Tip #41: Take a Power Nap

They say that university is just like kindergarten: you miss your mommy, kraft dinner is your favourite food, and you need your nap time.

Let's face it - although we'd all love to schedule ourselves a perfect 8-hour work day, that's not always going to be possible with night classes, social activities and room-mates. So, my advice is to learn how to power nap.

In my first year at university, my schedule had morning classes almost every day and more classes and other commitments like band practice and work in the evening. I don't know about you, but I most certainly cannot make it through 16-plus hour day without a little time to re-charge. So, I got into the habit of taking a power nap in the afternoon. Not only would I make it through my day without falling asleep during my evening class, but I would be more productive during my study time.

Some quick suggestions:

• Set an alarm - do not let yourself sleep away your afternoon. You won't get anything done, and you'll be up all night.
• It's OK if you don't actually sleep-sleep while you're taking your power nap. Sometimes all you need is a half hour of rest just lying down doing nothing.
• The best time for napping is right after lunch. Your body needs time to digest anyway!
• If you find you can't get to a nap because you're thinking too much about what has to be done, then write a list. You can get back to it after your nap.

Even my doggy enjoys a nap here and there...

Tip #28: Don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry

This tip really doesn't have to apply just to students. My sister gave me this tip when I was headed off to Cornell and it's soooo true.

When you're hungry and grocery shopping you tend to buy way too much, and also will buy the wrong types of foods. This is especially dangerous when you go shopping, hungry during No Frills Dollar Days (bad idea). If it does happen that you buy way too much, most things can be frozen... I'd go so far as to say anything can be frozen (you may just have to alter it in some way to make it freezable - ex. make soup, muffins, stir fry etc.)

This being said, I wouldn't agree with those who say that you have to stick to the list. Although it's good to have a list of things you don't want to forget, I would also suggest buying something new every time you go to the grocery store. It may end up being gross, but that's what roommates are for :)

Tip # 19: Eat Healthy

If I've developed one thing over my university career, it has been healthy eating habits. It makes sense that eating healthy will help you out at school - you'll be more attentive in class, get sick less and just feel better!

But, "student food" is usually not all that healthy - TV dinners, Kraft dinner, and pizza are usually staples. Here are some suggestions for healthy student living that I learned while I was living on my own while at Cornell:

Getting your vegetables and fruit:

Since I usually only went grocery shopping about once every two or three weeks, I ran into the problem of my fruits and veggies going bad before I could eat them all, and also not having a lot of fresh fruits and veggies that last week before I went grocery shopping again. Here are some ways to get around that:

• Store your fruits and veggies in tupperware in the fridge to make them last longer
• Apples, oranges and carrots last really long in the fridge
• Buy some frozen veggies that you can easily steam in the microwave with dinner (it will do when you run out of the fresh stuff)
• Apple sauce and real fruit/veggie drinks will stay for a long time and are an easy way of getting your fruit/veggies
• When you do decide to buy something at the caf, go for a salad to get a veggies boost between grocery store visits
  

Alternatives to Kraft Dinner, TV dinners and canned soup:
I think the reason why so many students eat a lot of these foods are because they are quick, easy, and last forever in the freezer/cupboard. Here are some other suggestions:

• Make your own TV dinners! I had some really great take-out containers and I would make massive batches of stir-fries (with more veggies and nutrition than the store-bought ones), fill up my containers and freeze them.
• Make a large pot of healthy pasta sauce (tomatoes, beef, veggies if you like) and then freeze them in individual portions. This way, you can easy boil up some pasta (whole wheat is the best choice) and microwave your sauce to go on top)
• The same goes for soup - instead of super salty canned soup, make a large pot of your own and then just freeze in individual portions
  

Other easy meal ideas:

• I found that my bread would go stale before I could eat it all, so I just freeze any bread products right away. Microwave for sandwiches or put in the toaster oven for toast. The same goes for muffins!
• Leftovers are wonderful things - always make more than you'll eat, so you'll get multiple meals. My favourite was to make a chicken breast and then enjoy it in salads, sandwiches, and tacos for the next few days (but be careful about chicken - I'd usually only give it about three days)
• Breakfast foods are great at any time of day - toast, healthy cereal, eggs etc.
• If you're craving pizza, try this: get a tortilla, and put on it some cheese, chicken/beef, tomatoes, veggies, and then fry it in a frying pan. The gooey cheese makes it taste like pizza, but it's way healthier!

My chicken soup

A tortilla with cheese, chicken and veggies


Breakfast foods are not just for breakfast...

This is an example of a stir-fry that could be easily frozen