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Good food on a budget Text: Suzie-Ann Bakker
As if being a student isn’t expensive enough, the food prices in Norway make you want to reconsider buying that avocado for lunch. Although eating healthy can be a challenge, these tips make it easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle while cutting costs.
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Cut the meat And I’m not talking about the way you slice your sirloin. Since the meat prices in Norway are rather excessive, reconsider your portion size, or introduce meat free days – in fact, Meat Free Monday is a worldwide success. Generally, the UK Department of Health advises to have a maximum of 70 grams of meat per day. When shopping for meat, consider buying in bulk from Joh Jacobsen Kjøtt AS, a meat processing business at Elvegata, Volda. The freezer is your friend Buy veggies that are in season, and freeze them so you can use them whenever you’re on a tight schedule. If freezing berries, divide them on a baking tray so they freeze separately, making it easier to portion them after freezing. Purchase freezer bags with writing sections so you can note the date and content to keep overview of your frozen food.
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Go wild Just like our ancestors, foraging for berries or mushrooms in the forest is a relatively easy way to collect food. However, we have the modern luxury of freezing them, so you can use them all year round!
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Prep once, cook twice When sautéing onion, paprika and garlic with a can of crushed tomatoes and minced beef, divide it in half before adding Italian seasoning and tossing it in your spaghetti. By adding a can of beans and corn to the other half with a pinch of cumin and chili flakes: boom, chili.
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DIY Yup, that tub of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream is luring at you from the freezer aisle in the supermarket. But other than being incredibly overpriced, the excessive amount of sugar leaves you disappointed and unsatisfied. By roasting bananas with honey and tossing them in a blender with yoghurt and chocolate chips before freezing, you create your own version of a Chunky Monkey, but with more style and less guilt. Try to experiment with flavors, switch for example coconut milk for yogurt, it’s up to you!
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Love your legumes Besides meat, a relatively cheap and easy way to get protein is by consuming beans and legumes. You can buy them in bulk at the Asian Shop, and only require to be soaked a couple hours before cooking them.
Use them in curries or stews, and toss them in salads to turn them into filling meals.
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Spice it up If you’re on a budget, spices are a great way to add more flavor to your dishes Illustration: EmiliaCurries, Cliento without using too many ingredients. soups and stews are tasty ways to get load of nutrients and vitamins, and are easy on the wallet. Stock up on basic spices like cinnamon, cumin, chili flakes, ginger, and nutmeg. Ensure your pantry is stocked with basics like onions, garlic and stock cubes, and visit the Asian Shop to experiment with flavors. If you’re living in a dormitory with shared kitchen, persuade your fellow students to share your spices to cut down costs.
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Be creative Food wise, it’s always more fun to wander off the beaten path of classic recipes, and cook with whatever you feel like that day. Tweak existing recipes to your personal preferences, and dare to improvise in order to discover what you like and not. In addition, if everything fails; in the end, pizza is always the answer. Just keep one in your freezer, just in case.
NOVEMBER 2016
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