Lunch Made Easy -- Elevated and Healthy
- Valerie Mitchell
- Jul 14, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 25, 2019
Hi, my name is Valerie Mitchell and I am a senior in college. Life at a university can be really stressful and most students don't have much money, so these are some cheap options for all my fellow college students trying to be healthy on a budget.
Have you ever had grilled cheese? So simple, cheap, and good. Well this is a new take to make it just as simple but also healthy! The beauty of this meal is that just like the overnight oats it is super versatile so that you don't get bored. I got ideas for the different grilled cheese sandwiches from this website and then I took different ingredients and put them together to make quick, cheap and healthy grilled cheese options.I am calling these elevated healthy grilled cheese sandwiches.
O P T I O N O N E :
This elevated healthy grilled cheese consists of two slices of wheat bread, one slice of mozzarella cheese, a handful of spinach, and half an avocado. This recipe works out to be 384 calories and $1.14 per sandwich. That is an unbeatable price! At that rate lunch for an entire work or school week it would only cost $5.70! Most sandwiches cost anywhere from $5 to $12. This means that five days of lunches is the equivalent to one cheap sandwich for one day.
O P T I O N T W O :
Another recipe for this elevated healthy grilled cheese would be two slices of wheat bread, one slice of provolone cheese, 1/4 of a red pepper, 1/4 of a yellow pepper, and a handful of spinach. This comes out to be 279 calories and $1.78 per sandwich. So lunch for the entire work or school week would be $8.90! That is lunch for five days for under ten dollars, considering one meal usually ends up being at least ten dollars that is a lot of savings!
O P T I O N T H R E E :
The next option I thought of was one involving sautéed vegetables. This one would obviously take a little longer. But if you find yourself with a little more time this would be good. Or if you prep a bunch of sautéed vegetables in the beginning of the week, then it wouldn't take any longer. So this sandwich would consist of 1/4 of a yellow onion sautéed, 1/4 cup of mushrooms sautéed, with one slice of provolone cheese, and two slices of wheat bread. So this version of this grilled cheese comes out be 260 calories and $1.42. This works out to be $7.10 for the entire work or school week.
O P T I O N F O U R :
The last option I have found for this elevated grilled cheese is a caprese inspired grilled cheese. I tweaked the recipe from the link a little. This grilled cheese consists of two slices of wheat bread, one slice of mozzarella, one tablespoon of pesto, and two slices of tomatoes. My favorite kind of sandwich is a caprese sandwich, and this makes getting one everyday affordable and easy to do. This comes out to be 300 calories and $1.09 a sandwich! This means you could have lunch for an entire work or school week for $5.45. I don't know anywhere else you can get this good of a sandwich for only $1.09.
A Perfect Fit :
This lunch idea is a perfect fit for someone who needs a quick, cheap and healthy yet really good lunch recipe. Since this meal involves vegetables my suggestion is to meal prep the ingredients. So cut up exactly what you need and put them in individual plastic bags and make the sandwich in the morning, or if you can go home for your lunch break make it then. This sandwich only takes about 20 mins to make with nothing pre cut, and 5 min if you have everything prepared. And only dirties two dishes if you don't cut the sandwich in half. Also by meal prepping these in the beginning of the week this will cut down a lot of time and help with time management. In college one of the hardest things is not procrastinating. So by meal prepping your ingredients, you won't procrastinate during the week and go buy an unhealthy lunch.
These pictures are three examples of some grilled cheese sandwiches I talked about above. The first two pictures are different variations of option one, and the third picture is of option four.
This video is another version of a grilled cheese. I would replace the white bread with wheat bread, only use one slice of cheese, and put the spinach on the sandwich instead of on the side. Here is the link to the video.
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