OUSA

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Nick's Week 1 Video Blog

Blog 9:

So I restarted the pizza train today. It actually was a very good pizza which I had bought on sale. I made sure that I slowed down when I ate to ensure I did not eat the entire pizza (and had some for tomorrow). I was also lucky today that I ran into a deal at KFC for which my buddies were going to during our break in our dress rehearsal: toonie Tuesday. Healthy? Absolutely not. Yet, mannnnn KFC fries are good!!! And really, its not a bad thing to have it here and there (I dont recall the last time I did have it prior to yesterday, so thats a good thing). The cereal breakfast train remains though (I do not see an end in sight there). I had cereal (with a snack bar), KFC (chicken and fries), and pizza which once again was under $7.50 (approximately $7.30, so just barely). I am noticing just how hungry I get in between meals sometimes and how it almost becomes painful. It is frustrating sometimes when you know that there is a relatively healthy option not too far away on campus to eat, and its even relatively inexpensive but you are not able to do it because of your budget. All the time you have to put into planning for food and what you can or cannot afford takes away from the time you should be focusing on your studies. Great life lessons during your undergrad are important but undue stress is not the balance we should be seeking to attain.

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Rachel's Video Blog on Student Poverty

Food for Thought – Student Poverty

$5,000+ on tuition per year
$1,000+ on books
$4,000+ on rent per year
$3,000+++ on living expenses, transportation, and etc. etc. etc.

Do I even need to say it? Being a university student = tough times financially.

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Food for Thought – Day 9

They say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away… well my body has recently turned its back on apples. I have recently developed allergies to cherries and apples (sad story), so I’ll need to somehow revise my plan keep that M.D. away!

I wanted to make sure I am indeed eating healthily, so I looked into  the “5-to-10-a-day” philosophy. It’s simple. Incorporating 5 to 10 servings of fruits and veggies per day will initiate a solid regimen for healthy eating. 5-to-10-a-day keeps the doctor away… sort of rolls of the tongue, right?

CANADA’S FOOD GUIDE RECOMMENDS

Eat at least one dark green and one orange vegetable each day.

Go for dark green vegetables such as broccoli, romaine lettuce, and spinach.

Go for orange vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and winter squash.

Choose vegetables and fruit prepared with little or no added fat, sugar or salt.

Enjoy vegetables steamed, baked or stir-fried instead of deep fried.

Have vegetables and fruit more often than juice.
http://www.5to10aday.com/

For breakfast, one cup of tea, a banana (1st of 5to10), a cup of yogurt, and a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar. 94 cents.

For lunch, chicken noodle soup and an orange (2nd). $2.

For a snack: All Bran bar (…so good and good for you… love those bars) and mini carrots (3rd) $1.20
Dinner: Panini al Prosciutto, as my Italian professoressa would say, with roasted red pepps (4th) and cucumber (5th). $5

TOTAL for Day 9 = $9.14

Over budget but healthy,

Rach

Brock Press News Article

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Food for Thought – Day 8

So, in week 1  I spent $50.43.

I was fortunate to have family and friends spot me some dinners and snacks throughout the week. Otherwise, this total would have been greater.

I have to admit, I am a little worried about budgeting for this coming week. In addition to groceries and prepping bagged lunches, I have a birthday dinner, a “farewell” dinner for my Europe-bound best friend and trip to London planned. I don’t want to have to sacrifice these important social commitments, so I will have to really, really watch my food expenditures this week.

I decided to seek help from my friend Sameer at the Brock University Student’s Union. He told me that after a formal conversation between himself, the Vice President Finance Administration, and myself, an undergraduate student at Brock University in need of financial assistance, I would be able to receive a $25 grocery voucher for Sobey’s in St. Catharines.

Thank you BUSU for providing emergency student loans and food vouchers for students if and when they find that their OSAP loan just won’t cut it.

Rach Crane over and out

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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

So my name is Sarah and today was my first cookie in two weeks.  Haha. No but seriously I had my first cookie in two weeks today.  It was a homemade ginger molasses cookie.  *drool* But anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.  So I started off the morning with my regular bowl of miniwheats and glass of milk.  Then I went to class and my student council meeting.   But when I got to my curriculum committee meeting there was drinks and food for us!!  There was tea and coffee and juice and pop and at the end of the counter was a big container of homemade ginger molasses cookies that Norma made for us!  This was all because it was the last meeting but it was sooooooo good!   I had a tea and an apple juice and I helped myself to a cookie.  Then during the meeting (after I ate my chefboyardee lunch because I decided to sleep in instead of making lunch) they moved the cookies from the counter to on the table right in front of me.  So I had another cookie.  And then Norma and Tammy insisted that I take some for the road so I took three cookies with me and they also gave me a Sprite, which I haven’t drank yet.  I am happy. Yummy cookies.  Anyway, and then I came home after rehearsal and made myself a salmon casserole.  I added some spinach to it and then helped myself to a quarter of it.  Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:

1 can mushroom soup

1 small tin salmon (pink)

½ tin milk

2 cups uncooked macaroni

½-1 cup grated cheese  (I had maybe 2 or 3 times this in mine)

Instructions:

Cook macaroni.  While macaroni is cooking mix together in a casserole dish: salmon, soup, milk, ¾ of shredded cheese.  Add macaroni and mix well.  Sprinkle top with leftover cheese and bake at 350 F for 20-30 min.
This is seriously the easiest recipe in the world.  So the mushroom soup cost $0.75, the salmon cost $2.29, the milk cost $0.50, the macaroni cost $0.70, the cheese cost $2.30, and the spinach cost $0.64.  So in total the whole casserole cost $7.18.  And I ate a quarter of it tonight so my dinner cost $1.80.  Plus I had a glass of V8 juice with it. So my total costs for what I ate today was $5.66. I had 4 servings of vegetables and fruit, 5 servings of grain, 2 servings of milk products and 2 servings of protein.

Sarah Baker

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Blog 8:

Ladies and gentlemen, today was the first day in several days (since before the campaign started) that I did not eat pizza or some derivative. Congrats to me! However, the cereal streak is still alive–but that is just fine with me. I ate cereal, pasta and mac&cheese yesterday along with a snack bar (with fruit in it–forgive me, I forget the name of it). The total comes out to about $6 (slightly less but about that). So far during the course of  the campaign I have not had to exceed my $7.50 to eat! Buuutttt as you have probably noticed, eating KD and pizza is not exactly Canada Food Guide material–thank heavens for Cherrios though! For those of you who are cereal fans, get to love Cherrios–it is something you can eat for every meal, its quite inexpensive, its healthy and it literally takes seconds to prepare: a perfect student meal! The only issue is that it covers two of your food groups; so you have to try to add fruits to your cereal (as I don’t exactly suggest veggies for cereal). My suggestion is to try dry/frozen fruits to add. I have not done it before because I have only started to like certain fruits and Im working to acquire a taste for more. Do this and I think you will do better with what is usually the most neglected food group: fruits and veggies. There is my tip for today! Today I also did a quick grocery shop for $25 or less…it is difficult to buy a few meals worth of food for that that are relatively healthy. I got 6 boxes of KD, some snack bars, pork and beans and some frozen juice–you decide how healthy that really is…until tomorrow all!

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Day 8

Monday, March 15, 2010

So this morning I woke up feeling not so good.  I had a headache, muscle pains, etc.  But I pulled myself out of bed anyway and got a bowl of miniwheats with milk.  I then made it to class for 8:30am.  I had to have an emergency granola bar at about 2pm (see my video blog for more details). The granola bar cost $0.27.  I then went home and made myself some whole wheat rice and mixed in some beans and marble cheese.  So the rice was $0.63, the beans were approx $0.75 and the cheese was $1.53.  I used a lot of cheese.  I have also decided that rice is magic food.  I measured out one cup of dried rice but when I cooked it and “fluffed” it like the box said I had about 3-4 cups of rice!  I also made myself one of my massive fruit smoothies.  I drank half of the smoothie and ate half of the rice before running back to campus for rehearsal.  Then when I cam home later I finished off the smoothie but I wasn’t feeling so great and had an hour’s nap.  Then for dinner, which I had around 8pm I mixed the last of the bbq wieners and the rice, cheese and beans mixture. So my total spending for the day food wise was $8.96.  So I was a bit over.  However I got in 7 servings of vegetables and fruit, 6 servings of grains, 2 servings of milk products, and 2 servings of meat.  So today was the first day I got all my servings in!!  Yay!!

