Basic guidelines for most meal planning can begin with a meal that is approximately 50% fruits and vegetables, 25% proteins (e.g., meats, poultry, eggs, beans or tofu), and 25% grains. Aim for whole grains (e.g., brown rice vs. white rice, whole grain bread vs. white bread) as often as you can, but don't worry if some of your carbs are refined. Good complex carbohydrates (breads, cereals, rice, pastas, etc.) that are not whole grain will still give you excellent energy and plenty of nutrients. In addition to three main areas of your meal, adding a serving of low-fat milk (or calcium fortified milk substitute) or yogurt will help to round out the meal. 

If 3 or more hours have passed since your first meal of the day, your blood sugar is dropping. Your energy levels and brain are probably signaling you that it is time to eat. Sometimes, feeling grumpy or lightheaded can be signals of hunger.

As with breakfast meals, leftovers can be a good resource to use for lunch meals. If you have a microwave, simply heating up leftovers that include some type of protein, and then adding a vegetable or fruit and some type of grain, will provide a basic meal. Rounding out lunch with low-fat milk or yogurt ensures another protein boost and is a great source of calcium that your body needs.

Here are just a few examples of lunches you can create quickly in your dorm room or apartment kitchen. Some of these ideas will also work well for bag lunches.

• Canned soup that contains vegetables and some type of legume, such as chickpeas, black beans or lentils, along with bread and a green salad (can be served quickly from a purchased pre-bagged salad) with yogurt dressing

• Leftover stir-fry with vegetables, tofu, and brown rice, heated in the microwave, with a glass of low-fat milk

• Peanut butter and jam sandwich on wheat bread, baked black bean tortilla chips, and a fresh orange

• Pita with sliced lean turkey, cranberry sauce, and sprouts, with a dish of frozen low-fat yogurt and cookies

• Turkey breast on oat bran bread with green pepper rings and tomato slices, a piece of fresh fruit, peanut butter cookies, and low-fat yogurt

• Vegetarian chili, wheat crackers, baby carrots, and a large apple

• Cheese and apple slices on a pita, fruit, yogurt, and cookies

If you know you are going to be away from home at lunch, you can save a lot of time and money by packing your own lunch, or at least supplementing what you can pick up on campus. Many foods will keep well without being refrigerated, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, peanut butter, cooked legumes, and even yogurt for several hours. But if you are planning on bringing meat, poultry, fish, egg or dairy, use an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack. This is especially important if the temperatures are warm, and/or if you will be carrying this food longer than 2 hours. 

Current recommendations support snacking as a way to boost your energy between meals and to furnish important nutrients that might be missing from your other meals during the day. Because many students find it hard to eat 3 regular meals a day, snacks become even more important as a way to fill in nutrition gaps created by an uncertain eating schedule. Moderate healthy snacks have also been shown to decrease late-day binge eating.

If 4 or 5 hours pass after eating even a fairly good sized meal, your stomach has emptied, and your blood sugar level has begun to drop. Not only will you probably begin to feel the sensations of hunger, other physical, emotional, and even mental changes could be starting to take place, signaling you to take in food. Your body can indicate low blood sugar/hunger in a variety of ways: dizziness, lightheadedness, a headache, general sluggishness, feeling "spacey," feeling unable to concentrate, irritability, nausea, and even cold sweats are common symptoms that people can experience). Snacks that are eaten between meals can help to prevent these symptoms.

You may hear that snacking is "bad for you," that it will cause weight gain, or lead to out-of-control eating. Rather than categorizing snacking in these ways, think about choosing between-meal foods and drinks by what they can do for you. Some snacks, like chips, sodas, cookies, and ice cream, don't offer much in the way of vitamins and minerals. The American Dietetic Association provides some tips on choosing healthy snacks:

• Plan ahead - Pack fruit, trail mix (seeds, dried fruits, nuts), yogurt, and other portable foods ahead of time in your backpack. Then you won't have to rely on vending machines and convenience stores.
• Snack consciously - Mindless or emotional nibbling can lead to overeating. Try to eat a snack without doing anything else. Don't watch TV or study at the same time, especially if you are under stress.
• Choose nutrient-rich foods. Examples would be whole grain muffins and crackers, baby carrots, popcorn, fresh fruit, yogurt, low-fat cheese, peanut butter, and nuts and seeds.
• Pay attention to the difference between hunger and boredom or the need for a distraction. Have other non-food ways to manage stress and relax. Listen for fullness, too. Your body, when given 20 minutes at a meal or snack, knows when it has had enough.

