Students learned healthy dieting and budgeting tips at a workshop hosted by the Senate of College Councils on Wednesday.
The workshop included UT Outpost information about ways to get affordable food on and around campus, and a presentation from nutrition students on how to get the most filling and healthy food on a budget.
UT Outpost was first created in 2016 when 43.7% of students at UT said in a survey they experienced some level of food insecurity during their time in college, said economics senior Caroline Wheir, outreach coordinator for UT Outpost. Outpost now has multiple free food pantries around campus, where students can get up to 20 pounds of food each month at no cost, and career closets, where students can get up to two free business professional outfits per semester.
“Emergencies and financial hardships are definitely a part of being in college and being on your own for the first time,” Wheir said. “We’re here to offer some help.”
Wheir outlined the locations and operating hours for the Outpost, career closet and their satellites. She also discussed other ways for students to access free or affordable food in Austin, including through SNAP benefits, food banks and food donation websites like UT Austin Free Food Channel and ATX Food Hub.
“I know there is a huge stigma around using a food pantry, using a food bank, using a career closet,” Wheir said. “Our hope is to ultimately minimize that stigma by having presentations like this.”
Two dietitian student assistants, Julia Hendrix and Lara Collard, shared tips for students navigating dining halls and for cooking nutritious meals. Collard, a nutrition sophomore, said students should strive to cook meals that are made up of half fruit or vegetables, one quarter protein and one quarter carbohydrates. She also said eating a variety of vegetables can help with getting different vitamins and micronutrients.
Hendrix, a nutrition junior, said a website called Budget Bytes, which provides recipes to healthy, affordable meals, helps with scaling recipes down for one person so food does not go to waste. Collard said a way to minimize stress when cooking is to meal prep a few ingredients before each meal or cook enough for multiple days.
“I don’t really like to cook … but I know for sure going to this presentation made me feel like it’s doable for whenever I start cooking for myself,” said Leyah Ford, an early childhood education freshman. “I understand there’s so many resources and ways to make things. … Whenever I start cooking, I feel a bit more prepared and confident that I’ll be okay.”
The workshop concluded with an activity where attendees calculated the cost and nutritional value of making their own tacos compared to the price of a fast-food taco. Hendrix said students should look at the price per ounce of foods when grocery shopping to gauge the best value.
Before they left, attendees were also able to make their own trail mixes with different healthy ingredients like nuts, berries and seeds.
“It being a student worker for the Outpost, and then two nutrition majors, made it feel really accessible,” said Clare Bradford, youth and community studies sophomore. “Seeing that these students know so much and they had so much information to offer, even if it was stuff that I already knew, having those reminders was really nice.”
