Grad School Food

First published while I was in law school, republishing for nostalgia and for any usefulness others may find.

In the throes of grad school, after sleep the first necessity of life that gets tossed out the window for lack of time is food. Obviously something ordered at a drive thru is generally easy to eat on the run, but when student loans are a way of life, grocery budgets are not large enough to handle daily (or even weekly) $7 meals.  And, really, while the standard hamburger has protein (I guess), it also has a lot of other junk the grad student just burns through.  For snacks on the run (between class, in the car, etc.), here are some helpful tips -

First, criteria:

• Filling!  A few handfuls/forkfuls need to keep us from falling over until the next time we get to eat (anywhere from 2 to 6 hours ... we don't know where we'll be in 4 hours).
• Clean!  Running around with remnants of pudding, etc. on your chin is just not okay.
• Room-temp friendly!  Grad students live out of cars, backpacks, and/or lockers.  At best, we have an ice block in a lunch bag.
• Easy to buy, store, carry, and access!  I don't know what the packaging on some granola/grain bars is made of, but if I can't open it in the 3 seconds I have to spend doing so, the food inside is useless.  And smooshed granola is gross.

So, here are my top picks ... In order of time available!

If I have 5 to 10 minutes

• Large piece cereal.  Cheerios (or, store brand "O"s).  The less sticky, the better.
• Nuts.  No salt.  Crunchy is good, "finger-lickin" is bad.  I am a particular fan of walnuts or almonds.
• Dried fruit.  If you go with real dried fruit, great!  If you find it's really too pricey for you, see ......
• Fruit snacks.  These things have vitamins added!

... a whopping 15 to 30 minutes

• Pasta.  This probably sounds bizarre, but if you carry a small microwave bowl of noodles (elbows, perhaps) to school, then go to the student lounge, add some water, and nuke it, you have pasta.  
• Add a can of tuna and you've nearly got mom's tuna casserole.
• If you go to a school that has lockers, keep pasta, canned tuna and chicken, and canned soup in your locker. Don't try to pack that every day.  Bring in a clean bowl every day, please; but not the cans.

More than 30 minutes!! (really?)

• I strongly suggest still opting for something from one of the categories above, then taking a nap.  You probably need it.