Wednesday, July 27, 2011

How to Save Money in College: Cook!

Last year, my little Frugal Scholar, Miss Em, decided to get the 50-meal/semester plan, rather than a larger one. If you do the math--and many do not--you will find that college meals are $7.00 to $9.00 each, depending on your college.

Here is the plan at University of Alabama. Prices are PER SEMESTER.

Unlimited--$1757
220--$1634
160--$1350
90--$766
50--$422

We thought that the smallest plan provided a lot of flexibility and assumed Miss Em would go out to eat a lot more than she had her first year. Frugal Son and I had a brainstorm about rice cookers (allowed in dorms; Miss Em has a room scholarship) and put together a bunch of recipes for the College Cook--short on time, space, money, know-how, transportation, and STOVES.

The cookbook gives you at least 2 weeks of meals made with 20 ingredients--things like rice, tortillas, tomatoes, and so on. No stove required: all can be made in the rice cooker or microwave. You can buy a pdf version above left or get a Kindle version on Amazon.

Doing this changed my cooking life--it is so easy, cheap, and NOT MESSY. I use my rice cooker all the time now and I HAVE A STOVE. College Cooking Crash Course!

Use some of your graduation money and get a rice cooker too.

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