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Law School Life
westcoastbestcoast
Alum Member
Do we need to start looking for apartments now if we are going to live off campus? I was also curious what kind of meals you plan to cook for yourself during law schools . Trying get some ideas on cheap and healthy meals since I want to cut expenses as much as possible.
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Chicken, rice, skim milk, wheaties, vegetables, some fruit and stuff. :P
Oh, look into 'sous vide' if you aren't great about making meals every single night. This will change your outlook on food if you aren't big into cooking.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Sous_Vide_Cooking.jpg/1200px-Sous_Vide_Cooking.jpg
I need to figure out my living arrangements. I'll start asking around about this once I have my seat deposit in.
I plan to cook scrambled eggs, it's all I know how to cook. (like actually though...) As for apartments - that is really stressful to think about. I don't have an answer (mostly because I don't have answers from the schools I applied to)
I think it couldn't hurt to look for apartments now, you don't have to pull the trigger and you can get an idea of prices for the area.
It would be too early to put a deposit down anywhere. That would probably happen during the summer before school starts. However, it's a great idea to start looking to get an idea of prices and neighborhoods. If you're looking at two schools of equal ranking, this could even influence your decision.
Raaaamennnnn
Every rental market is a little different, but it wouldn't hurt to start researching now. You can look into what area you would like to live in, check out listings on craigslist to see prices, etc. But generally, you can't rent an apartment more than about a month or so in advance.
I'm not looking forward to trying to eat as cheaply as possible again, hahaha. My undergrad years, I ate almost exclusively chicken strips and mac and cheese. My old body could not handle that diet anymore haha. I miss those days. I would still only eat chicken strips and mac and cheese if I could! haha
Helpful tip: rice makes almost anything go further and is cheap as dirt. Chili on rice is really good and stretches the batch really far. Crockpots are also super low maintenance and great for batch cooking. I'll probably end up making a lot of Mexican-ish food because the staples in it are very cost effective and salsa is good on just about anything haha. Fajitas, tacos, all very easy to make and cheap. Salsa with chicken in a crockpot makes a super easy shredded chicken that you can use in just about anything.
The basics of a healthy and cheap meal are a whole grain (rice, quinoa, couscous, etc), a veggie, and some protein. For example, another easy healthy meal I like to make is sautéed kale, top it with some rice (makes it more filling) and then add a fried egg or a sliced chicken sausage from Trader Joe's. Takes maybe 10 minutes, is healthy and filling.
PS - this is my favorite chili recipe. It's a lot lighter because it uses turkey, and pumpkin is really good for you. I also add in a can of corn and black beans, and whatever random veggies I have on hand (zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, whatever). I don't like tomatoes so I usually leave those out and add in a bit of coconut milk so it's not too thick. I also add in extra chili powder, and sometimes random other spices like cumin (and I've even done cinnamon and cloves to give it a different spin). It's a very forgiving recipe to play around with, and a nice twist on regular chili.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/77797/pumpkin-turkey-chili/
I've made several big moves since college. If you have lots of money and can afford a fancy apartment building or be lucky enough to know someone with a room/apartment opening, you can finish that apartment hunt months in advance. That's never been the case for me -- I'm way too cheap.
Generally, I spend the 6 months leading up to the move scouring craigslist and other apartment search platforms to get a sense for the neighborhoods and prices. This research can be fun but it can also be discouraging to realize that you may need roomates to afford that cool neighborhood. Meh. Such is life. All that research serves to aid the final 2 months when I am actually looking to sign a lease. It's usually been a chaotic period in my experience. Mostly because I was living in places like San Francisco and Hoboken (NJ) with absurd rental markets. But the previous research helps to alleviates the stress that comes with it.
Best of luck!
Thank you very much for the meal selections. @goingfor99th I will look into sous vide. I see so many vids on youtubes of amateur cooks using it and it looks good. @"Leah M B" I actually have been using a crockpot but I have been lazy in following receipes haha. I usually just slow cook beans and eat them with rice. Thanks for the chili receipe though, I will definitely use it. I was wondering if any of you guys have ideas for a killer breakfast burrito. Thats the one thing I will definitely miss from Cali. That and Innout.
Re cheap easy things to cook —
Salad — spinach, ground turkey/ground beef, chunky salsa. You can also throw in rice, avocado, tomatoes, bell peppers, and hot sauce for some kick.
Chicken, sweet potato, eggplant
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/245946/healthy-turmeric-chicken-stew/?internalSource=staff pick&referringId=84&referringContentType=recipe hub
I had a short vegan period and that was the only time I cooked actual recipes, just throw in meat if you want to make it non-vegan:
Mashed potatoes and kale. Throw in ground turkey/ground beef and do Brussels sprouts instead of kale to make it more hearty.
https://www.thefullhelping.com/vegan-kale-colcannon/
Cajun rice and sausage
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2012/02/vegan-sausage-and-mushroom-etoufee.html
Soups are easy to make and can tide you over for like a week. Red curry Thai noodle soup is good.
I think that investing in a few spices can make really plain cheap dishes taste like gourmet meals.
One important thing for me is to find people that I really vibe with to have as roommates. I currently live in a kind of housing co-op and really like communal living (makes cost of living much cheaper and provides an amazing support system because you can pool resources) and hope to create the same community with my peers.
