Years of living as a student then being on the dole have forced me to become the master of stingy living. Here's my tips.
- I go for good sources of high carbs for longer lasting energy.
- I go for fruit and salads for speedy vitamins & minerals.
- Sometimes I cook veg on a slow heat so I can do other thigns while they prepare.
Top speedy things to eat.
Carbs:
- Bowl of cereal (oat flakes are healthy, been eating them as the main staple of my diet since I was born)
- Toast (with or without mashed banana and cinamon)
- Pasta (Buy the largest bag you can from your local cash & carry, usually £10 - £15 for 10kg.) Cook up 3 days worth at once and save the rest in the fridge so you can reheat it or eat it cold inside of 1 minute)
- Rice (same as pasta above)
- Chips (but only quick if you live within 2 minutes walk of the chippy)
Vitamins & minerals:
Apples
Bananas
Pre plucked grapes
Pre mixed salads
Tinned fruit
Protien & Fat:
Nuts (like pasta, buy 'em in buk and store in sealed containers)
Eggs
Bacon
Sausages
Cheese
Milk
Yogurt
Tinned beans (all varieties, not just baked beans [which are only butter beans in tomato sauce anyway]). Buy in crates of 24 tins.
Lentils (buy in bulk and cook 3 days worth per cooking session)
Shopping Tips:
I buy loads of food from my local cash & carry. I get huge packs of everything that last me up to three months. Fresh food and dairy products always comes from the local supermarkets which vary their prices according to item, season and special promotions.
- Buy the largest pack of the item you're buying. It will cost less in the long run and you'll be certain to go through it eventually unless it spoils quickly.
- Look out for regular special offers on milk & cheese in several local supermarkets, that way you always can buy the cheapest on offer.
- Buy eggs in the largest packs you can find, minimum of 12 but often available in boxes of 15 or 18, or trays of 24 or 36 from the local green grocers or butchers.
- Cheap supermarkets = Lidl, Aldi, Iceland & Netto lol, get acquainted.
- Avoid Marks & Spencers, Waitrose & Sainsbury's like the plague as they are well expensive.
- Never buy from corner shops or small minimarkets either as they are almost always more expensive than large suiperstores and cash & carries. Cheap supermarkets = Asda's, Morrisons & Tescos.
- Drink more water and less expensive stuff like juice, milk, wine, beer & spirits. Proper juice (Tropicana) simply costs too much.
- Avoid brand names unless you cannot tolerate the cheaper varieties (especially true for breakfast cereals and baked beans). Who cares whether you use Percil or own brand water pollutant to launder your clothes eh??
- Don't eat food from take-aways and fast food joints (especially McDonalds & shitty Fried Chicken places etc). Despite the shite shite shite quality of food they'll serve, it simply doesn't represent value compared to bread, pasta and beans etc.
- Let's repeat the last one for clarity. Avoid fucking take-aways and Crap Fried Chicken places..... They serve shit food which costs more than baked beans on toast and tuna sandwiches..... (So many people think Bugger King does good deals
)
- Buy some decent storage containers so that you can prepare several days worth of food per cooking session. That way, you can have healthy food and still only spend 5 minutes preparing it as you reach into the fridge and shove stuff into the microwave.
- Invest in enough cooking utensils, pots & pans etc to make bulk healthy cooking easy, e.g. big pots, decent knives and chopping boards etc.
- Meat & fish cost more than dried foods and vegetables because it costs more to raise cattle, breed fish and pay for the refrigeration.
- Ready meals also cost more on average because of the processing involved in the preparation. Avoid like the plague, if only so yuou have control of what chemicals are going into your body. (Especially true if you're into fitness pursuits too).
- Weed & cigs cost more thna you think. Quitting is easier than you think if you actually want to quit (rather than the bullshit 'yeah, I'm trying to quit lol' that most smokers blabber).
Er yeah, excuse the spelling mistakes lol.
) I've cut down going to the gym from 3-4 times a week to 2 times. I've started even thinking in terms of what foods can I eat that will A. cost less to give me more money to spend on Dj'ing, equipment etc + B. will take both less time to prepare and less time to eat.
) Are there any things you can think of that has either given you more time to write music or made your writing time more effective which allows you to be more productive?
I think I've only worked on tunes for like 2 hours the past week.
