Monthly Archives: December 2020

How to Eat Healthy in College – Eat a Prepared Meal Kit!

Prepared Meal Kit

Updated with new information Dec 17 2020

Having a healthy balanced diet is the most important lifestyle choice you can focus on – even more so than exercising. No amount of exercise will help you lose weight for example, if you’re consuming even more calories through pizza. What diet and food choices to pick can be confusing, though. There are a plethora of vegan documentaries telling us about the hormone levels in milk, and an equal amount of rebuttals from meat-eaters. 

At this point, these choices are somewhat personal preference still. What we can agree on, is that highly processed foods leads to cancer and early death. No amount of vitamin tablets and hours accumulated on the elliptical is going to offset buying pre-made, highly processed food. Getting enough fruit and vegetables and a wide variety of them, along with enough protein (be it nuts or non-battery farmed chicken) and healthy fats is perhaps the simplest way to look at things. 

How do we achieve this at college though? It is so much effort to cook everyday. Its not just the cooking either, but to eat fresh means to buy perishable foods. These go out of date within a few days, and you’re back down the shops again.

As a result, college students often turn to pre-made meals from the shops. They’re easy to make, and are often actually cheaper than cooking yourself. The allure is real. It’s just unfortunate that they’re highly processed, and are the number 1 type of food that needs to be avoided.

The solution to this, and fast becoming a trend realised by students all the way to large families, is to meal prep. Combing the healthiness of fresh cooking with the laziness of pre-prepared meals is the genius of meal prepping.

Reasons to meal prep

Easy on the wallet

The money we can save by meal prepping can be compared to how a large manufacturer saves money by expanding their output – bulk buying ingredients in larger quantities will lead to cheaper prices per lb/kg. Just hope you have enough freezer space.

We are very often told not to be persuaded by the “3 for $5” pseudo sales but the reality is, it is cheaper per unit than buying just 1. These allure you to buying more than you need, but with meal prepping, the more the merrier. Ultimately, we can make better use of the sales through meal prepping. We also waste less on impulse buys, because meal prepping forces us to plan better, so we tend to stick to it and buy less snacks. Not only this, but sticking to the shopping list and cooking with more attention on the ingredients will result in less waste, which is better for both the environment and the current account.

Time and effort 

Through deferred gratification, meal prepping means we spend some extra time now so we can reap future benefits. 

Very often we find ourselves on Sundays with lots of free time and energy, but none of that on weekdays after work. Meal prepping is a great way to exploit that, giving us a ritual activity to do on the weekend (and it still may only take 2 hours or less), and be able to lazily stumble home from work and chuck our planned hard work in the microwave for 3 minutes. It’s very rewarding! 

Additionally, if large cooking sessions isn’t ideal, then merely doubling up on portions when cooking a regular meal is a great way to feed you for tomorrow, with no real extra time spent (triple it?). 

Health 

No more carcinogenic, high sugar, salty, processed insoluble ready meals! 

Meal kit companies

There’s a relatively new solution to prepared healthy food which doesn’t require as much time, effort and energy to compile. Introducing MEAL KITS which are essentially personal easy-to-cook subscriptions that you get daily, bi-weekly or weekly to your doorstep with all the ingredients and preparation instructions included. The meal kits are tailored to your flavor based on what you have indicated on the app. That seems to be an-ever growing trend, those food boxes or meal kits. The thing is that they are not cheap, especially for college students and whatnot!

I liked the way Kyle from MealKitsCanada described it in his article about the global leader in meal kits, HelloFresh. Meal kits are more of an alternative to eating out, especially during COVID conditions, than a replacement to buying groceries. It’s more expensive but potentially worth it. Here is the article “is HelloFresh worth it”?

It literally applies to all of us, that when we cook ourselves, our meals become more healthy than when we purchase pre-packaged meals. Even if it was the same meal with the same ingredients, buying the meat from the butchers and the vegetables from a market is a far more sustainably healthy way of making the same meal. It will undoubtedly taste better, too.

Winter Break Jobs For College Students In COVID Times

Winter Break Jobs For College Students In COVID Times

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly changed so many things about how we live our lives. It has had staggering effects on employment and the traditional working environment. So many jobs have been lost due to the knock-on effects of the virus. On the other hand, businesses have had to change their work pattern and switch to remote work to adhere to the physical distancing guidelines. This switch to remote work has created a surge in demand for remote jobs. 

