Living off-campus next year?

Here are some tips to help you plan, prepare, and save money on healthy meals!

First Things First – Let’s Get Your Pantry Stocked

Whenever you are moving out on your own and getting settled into your new place, it is a great idea to stock your pantry with a few staple ingredients. Keeping these ingredients on-hand can be useful in emergency situations or just anytime you are running low on groceries and need a snack or a quick meal to put together! These foods have a long shelf-life and are typically inexpensive. Check out the list below to get some of staple ingredients to always keep in your kitchen:

• • Rice
  • Dried Pasta
  • Oats
  • Flour
  • Sugar
  • Dried/canned fruits
  • Canned vegetables
  • Nut butter
  • Tuna (easy and inexpensive protein source!)
  • Oils
  • Seasonings (garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, etc.)
  • Broth

Next – Make Sure You Practice Good Food Safety

These are some helpful food safety tips to follow when cooking at home. Following these steps can help prevent food-related illnesses. There are four steps to follow for food safety: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill.

• Clean: Always wash your hands for 20 seconds before preparing food and make sure to wash your countertops, utensils, and cutting boards with hot soapy water. Fresh fruits and vegetables should also be rinsed before using.
• Separate: Keeping raw foods such as eggs and raw meats separate from cooked and ready to eat foods can help prevent cross contamination. Store ready-to-eat foods on the top shelf of your refrigerator and raw meats on the bottom shelf. When defrosting meat in the fridge, keep them in a container or bowl to prevent leaking on the bottom shelf.
• Cook: Make sure to cook foods until they reach the appropriate internal temperature to help eliminate any microbes that can potentially cause food-related illness. An important tool to have on hand is a food thermometer. This temperature guide is useful to reference when you are cooking. A tip to remember is to not reheat a dish more than once.
• Chill: Perishable foods should not be left out for more than 2 hours because their temperatures could fall within the danger zone. This is the zone in which microbes multiply quickly. When you need to thaw frozen foods, such as meat, you can safely do so by transferring them to the refrigerator, putting it in a cold water bath, or in the microwave. Leaving foods out to thaw on the countertop is not recommended because some parts of the food may reach room temperature which falls in the danger zone.

To learn more about food safety, click here and here.

Check out this recipe made primarily with canned, pantry staples: Vegan Black Bean Chili and a video with some tips about preparing it: