How to eat well as a Student: Cheap, Healthy and Tasty (Column)

Busy with classes at Linn Benton Community College? Want to eat healthier?  Running low on funds?  Try freezer to crock-pot meals, they are quick, inexpensive, healthy and delicious.  

Many students will fall back on the old standbys like ramen or mac and cheese, but there is another alternative.  It will take a small amount of time upfront but will overall make life easier and healthier by planning out the meals ahead of time.  This will allow foods to be bought in bulk which will help save money.  It can also reduce the time to prepare foods each day by making food for the week all at one time. 

One easy and quick way to do this is by using freezer to crock-pot meals.  The objective is to shop for 20-30 meals, prepare the food and then place all of them in a freezer bag.  When a meal is needed, pull a bag out, defrost it and cook it a crock-pot while attend classes.  On the internet, there are many great recipes that can be tailored for any diet like gluten free, dairy free and vegetarian.  These recipes can also be personalized by adding spices, flavors, meat and/or vegetable choices.

The first time may be overwhelming, take a deep breath and just follow the steps listed in the recipes.  Those who do not cook a lot, may want to start out making five or 10 meals first before jumping into preparing 20 or 30 meals at one time. 

Good shoppers and those willing to use coupons and sales, the ingredients can be purchased for approximately $150 for 20 meals, $7.50 per meal or $1.88 per serving.  The meals on average feed four people with a side dish of rice, pasta or a salad.  If the meals are serving a hungry college student, it will likely only serve two or three. Leftovers make a great lunch. 

Warning, the first time shopping trip for these meals, there may be some upfront costs for spices and 1-gallon freezer bags.  A great tip to save money is to buy a larger supply of freezer bags and spices from whole markets like Costco or Cash and Carry.  Many of the web sites that offer recipes will also offer prepared shopping lists, handy tips, and costs break downs to make life easier.

Below are three favorite recipes:

Pulled Pork

1 whole large onion

1 whole Pork Shoulder/Butt – five to seven pounds

2 cans of Dr Pepper soda

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Place ingredients all in one 1-gallon freezer bag

Write on bag: pulled pork – add ¼ cup water when cooking – cook on high for 4 hours

Makes serving for 4 with some left over if larger roast.  *This one would be served with rice and a vegetable or salad.  This recipe would also make great pork sliders on a Hawaiian bun with coleslaw.  This recipe works great with Costco’s small pork roast.  Use two of the smaller roasts. –Do NOT sub diet soda in this recipe!

Chicken & Dumplings 

2-3 chicken breasts

2 cans condense Cream of Chicken Soup – can choose Gluten free option

3 medium golden potatoes

Half a bag of frozen peas and carrots

½ cup diced onion

1 Tablespoon parsley

2 Tablespoon Butter

1 can of biscuits

Place all in one 1-gallon freezer bag – except the biscuits

Write on bag: Chicken & Dumplings – cover ingredients with water – cook on high for 4 hours – after four hours are up, take a can of biscuits and cut up each into fourths and drop on top, coat in juice and cook for another 30 minutes.

Black Bean Taco Soup 

1 pound lean ground beef (browned, drained, cooled)

1 package of mild taco season mix

1 (16oz) can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

2 (14oz) cans stewed tomatoes

1 (4oz) can diced green chillis

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (16oz) bag of frozen corn

1 (8oz) can tomato sauce

1 (8oz) can chicken/beef broth

Place all in one 1-gallon freezer bag

Write on bag: Black Bean Taco Soup -  cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours – serve with tortilla chips, sour cream and/or guacamole

The first few times make take a bit longer, but as with anything, practice makes the preparation and shopping go much quicker and there will not be 30 minutes to an hour prepare time for each meal after a busy day. 

Tips and things to know: Most of the meals are healthy and can be personalized to suit any lifestyle.  Look for sales on the ingredients and buy in bulk.  It is best to read all of the recipes plus the tips first, prepare the shopping list, and be creative. Plan for two hours prep time for 20-30 meals and it is best to prepare all meals at once, cutting and dicing the vegetable and meats and place in bowls and then measure out into the meal bags.  This will go much quickly this way as opposed to making one meal at a time. Write on the bag before filling it with date, name of meal, cooking instructions.  The meals will fit into a 1-gallon freezer bag.  Lay the bag out flat while the meal freezes, once the meal is frozen it can be stack the meals in a more organized fashion. Final tip, if a recipe calls for ground beef, precook the meat.  Even if Pinterest holds no “interest”, it is a great place to find these recipes and read reviews and tips on them. 

With a few minutes of planning, a couple of shopping and preparation, 20 or 30 healthy, cheap and easy meals will be available in the freezer.  Allow the crockpot to do most of the work and enjoy the free time and tasty meals.