College students in search of winter jobs during this period might find it difficult to get the regular winter Jobs because of the changes brought about by the pandemic. Nonetheless, there are still jobs students can engage in to make an extra income this winter.

Some of the jobs that college students can do in COVID times include: 

Food Delivery Jobs

Today more than ever before, there is a huge surge in demand for food delivery drivers. COVID 19 pandemic has made people more reluctant about eating out as they try to minimize physical contact. Most people now prefer to order their food online and have it delivered to them at home. This provides an opportunity for college students looking to make extra cash.

However, before deciding to take this job, you must be certain that you don’t belong or fall under the population at risk of COVID 19. Being a delivery driver means that you will likely be having physical contact with different people every day; this makes it a pretty risky job to take on at the moment, given the current state of things.

If, after weighing your options, you decide to do the job, you have to take precautionary measures to keep you protected from the virus.

Aside from food delivery, you can also deliver packages as well, visit websites like Amazon Flex and Goshare to get paid to deliver packages for them.

Online Tutoring Jobs

This is another job that is experiencing an increase in demand as a result of the pandemic. With schools closed, most parents are in search of online tutors to help their kids learn from home. If you are passionate about a particular subject and feel confident in your ability to pass your knowledge to your students patiently, this job is just perfect for you.

Getting an online tutoring job is pretty easy. You’ll find many websites online dedicated to connecting tutors with students. You can find online tutoring gigs from sites like Tutor.comChegg Tutors, Manhattan Prep, and lots more.

Freelance Writing

Even though the knock-on effects of the pandemic have hit many industries, freelance writing is one job that has not experienced any decline. If anything, the pandemic seems to be accelerating its growth.

If you love writing, you can make $20-$55 an hour working from home as a freelance writer. All you need is a smartphone or computer and internet access, and you are good to go. Some employers pay per word with a rate of $0.005 to $0.06; thus, how much you earn is largely determined by your speed. 

To excel in this job, you have to be a creative writer who can write high-quality content on different topics. If you are new to freelancing, you can surf the net for articles on how to be a successful freelance writer.

There are many freelance writing websites where you can get freelance writing jobs, including FreelancerUpwork, Writer Access, and Verblio.

Uber Driver

If you have a car and a good driving record, this could be another convenient job you can do to make money during the winter break. Rides are usually in high demand during festive seasons as people move from one place to another, visiting friends and family members.

However, the current situation has made people more skeptical about taking cabs because it brings them in close physical contact with other people, which puts them at a higher risk of contracting the virus. This is why most people opt for Uber, a more convenient and safer means of transportation. 

You can earn $5-$43 an hour driving for Uber. One good thing about this job is that you can work at your own pace.

Christmas Light Removal

One of the most beautiful things about winter breaks is the Christmas decorations, which light up every home with lovely, beautiful colors. Setting up Christmas lights is always so much fun, but it can be a challenging task for many when it’s time to take them down. This is why most people prefer to pay others to get this job done.

You can leverage this opportunity by simply helping people around your neighborhood to take down their Christmas lights and other decors; you’ll earn a little extra cash doing so.

Pet or House Sitting

This has always been a common winter job for students. The holiday period is when most people travel; in some cases, the whole family might be away for a long time. Most homeowners are willing to pay to have someone watch over their homes and pets while they are away.

You can offer to help people feed and their pets, water their flowers, empty the garbage, and do other house chores for them while they are away.

Proof Reading And Editing

With so many companies working remotely due to the covid-19 pandemic, there is an increase in demand for proofreaders and editors. You can easily make $12-$50 by helping companies proofread and edit their works.

Many companies will pay you to proofread their blog and social media posts to ensure that they are free from any typographical, spelling, or grammatical errors.

You can get proofreading and editing jobs from sites like Editor WorldProofreading Pal, and Cactus.

Transcription Jobs

This is another job you can do from home. With the staggering increase in online video content, the demand for transcription services is accelerating by the day. You can earn at least $20 per hour, helping companies to transcribe audio to text. If you are fast at transcribing, this could be a great job for you.

Conclusion

The COVID 19 pandemic has greatly altered the world of work, it’s just like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it has led to the loss of so many jobs (especially formal jobs in the traditional office setting). On the other hand, it has created a demand for new jobs as companies adopt remote work to keep their employees safe. College students may find it difficult to get regular student jobs this winter. However, there are many other jobs that they can do, as highlighted above.