WITH the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, students finally get to enjoy the thrill of face-to-face classes, which they’ve missed for the past three years when the country was mostly on lockdown.
Though there are still some that are following an online or hybrid set-up, many students are transitioning to full-on face-to-face classes, and that means having to deal with dorm life and finding ways to stretch their allowance each month without starving to death.
Not all students get a big amount for their allowance, with many often getting around P200 to P300 per day. Given how expensive commuting and eating can be these days, this amount falls short of their needs.
This is why they have to be as crafty as possible, learning anything they can to cut costs. One of the biggest issues they often face have to do with food: milk spoils easily, as do fruits and vegetables, along with a number of other food items that they wouldn’t have had to worry about if they were back in a house full of people.
Now that it’s just them living alone in a dorm, every piece of food left to rot and that remains uneaten means money that could’ve been saved.
This is why republicasia recommends the following types of food for students when they’re trying their best to cut costs while living in a dorm, or for when they pack lunches to bring to school.
- Vinegar-based recipes
Did you know that when you cook food in vinegar, it often takes longer to expire? Vinegar is considered to have a practically indefinite shelf life, and it helps to preserve food for an extended amount of time thanks to the high acidity of the product.
In a nutshell, it helps to stop bacterial growth with the food it’s in.
One popular Filipino dish with plenty of vinegar is adobo which, surprisingly, is pretty easy to make.
There are a ton of vinegar-centered recipes online, and given how long university life is, you can take this time to experiment with as many different recipes as possible. If you want to save as much money as you can, chicken adobo’s your safest bet.
- Canned goods
Perhaps the most obvious option on this list, canned goods have been helping people survive petsa de peligro.
There is a variety of food you can choose from: corned beef, luncheon meat, tuna; the list goes on and on.
The best thing about canned food is that it’s perfect if you’re in a rush in the morning, or if you don’t have any equipment in your kitchen, because it doesn’t need to be cooked before you eat it.
But it’s easy to get tired of eating the same mushy food over and over again. If you have the time and the means, find ways online to get creative with the canned goods that you have.
One such example is the tuna rice bowl trend that went viral on TikTok two years ago, known to have been started by influencer Emily Mariko as the salmon rice bowl. But many creators have started making a cheaper version with canned tuna instead.
- Dried food
One underrated type of food? Dried food. With just a little bit of TLC, it’s easy to make it pretty appetizing.
What’s great about dried food is you don’t have to worry about refrigerating it; simply store it on a shelf and you’ll be able to live off of it for months. What’s even better is you don’t even have to leave your room to get them. There’s a lot of dried food available online on websites like Shopee, all packaged and ready to go.
Tuyo and danggit are often the go-tos when it comes to dried food on a tight budget. They’re also very flexible, so you can cook them in many ways so you don’t grow bored of their taste right away.
There are recipes for tuyo pasta, tuyo with a honey glaze, danggitsilog, and many other variations of the two all over the internet.
If you aren’t a fish person, there are also many kinds of dried meat online too. Meat flosses and dried beef are a few examples of ones you can get online. These, you can just sprinkle atop some rice, or pour some chili vinegar on top for an added kick.
- Fermented food
If you’re unsure of what fermented food is, here’s a short explanation: as per Dan Brennan of WebMD, fermentation means creating food or changing the properties of existing food with the use of microbes – microscopic organisms – that help to break down whatever’s placed in it to create something entirely new.
Some popular examples of fermented food are natto, miso, and of course, kimchi. Perhaps one of the easiest to make would be your typical miso soup, wherein you just add miso paste to a pot of stock and add in your toppings, like seaweed and tofu. And voila! You’re done. You’ll have enough soup to last you a few days.
And there’s always the option of making kimchi fried rice if you have the time to do so. This is a great way of getting rid of leftover rice and using up any canned goods or meat you may have left in the fridge; throw in some meat, mix it with the rice, pour in your kimchi and sauce, and call it a day.
If you really want to commit, you can always start fermenting your own food at home to save up on buying from the grocery.
This requires quite a bit of research, but the gist of it is basically putting vegetables in brine and ensuring you have a dark space to store them in for the months to come. The longer they ferment, the more sour they’ll be.
- Instant noodles
Standing as the cheapest option on this list, instant noodles are a perfect way to get you through a week without breaking the bank.
The internet has grown to become extremely creative in looking for ways to spice up a plain old packet of instant noodles. Simply look at the instant noodles hashtag on TikTok and you’ll find over eight million recipes waiting for you, which is perhaps enough to last you up until your next few thousand lifetimes.
However, it’s important to remember: you shouldn’t be having instant noodles every day, since excess consumption of them can reportedly lead to health problems in the future, such as heart disease or diabetes.
Always take note that all good things must be consumed in moderation, and yes, that includes instant pancit canton – no matter how good Chilimansi may be. (For Original Flavor Enjoyers: … Why?)
