How to Save Money by Cooking for Yourself

by Jui-Ta Liu

When you spend only forty dollars for two weeks of meals, you will be able to save a lot of money for travel funds for long term holidays. For instance, I had a wonderful trip in Chicago in the winter vacation of 2012. Compared to my country, the cost of living including eating, clothing, housing and transportation is three times higher in America especially you don’t have any sponsor supporting you. On behalf of international students, I recommend that you can try to cook at home by yourself, and then you will be surprised how much money you save per month. In fact, it’s a good and easy method to control your own living budget before you realize the astonishing amount you eat outside.

The first decision you should determine is where to live. You need to live off- campus instead of in an on-campus dormitory. Anyway, it is prohibited to cook in dormitories for safety reasons. There are several advantages to living off-campus such as lower housing fee and few living limitations. Definitely, cooking for yourself is one of the benefits. Most international students are concerned that they cannot find a suitable house in College Station. Don’t worry about it. Actually, there are many methods to obtain lots of rental information. I recommend that you contact the ELI staff to look for some assistance or ask ELI senior students. I believe they are willing to give you a hand.

Subsequently, you need to shop at supermarkets such as Walmart, HEB, Kroger etc. In fact, it is easy for you to find a great diversity of different countries’ ingredients. For instance, if you are an Asian student, you can go to an Asian market called BCS to buy rice, soy sauce, miso, kimchee and so on; if you come from the Middle East, you can buy slaughtered meat in Bryan which is next to College Station. Moreover, you also can buy cooking equipment at the same time. Even if you do not drive, you are still able to reach these places conveniently. Texas A&M University provides a complete campus bus service which has nineteen routes covering almost all of College Station. Therefore, you solve another annoying life problem. Take it easy! It seems you are ready to cook, aren’t you?

Furthermore, I am going to compare the cost of lunch if you eat at home or at restaurants. In any case, please ignore fast food at first; it’s not good for your health at all. In my own experience, you might pay seven to ten dollars at least if you eat a sandwich at Subway or a Chinese food plate at Panda Express with a drink. I just spend around ten dollars for two weeks including one and a half dollars for a loaf of bread; two dollars for a box of turkey slices; two dollars for peanut butter or jam; one and a half dollars for a box of large eggs; and three dollars for a gallon of milk. The total amount is ten dollars only. By the way, there are also a lot of coupons you can utilize to save more money. Don’t be shocked how much money you can keep in your bank account efficiently.

Besides studying hard to learn English during each semester, it is also essential for international students to experience different American life meanwhile. I’ve visited Seattle, Chicago and several neighboring cities because I just spent one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per month on eating. Finally, I can give you another advantage of cooking for yourself. I made a lot of friends through inviting them to traditional Taiwanese dishes. Come and join us!