At a glance:

 20-30 meals for the freezer to the crockpot

Three to four hours prep time a month

Need: crockpot, freezer, meal plan, grocery list

Links for recipes:

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/search/label/Slow%20Cooker

http://www.thebusybudgetingmama.com/2013/01/freezer-crock-pot-meals-prep-day.html

http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html

http://melissafallistestkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/freezer-cooking-slow-cooker-meals.html

Dr. Thomas Maness, Dean of the College of Forestry at OSU (Profile)

The new dean of OSU’s College of Forestry, Thomas Maness, recently attended a small luncheon with Oregon Small Woodland Association members and his sincerity and dedication for bringing his vision to life was welcomed by the local small woodland owners.

Maness began his presentation to BCOSWA members by sharing his history.  He was raised on a family farm in Missouri where he learned the ins and outs of farming.  It was there he gained the connection to the land, but quickly realized he did not want to be a farmer.  Wanting to find a way to sustain his connection to the land, Maness decided to go into forestry.

Through Maness' education and life experiences, he developed a deep felt philosophy and with his new position, he is looking forward to setting it into action.  As he reached out to the small woodland owners, his excitement and commitment to his goals and vision were evident by how he spoke to those attending.

Maness eloquently summed his vision by saying, “my interest is in developing innovative forest policies and practices to balance the production of traditional forest products with society's expanding need for ecosystem services, energy and climate mitigation.”

Comfortably Maness joked with members of the audience about how life has brought him full circle, back to Oregon.  Maness offered his thanks to fellow speaker and friend, John Mann, in calling to tell him about the open faculty position at OSU, sending him once again along same path as Mann.

Maness openly shared pieces of his life with the audience.  He spoke of his hero, his grandfather and how he was taught many important life lessons.  One of the most important lessons he learned from his grandfather was how important the land is to everyone. 
“Everything that we derive in our lives comes from the land and to have a deep respect for the land and to put back into the land and more,” says Thomas Maness. 

He expressed his concern about how most of the public has lost its connection to the land by living in urban areas.  Reuniting the urban public with its roots in the rural communities, who work the land, and bring the understanding that all depend on the land is one of his goals.  To do this, he seeks to bring information to the public eye to help reconnect them with the land that they depend on. 

As dean, he looks forward to maintaining OSU’s College of Forestry’s reputation as one of the top, world-class schools.  And he wishes to more than just educate the students but also reach out to the local community, the state, the nation and the world to find a solution that will bring all aspects of a “healthy landscapes.”  Mannes wants to get his students and the public to start thinking about the land, and how it influences and impacts their life.

After listening to Thomas Maness’ conversation with BCOSWA’s Chapter, it appears that this energy and excitement he has for his job and the opportunities to bring new positive changes to the college and community, is catching.  As he began to share pieces of his life, Thomas looked comfortable and at home as he smiled friendly, expressing his future plans for the College of Forestry with the group of small woodland owners.

Oregon State is looking forward to Maness’ new appointment and his myriad of experiences that he has garnered from his education and work in industry, government and academia.  In an OSU press release, Sabah Randhawa, OSU provost and executive vice president expresses the college’s excitement in welcoming Maness to the new position and bringing Maness’ vision to the college.  

“He is a broad thinker and understands sustainable, long-term management of forests and the resulting implications for forestry education, research and outreach,” said Sabah Randhawa.  “His vision and experience will help us further advance the college and its contributions to the university’s signature area of advancing the science of sustainable earth ecosystems,”

Besides speaking with groups like BCOSWA, Maness hopes to accomplish one of his goals by using the college forest lands as a tool to bring community education and knowledge to the public.  At the meeting, he spoke of the Cameron Tract that belongs to the College as this tool to help inform the public and show them how forest stewardship can meet most or all the intrinsic needs of the individual; economic, aesthetic, recreational, and conservation to name but a few of the values that the land needs to provide to each one of us.  When he finished his talk, he asked for questions and fielded them with a refreshing honesty that spoke of his willingness to accept and work with the local small woodland owners.

At a glance:
Who: Tomas Maness, Dean of the College of Forestry
Where: BCOSWA annual meeting, Beazell Memorial Fores
tWhen: January, 2013
Education: B.S. of Forestry, West Virginia University – 1979
M.S. in Forest Operations, Virginia Tech – 1981
Ph.D.  in Forest Economics – University of Washington – 1989
Work Experience:Industry- Weyerhaeuser
Government – U.S. Forest Service
Academia – University of British Columbia - professor
Oregon State University – professor, head of the Department of Forest Engineering and Resources and Management, Dean of the College of Forestry
Interests: hiking, exploring the desert
http://deansoffice.forestry.oregonstate.edu/about-dean-maness*picture courtesy of OSU website