So I plan on talking on the school Facebook pages to ask around about folks who are going to the same law school and share my same interests: rock climbing, public interest, social justice. And I'll probably reach out and start to get to know some of them ahead of time to see if we'd be a good fit.
Living with randos from craigslist who are doing totally different things and/or possibly ending up living with terrible people is the worst. Also, shelling out for a 1 bedroom/efficiency is the worst because any extra money you take out for that you'll prolly also pay interest on.
So I'd start with the law school's housing Facebook page. Each school should have one. If they don't have one, then ask if you can start it and tell the admissions office if they will advertise it and they will probably share it with incoming students.
Have you ever had shakshuka??
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014721-shakshuka-with-feta
It is really good, cheap and healthy (really easy to make)! For dinner I eat it with some bread to dip in, and it actually tastes even better the next day in a sandwich (or that killer breakfast burrito you were speaking of)
*the recipe above seems kind of complicated. All you really need are canned tomatoes, some cut up onion, basic tomato sauce/paste and eggs. Lots you can add and customize
I imagine a lot of salads would be in my future. You can buy a bag of salad mix for 2.00 or less, throw in some pre-cooked chicken strips, etc. You can easily have a big, healthy meal for 5.00 (sometimes less depending on sales or buying in bulk). It also takes very little work to put it together. Time will be rather important.
A lot of my coupled friends who are both full time professionals with kids swear by Instapots. They're programmable, and you can throw in all the ingredients, even when they're frozen, and get a meal in an hour or two. I think some of the nicer ones can even keep your food warm for you for hours. I've considered it for home, because they sound awesome. Like a crockpot, but even faster, and more programmable.
Honestly? I have looked into campus meal programs. If you do the math, sometimes they are not bad (~ 5.00-7.00 a meal), have the versatility to eat in many places on campus, and then you don't have to worry about time and dishes. Sure, I could make a really cheap meal monetarily, but I pay for it in time or nutrition. You only get to pick two: cheap, fast, or nutritious. Have to find a happy balance with it all.
Foods I am planning on using as my staples.
Make soup. It stretches, fills you up, is hard to mess up, and you can put basically anything in it. It is also ideal for cold climates.
Additionally, chili is great, cheap, keeps, and is similarly warm.
Tacos with rice or refried beans or both as the main part. Add a couple onions or peppers and some cheese and you are in cheap food heaven. If you don't fry your tacos in some sort of oil though, you are doing it wrong.
Krab sticks(imitation crab). If you like crab, but not in a pretentious picky way and hate the smell of the forementioned crab, try treating yourself to some imitation Krab. It tastes similar to the real deal, soaks up any spice you put on it very well and fills you up.
Macaroni and cheese. Even though I'll have to buy milk, it will be worth it. Maybe, I can find a roommate or a neighbor who stocks milk and take a little of his/hers for some nominal fee.
Hashbrowns. If you stock some potatoes and that oil for your tacos, hashbrowns are basically the height of human existance. And potatoes are cheap. If you have slightly poor taste, fries are a passable alternative.
I am also going to learn at some point to make my own breadsticks. I'm not sure what the price range is on that or if I'll get to do it much in law school.
Edit: I just saw that you said healthy meals. My emphasis on oil may fall on deaf ears. Why do the healthy ones have to ruin everything?
@"Seeking Perfection" Bah. Hashbrowns are awesome. I don't care what people say.
Just an idea... but they make freeze dried stuff now. Might store better, smaller, and easier. I know in particular, they have freeze dried little boxes of hashbrowns for like 1.00-1.50. Not as cheap as raw potatoes, but then you don't have to worry about them going bad, and the boxes store just about anywhere you can think of (Ever smell a bag of potatoes that turned? You do not want those, say, in a dorm room or studio with carpet. Gag). Same for mac n cheese. Easy mac packets just use water, no milk needed. You can get an 18 pack on Amazon prime pantry for like 7.30. There's also the option of freeze dried canned goods. Things like hashbrowns or the likes might be a lot cheaper by the 10# can. (check out Augason Farms and the like; they have freeze dried everything these days). I've yet to be disappointed by freeze dried foods like potatoes. And if you can find them, freeze dried yogurt bites are like crack. So good, and extra portable.
Soup, btw, is a great suggestion and can be very healthy.
Damnit.. now you have me thinking of potatoes. Back at my lowest point, I lived on potatoes. No exaggeration; bags of potatoes on sale helped me survive for some time. You have no idea how bad I felt for the main character of The Martian when I read it. Been there, done that, glad to not have to do it again (I hope). And he didn't even have garlic powder.
I forgot to include Fast food options in my school comparison matrix, Berkeley and UCLA just got a huge bump up!!!
I may be unintentionally weighting my preference for CA schools because of how deeply in my bones I miss In N Out.
Ugh just saw a video on people cooking a innout and a shake shack burger and later creating shake n out hybrid. I must learnn
That's sounds beyond Amazing!! Shut up and take my money!
I'm willing to do cheat meals here and there. Thank you for the suggestions. Hashbrowns are great! They usually come with the breakfast burritos that I order in fast food joints in my area so they are definitely nostalgic for me.
I loooove breakfast foods and went through a brief hash brown phase. It’s super cheap to buy the pre-shredded frozen hash browns at grocery stores. And obviously, they keep a lot better than fresh potatoes haha. Hash browns are so freaking good.
@"Leah M B" I am literally eating a Trader Joe's hash brown as I am reading this
@Emily2122 hahaha excellent choice!