or for another time. For the meats and seafood that you plan on eating within the next 3 days, then you can place those bags in the fridge. 
• I like to just "marinate" my fish with spices and herbs, nothing to aqueous 
• For chicken, olive oil or canola oil make good bases for spices and herb to blend into. Any combination of garlic, parsley, black pepper, Dijon mustard, Italian dressing, red pepper flakes always hits the spot.
• For meats (particularly beef since I don't eat pork) I find that it is best to marinate your fridge portion with an oil base and your frozen portion in a sauce (like BBQ, ketchup). Just like with chicken Dijon mustard, black pepper, and garlic are great ways to spice up your beef. For an extra fancy touch, stuff your red meat with the garlic, jalapenos, or split your beef cut in half and  apply a spread in the middle. 

 

• Fruits: I tend to leave them alone since they oxide immediately and don't store that well. If you do want to cut up 3 days portion (after that, I feel that they don't taste that well) then I recommend that you put add in a citrus fruit. For example, cut up and apple in edible portion and add in  1/2 a  sliced grapefruit. You can even do a peaches, apples, and oranges mix. Of course, if you just do citrus fruit, then you do not have to add in any additional fruits. I would stay away from bananas since they tend to get mushy. Lastly, all kinds of berries and grapes do well alone but you are more than welcome to mix them with other fruits. Of course, make sure to squeeze all air out of the bags.
• Vegetables: Unlike fruits, they can store fresh by themselves.Since zucchini is a staple in my kitchen I always purchase a lot. You can slice, dice, and chop them for easier cooking. This same rule goes for leafy vegetables like romaine lettuce and spinach. You can wash and divide the bunch into equal portion sandwich bags. 
• While you are doing all of this, boil brown rice! It takes about 30-45 to make depending on the package directions. 
• Nuts typically come in either 1/4 or 1/3 cup portions so you bust out your measuring cup and sandwich bags and fill them up until the nut package is empty!
• If you can, make a menu of what all you have and what foods you can prepare with it. Just like with the fruits and meat, I recommend that you make dinners for 3 days in advance. 

      

-Eating Clean in College

How I Maximized on a Sale!

Hello all! I hope that you guys had a great Memorial Day and to all the families who have lost a loved one: thank you for their courage and thank you for being a family that breeds and supports patriotism!

Whenever I am shopping and am looking to cook something fancy (usually requiring seafood) I always check the prices. Unfortunately, most of the prices- except for the salmon fillets- are expensive so I am left to do without shrimp, lobster, and crab. However, this time was different! While crabs can be sold whole, my local HEB has a fish market that declaws them and sells the meat individually. They are usually $5 a pounds but they were on sale today for just $5 a pound! 

In cases like these, if there is a sale or price reduction on a regular item or item that you've always wanted to try, then stock up! I can't tell you how many times I have not bought something, then bought it on sale then gone back the next week to be disappointed by the higher prices. 

For this recipe, I sauteed a handful of green beans with fresh sliced jalepeno. In a separate skillet, I sautee the diced crab that I have seasoned with black pepper and a low sodium spicy herb mix and voila! I have a quick and delicious meal that I enjoyed indulging in.

In case you too want to start stocking your fridge and pantry with sale items, I first recommend that you determine which stores (based on sales) carry those stock  up items. Next, create a list of items that you MUST have each week (hopefully over time, this list is very small and primarily consists of perishables) My weekly list usually consists of 

• Natural or Greek yogurt
• Eggs
• Milk
• Produce

What I stock up on:

• Boxed pastas/brown rice
• Frozen veggies
• Meats on sale at the deli/butcher that I portion out and freeze, as noted here
• Boxed milk alternatives (trust me, this comes in handy when you can't make it to the store for cow's milk)
• Oatmeal
• Nuts

For those items, look for the best price is sales of the store which you already shop. You can look online and see the weekly ad if you don't get spammed in your mail inbox. Finally, if can make a mock menu for the week. This step is as simple as looking at all the foods in your cart and asking yourself: what can I make from all of this and will I eat this? How long will this last if I don't use it this week/month?

How to Grocery Shop is a great resource on how to effectively grocery shop.

-Eating Clean in College

Under $30 Grocery List

Hi all! Here is a 7 day grocery list that I made using the prices from my local HEB (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) for under $30! Of course the list is a little feminine so all my male readers might want to adjust; but I found that it was a very hearty menu.
Here are some tips that helped me with stretching the most food out of my dollar:

• Each package of ground meat is about 4 servings
• A package of whole grain pasta is about 7 servings
• Since bread has more loafs than 1 can finish in a week, than you can easily save it for the next week
• 1 can of tomato sauce can come at about 5-7 servings...according to which size can you buy
• The seasoned chicken leg quarters had 4 pieces in it so you could easily eat a piece a day but the the pieces were so big that you could also cut the quarter into 2 so that you have a thigh and a drumstick instead of one HUGE piece. If you decided to divide the quarter, then you can freeze a piece and save it for later
• The small white potatoes can either be cut into quarters and boiled then seasoned or baked. Since potatoes are starchy, than 1 is enough for a serving...feel free to add more if you'd like
• If you have a filter (good for you!) or drink tap water, than you can exclude the water bottles and save $2.70

