Healthy, Allergy Friendly Groceries on a Budget

I've talked about this a few times, but never in much detail. With a soy allergy, eating on campus is an absolute NIGHTMARE. Most of the food that's safe for me to eat is not calorie dense, meaning I basically starved the entirety of freshman year before I really got the hang of the art of dorm room cooking. I spend $200-300 a semester on food outside of my meal plan, with the bulk of the cost coming from almond milk being bought basically weekly.

My secrets: Aldi, Neighborhood Walmart, Publix deals, and ibotta.

Aldi
God's gift to broke college students. Seriously. I got my succulent (his name is George), as well as all of my bread and most of my almond milk from here. I don't go here for the bulk of my shopping, but I also do not overlook it, especially when I know what's safe for me to eat and what's cheaper here. Its proximity to campus is also fantastic.

Neighborhood Walmart
If you think People of Walmart is rough, y'all ain't ever been to a Neighborhood Walmart. As trashy as it can be, it's SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper and involves less traffic on the drive, even though distance wise, the regular Walmart isn't much farther away. I get my gas, my canned goods, my fruits and veggies, pretty much everything, unless my fiancé's mama decides to buy me the fancy Target stuff (which does happen on occasion). I've gotten some really good deals on produce here for surprisingly better quality that what I've found at regular Walmart. The canned goods can be hit or miss. If they look funky, off I go to regular Walmart. I will do a lot of things, but using busted canned or boxed goods is not one of them.

Publix Deals
Apparently an unused fact among the Southern population: Publix deals will be honored even if you don't buy the quantity, unless otherwise stated. So if it's a buy one, get one free, you get one item half off. It's how I've been able to get good looking mangos for $1 even though technically it's buy 5 for $5. I also only buy my meat from here because I genuinely only trust Publix. It's low key a problem at this point.

Ibotta
If you don't know about ibotta, I want to know how little time you spend on the internet. My mom and I have both been using it since I've been in high school. It's a rebate program, where if you've added deals to your account, the money gets credited to your account. The stuff I tend to buy usually isn't on ibotta, but the 10-50 cents off any item, as well as the any brand cashback are LIFESAVERS. I've gotten $1 back on any brand of vitamins, pads, cereal, and almond milk before. Just make sure you're buying it from the right store who currently has that deal!

You can use my code neqxjej to get started earning and to start with a bonus.


I meal prep as well. I typically cook a meal a week and save the leftovers, which gives me between 3 and 5 dinners, not including the rice and pasta I eat, as well as frozen meals (I try to save these for lunch), and the ever popular breakfast for dinner. If you want my meal prep ideas, everything on my food board is either soy free or can easily be made that way. The college section you'll find here. It's primarily slow cooker meals, but others use a griddle, microwave, blender, or just simply a fridge.

For those of you going into college or are in college and have food allergies, don't worry, it IS possible to eat healthy, even if you feel like it's impossible on a shoestring budget.

30 Day Holiday Declutter Challenge

With the holidays coming up, that means it's time for finals and time for new things to be taking up space in a tiny dorm room. To try and minimize these effects, especially before I have to really buckle down and plan this wedding, I'm doing a mini 30 day challenge, starting today.

Rather than starting with a full blown "this amount has to be accomplished" plan, I'll instead be going through everything and deciding if it's worth paying for housing it in a storage unit over the summer or if I should just get rid of it. It's also giving me a chance to see what all doesn't need to be added to our registry either- because trust me, the initial list is long, even with both of us removing items. (To be fair, dish sets and pretty much any other kind of dinnerware are designed for the typical American family of 2 kids, but we also aren't going to assume we'll be that size family either. We do know that anytime we invite people over, we'll need at least 5 of each dining item, so no matter what, it's two sets of dishes and 2 sets of glasses.)

My system for this 30 day declutter spree is based off location:

1) dorm room- this is a big one, but will probably be one of the easiest. All of my stuff here is mostly organized and necessary to start. I have to go through my papers and my food, but other than that, there shouldn't be much to do.

2) mom's house- this one will take longer than the dorm, but like my dorm, I already have most of that purged and organized from my move last summer. I mostly just need to go through the items that got brought from the family storage unit because I am missing some things.

3) dad's house- this will be the hardest, I'm sure. Since I don't see my dad frequently (really, I see him maybe 3 or 4 times a year), the stuff I have there has piled up exponentially, even though I did a thorough purge the summer after graduation. This is where I want to focus my efforts, since I'm fairly certain I can use the furniture and decor from this room in my future house. I'm expecting to see the most bags leaving from this room.


There is a two-fold benefit to this: not only do I get to free up space, potentially making money, as well as mentally shift my preparations towards Christmas and the Sacrament of marriage, but I also get to help others by donating or selling items. Maybe others can get their Christmas presents from the items I have that are either new with tags or gently used. Maybe someone just genuinely needs what I have. Either way, this will be a good way to lose some of the focus I have on unnecessary material items.

My challenge to you, dear readers, is to do the same thing. How much will you be getting rid of to prepare for the holidays? It can even be digital clutter. I know that's where I tend to start. Let me know in the comments and on the updates!

Announcement

It's been a minute since the last time I've published a blog post. I'd like to apologize for the delay, while also sharing some very exciting news! I'm currently in the process of planning my wedding, so blogging has been and definitely will continue to be something I do as I can find the time.

I'm in the process of writing several posts, so hopefully there will be one auto published at least once a week for the next few months. Of course, there will also be "organic" posts, ones that aren't as queued, but still contain the same amount of effort.

First up on my list of posts is allergy friendly eating on a dorm room budget. After that, I think I'm going to stick with food recipes, especially with the holidays coming up, as well as a gift guide or two. Once the holiday season has wrapped, posts will either shift towards school or wedding planning.

It's a very exciting time, to say the least, but blogging around this adventure will be something that might take a hit. Hopefully, I'll be back again soon, this time with consistency.