by Lisa Fillers

Created on: January 07, 2009

One of the first things a college student learns is that they cannot afford to eat out and they soon realize it is difficult to stretch their food budget cooking at home. The sudden dramatic rise in grocery costs over the past eighteen months has made it even an even greater hardship on college students.

In addition to a basic skillet all students need a family size skillet, a stir fry skillet or wok, a crock pot, and a couple of sauce pans. With these items and basic utensils like a spatula, assorted knives, measuring spoons, a measuring cup, and cooking spoons you will be able to create most any meal you desire.

One of a cook's best friends in the kitchen is spices. If you watch for sales at chain pharmacies, you can often find spices for as little as a fourth their cost in a grocery store. You do not have to stock in a tremendous variety of spices but if you include salt, black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, oregano, ground mustard, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes you can prepare a large variety of meals. Be sure to pick up vanilla flavoring and maple flavoring. Keeping some basic condiments is required, too. These need to include ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise or Miracle Whip, barbecue sauce, soy sauce, and teriyaki sauce. You can often find these at food salvage stores undamaged and still well within the freshness date for far less than the cost at a grocery store or super center.

Basic grocery items need to include corn meal, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, a variety of pasta, rice, white granulated sugar, and brown sugar. With these items on hand you will be able to bake, coat, and flavor a variety of recipes.

Learn to watch the newspaper ads for meat sales and canned goods sales. Buying meat in family size packages and breaking them down into smaller units for your freezer will save you quite a bit of money in a year's time. Chicken and hamburger meat are the two least expensive and most versatile meats you can purchase. Preparing dishes that stretch the use of meat for approximately five days of the week and only cooking a dinner in which you serve a portion of meat a couple of nights a week will produce great savings for your grocery budget.

In the produce aisle purchase green or red bell peppers, onions, and russet potatoes.

Below are a list of great budget stretchers:

PASTA AND RICE:

Pasta and rice are filling, healthy, and very inexpensive. Learn to make excellent stir fried rice and you will be able to prepare a large variety

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