Sarah Baker

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Food For Thought: Day 8

Mondays are normally one of my favourite days of the week, because even though I have to go back to campus after a weekend off, they’re normally very low-key.  I only have two hours of class, and I don’t start until 12:30.  Unfortunately I had a few meetings this morning, which dragged me to campus for 9:30am; this is earlier than I usually like to wake up on a Monday!  It was alright though, I just followed the same sort of routine I follow the rest of the week.

I got up at 8:00, grabbed a nice quick breakfast, at which point I was very glad the raisin bread had been on sale, packed a quick lunch, and headed off to campus.  I had a couple of meetings, and then my good friend Ashley (who is doing a joint Fanshawe-Western journalism program) did an interview with me.  We talked about the experience so far, and then went through the depressing stage of a tour around one of the on-campus eateries, examining all the delicious food that I couldn’t come close to affording.  After that it was off for a lunch, which turned out not to be too bad, a few hours of class, and then a couple more meetings before heading home.

It turns out I didn’t pack a large enough lunch again today, so I was a little hungry when I arrived home, but all in all things weren’t too bad.  One of the things I talked about with Ash was the fact that, despite having a relatively balanced diet on a few occasions, I’m a little concerned about my sodium intake.  I may have to keep a closer eye on it over the next few days as we finish up.

Well, it’s off to bed for me now – another long day ahead tomorrow!

Andrew

Meal Breakdown:

Breakfast: two pieces of raisin toast, a glass of orange juice, and a glass of milk.

Lunch: a bit of leftover soup, an apple, and a sandwich (lettuce, tomato, and mustard – no meat because it’s a Monday).

Dinner: two glasses of milk, some carrots, a banana, and some leftover soup.

Late Night Snack: a few handfuls of chips and a glass of rootbeer.

Estimate on Food Guide Servings:

Vegetables and Fruit: 5-6

Grains: 6-7

Milk and Alternatives: 2-3

Meat and Alternatives: 0

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Food for Thought – Day 7

Sundays are a day of reflection for me. A day where I realize that yet another week in the life has come to a close and yet another is about to begin. The day is largely about finding a balance between relaxing and refueling.

Sundays are HUGE, so I never skimp on starting the day in a healthy way. For breakfast, a massive homemade fruit smoothie, fried egg with a dash of S&P on toast. About $2

After lunch, some chicken noodle soup in between essay-writing and reading ($1.75), I ran on over to the gym. And then I ran some more. I decided today that it was time to get my routine back on track after my recent Olympic dream. I was fortunate enough to take part in the Samsung Mobile Explorer program at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics (http://mobileexplorers.ca.msn.com). They fed us extremely well during our all-expenses-paid dream vacation or, as I like to call it, my TWO-BUFFET-per-day-getaway.

I ran for 50 minutes on the old ‘mill. I had to blow off some left-over steam from the quarter-life-crisis that I had yesterday AND I didn’t want to rush back into a stiff routine just yet. Catching up with work, friends, and school (in no particular order) post-Olympics… Polishing my undergrad degree… facing real life…. Proposing research for Grad studies… REAL LIFE… Teaching English in Italy? Teaching English in Thailand? Aiiii yi yiiii…I deserve a delicious treat.

I took my laptop to Coffee Culture to do some more work while I opted for their 2 for $2 deal. Fair trade coffee and a cookie. $2.30

For dinner, a quick Chicken and roasted red pepper wrap with barbecue sauce. $3.60

TOTAL for Day 7 = $9.65

Over budget and necessary,

R

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Food for Thought – Day 6

I love Saturday mornings in St. Catharines. Local farmers and artisans, bakers and meat vendors. Ever Saturday, people from all walks of gather in the heart of downtown for the indoor market square. This marketplace is one of the oldest in Ontario where growers have been selling their goods since the early 1800s. The market is open Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays from about 6AM until 2PM… but Saturday mornings are where its AT!

For breakfast, a delish and hearty omelette with red peppers, spinach, onion and garlic + banana. Of course, all were fresh purchases from the market this morning for a cost of about $1.50.

For lunch, Kielbasa, cucumbers and honey mustard on a pita. $1.25

Dinner: Couscous with a mélange of chicken cutlets, onions, asparagus and red peppers in a sweet chili sauce. Mmmm Mmmm. $4.50

TOTAL for Day 6 = $7.25

See you Tuesday at the Market Square,
Rach