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Oatmeal w/ a glass of milk and ½ a grapefruit	Turkey (3 slices), (1 slice) provolone, and spinach sandwich on whole wheat bread smeared with (1/2) sliced avocado and a small navel orange; 1 water bottle	Whole grain spaghetti with ground turkey meat sauce with steamed broccoli; 1 water bottle
Oatmeal w/ a glass of milk a whole small red delicious apple	Turkey, provolone, and spinach sandwich on whole wheat bread smeared with sliced avocado and a small navel orange; 1 water bottle	Ground turkey and red bean chili with pasta sauce; 1 water bottle
Oatmeal w/ a glass of milk and ½ a grapefruit	Turkey, provolone, and spinach sandwich on whole wheat bread smeared with sliced avocado and a small navel orange; 1 water bottle	Whole grain spaghetti with ground turkey meat sauce with steamed broccoli; 1 water bottle
Oatmeal w/ a glass of milk a whole small red delicious apple	Turkey, provolone, and spinach sandwich on whole wheat bread smeared with sliced avocado and a small navel orange; 1 water bottle	Ground turkey and red bean chili with pasta sauce; 1 water bottle
Oatmeal w/ a glass of milk and ½ a grapefruit	Turkey, provolone, and spinach sandwich on whole wheat bread smeared with sliced avocado and a small navel orange; 1 water bottle	(1 baked) seasoned leg quarter with 1 serving of red beans and a small white potato; 1 water bottle
Scrambled eggs a glass of milk a whole small red delicious apple	(1 serving) Brown rice with (1 serving) boiled garbanzo beans and sliced cucumbers; 1 water bottle	Seasoned leg quarter red beans and a small white potato; 1 water bottle
Scrambled eggs with a glass of milk and ½ a grapefruit	Brown rice with boiled garbanzo beans and sliced cucumbers; 1 water bottle	Seasoned leg quarter with a whole grain spaghetti and steamed broccoli; 1   water bottle

Menu Prices:

Breakfast:

-          Raw Organic Oatmeal Packets $1 box- 5 packets (reduced from usual $2.50)

-          ½ gallon of 2% milk- $2.18

-          Eggs- free with in mail Target coupon

-          (2) Grapefruits- 2/ $1

-          (3) Small red delicious apples- 3/$1

Lunch:

-          Whole wheat HEB brand bread- $1.58

-          Sliced turkey package- $2.98 (promotion, buy deli meat, get free pre sliced HEB cheese)

-          (3) Avocado-  .48 each

-          Spinach- $1.28 a bunch

-          1lb bag brown rice- .68

-          Canned garbanzo beans- .58

-          Cucumbers- .78 each

-          (2) 6 pack of HEB Spring Water bottles- $1.35

Dinner:

-          Box of whole grain spaghetti- $1.08

-          Canned natural HEB sauce- $1.09

-          Package of ground turkey- $2.97

-          Seasoned chicken leg quarters- $2.31

-          Canned red beans- .58

-          White potatoes- .98 lb/ 3 ~ 1 lbs

-          Frozen broccoli- $1.47

Total- Pretax- $27.68

Post tax-$29.96

(updated) Grocery List

TIPS FOR GROCERY SHOPPING:

• Do not go hungry! Eat beforehand!
• If you’re on a budget, stick to the minimum requirements and look for coupons and deals at local stores.
• Just because something is labeled “low-fat” “a good source of…” or “healthy” DOES NOT mean it is healthy!

WARNING: If you are not used to buying mass quantities of fruits and vegetables, then don't! There is NOTHING worse or more annoying than seeing people waste money and food because they thought they could consume 5 fruits and vegetables a day. Please start small (an apple a day) and build from there. Also, do not try to buy everything here in one trip. It is best to slowly build your stockpile.

GROCERY LIST (asterisks denote my highly recommended foods):
Protein:
Ground flax seed
Eggs*
Boneless/skinless chicken breast*
Lean ground turkey*
Wild Salmon*
Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt*
Fibrous Veggies:
Spinach*
Broccoli*
Kale*
Bell Peppers
Spinach*
Corn*
Green beans*
Artichoke
Zucchini*
Baby Carrots* (mainly for snacking)
Cucumber
(Don’t be afraid to experiment! There are so many others out there besides just these)
Complex/Starchy Carbohydrates:
Old-fashioned Oatmeal (Gluten-free options available)
Quinoa (Gluten-free options available)
Whole Wheat Bread (Gluten-free options available)
Brown Rice/ Wild Rice
Whole Grain Pastas
Healthy Fat Options (pick at least 2):
Natural peanut butter or almond butter (only ingredient should read peanuts or almonds, there should be oil on top, low/no sodium)*
Olive oil
Almonds*
Walnuts
Pistachios
Avocado*
Fruit
Apples*
Bananas*
Grapefruits*
Blackberries
Tangerines*
Strawberries
Lemons (for water & fish)
Beverages
Water* – MUST HAVE (obviously)
2% milk
Unsweetened Almond Milk (can be flavored, I like vanilla)*
Tea from Teavana
Condiments
Salsa
Black Pepper
Mustard
Unsweetened Baking Cocoa
Honey
Pam Non-stick cooking spray*

-Eating Clean in College