WOOP!!
Today is my last day of freedom before school starts! Can you tell that I’m super excited about this last year of college? :) Above everything that happens this year (which I’m anticipating will be stressful at times due to career-related decisions), I’m looking forward to getting to know my Class (we all have pretty much the same schedule both semesters); and learning something new from my courses, which are more advanced than ever.
With the presence of August resetting my routine from a Summer Smeshule to a School Schedule also comes the responsibility to feed myself more routinely than whenever I please. However, since I commute 30 minutes to college and refuse to buy food on campus (If there was a strike against Aramark would they go out of business and the students save money on tuition? Just a thought…) I am committing to packing my own lunchbox again this year.
The only problem with this habit is making it a habit. Planning meals ahead of time is difficult! I don’t always know what food I’ll want to eat “tomorrow” and I also don’t tend to pack enough food, so often an hour after lunch I’m starving again.
As I referred to in this post, I have classes ALL DAY Tues/Thurs this semester from 8am-4pm. Fortunately, I can get free food from two different campus ministries on these days. But for breakfasts and other days I come to school I’ll have to bring my own. And since I don’t want to be caught starving again this year I’m determined to try harder.
That’s why I’ve started making TO-GO SMOOTHIES, i.e. big batches of smoothie that is frozen in containers for future use. I started making these because they’re SO MUCH CHEAPER THAN SMOOTHIE KING. Check out the prices below:
1 lbs bag mixed frozen fruit| $2.50/bag at Aldi
2-3 cups tap water
3 TBS Redmill flaxseed meal | $3/bag at Walmart
1 container yogurt | 89¢/Greek yogurts at Aldi
1 1/2-2 frozen bananas | 44¢/lbs at Aldi
= ~ $3.50 per full blender
Also check out this post to get a recipe for Green Smoothie and Berry Smoothies
So what I do is–after making the smoothie– I store the delicious drink in glass/plastic bottles. But I make sure to leave about 2-3 inches at the top to prevent the containers from exploding in the freezer (see below)
And then what I do is put a bottle in the fridge the night (or afternoon) before I want to go somewhere so that in the morning I can grab a smoothie on my way to school. It takes another hour sometimes for it to thaw but giving it a shake every now and then helps a lot.
I never freeze smoothies, but that’s such a good idea. I should definitely copy what you did and start saving some glass bottles like that! Good luck with your last year of college!
Copy away! I usually don’t save bottles (I recycle them to reduce clutter) but they came in handy in this case … thanks for the good luck, you’re very sweet! :)