Here are some ideas for healthy, quick-to-prepare snacks to have on hand in your room or backpack:

• Instant or canned vegetable or bean soup
• Pretzels (whole grain for extra fiber and staying power)
• Snack-sized cereal boxes (same benefits if whole grain)
• Dried fruits
• Oatmeal packets (especially good with dried cranberries or raisins, and nuts)
• Low-fat crackers with peanut butter, almond butter, or low-fat cheese
• Low-fat yogurt with fruit pieces stirred in
• Air-popped popcorn with topping ideas: cinnamon, chili powder, low-fat cheese sprinkles (add butter flavored spray to help these flavors stick to popcorn)
• Low-fat frozen yogurt with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, or ginger snaps
• Baked tortilla chips with low-fat melted cheese and salsa
• Raw fruits and vegetables, already cut up and in zip-loc bags ~ can be dipped in mixture of plain yogurt mixed with salsa or herbs
• Fruit smoothies (frozen or chilled fruit pieces blended with fruit juice and nonfat fruit yogurt)
• Remember that water is an essential nutrient. To quench your thirst, instead of soda, try juice spritzers (one part juice and one part sparkling water), vegetable juice, or flavored mineral waters 

Whether you are preparing a meal in a full apartment kitchen, or from a tiny dorm area with a microwave and a space cleared off your desk, it's helpful to know useful "starter foods" with which to create a meal.

Though you can expand this list for a larger kitchen, here are guides for foods to have on hand for the dorm kitchen, from Eating Well on Campus: 

As your space and budget allow, there are more and more pre-prepared foods available in supermarkets. You can find a wide variety of ready-to-eat gourmet meals and these can be purchased either in separate courses, or as entire meals. 

Shopping for your food can be somewhat overwhelming if you haven't had a lot of experience dealing with the thousands of choices offered to the consumer in an average supermarket. Layout of aisles is designed to increase the purchase of higher-priced items. Staples are usually placed in the far sides and in the rear of stores. Newer, heavily-advertised, and often less nutritious items are often placed at eye level. End-of-aisle displays are not necessarily selling items on sale.

The best beginning when you are heading to the store is to start with a shopping list. Having a list gives you a plan, and makes you less susceptible to impulse shopping. Think about your meals for the week to avoid forgetting things. Many shoppers find that taking the time to map out a store's aisle layout, and then creating a master list (e.g., on your computer) is an enormous time saver. You can print out copies that you can then post on a weekly basis, and just check off or circle items as you need them.

Another tried and true recommendation is to shop when you are not hungry. Studies of consumer behavior have found that people will purchase more foods high in fats and sugar, as well as higher-priced snack foods, when they are moderately to very hungry. Grab some yogurt or fruit before you grab the shopping cart!

For the most part, you will save money by shopping at larger supermarkets instead of small convenience stores. Specialty gourmet markets are usually more expensive as well. Some grocery stores, such as Eastside Marketplace and Super Stop and Shop, will deliver orders for an additional small fee. For more information on these delivery services, see the resource list below. Students can join together to give a group order, saving money on a delivery for a single fee. EastSide Marketplace also offers the services of a staff nutritionist, who can answer questions about foods and nutrition, assist you in making nutritious choices, and can meet individually with customers who have further needs.

When you are checking out the cost of foods, look at the price label on the store shelf under food items. The best way to compare the cost of two items is to look at the "unit" price (e.g., cents per ounce for brands of tomato sauce). Although one can may cost more, the unit price will tell you if it is the better buy.

As a rule, when buying fresh produce (fruits and vegetables), you will be better off buying items that are in season. It is possible to buy fresh watermelon in January, and grapefruits in the middle of summer, but these items are either being imported from another hemisphere, or have been grown artificially out of season. The taste and price will reflect this. In-season produce will have the highest level of nutrients, cost the least, and score the highest in the flavor category. Also, some other countries use pesticides and herbicides banned in the United States.

Frozen produce will retain almost as many nutrients, and sometimes more, as fresh equivalents. This is because most modern packagers "flash freeze" foods in plants located near fields and orchards. Fresh produce has sometimes been kept in warm railroad cars or in back storerooms for long periods of time, with a subsequent loss of some susceptible nutrients. 

Proper storage is a key factor in reducing the chance of foodborne illness. Bacteria thrive at room temperature. Store food in the right container, in the right place, at the right temperature, and you can stop bacterial growth before it has a chance to start.

Cleaning out the refrigerator and getting all the way to the back of your food storage shelves on occasion may not rank above studying for an exam or going out with your friends. You probably don't want to waste any foods that you've spent good money on, either. One basic principle that is good to follow is: "when in doubt, throw it out." Becoming sick from food poisoning after eating something that has spoiled is a hard way to learn about the importance of prevention of foodborne illness.

The American Dietetic Association's has developed some food safety guidelines that can help you keep your food storage areas safer from contamination. One of the most important things to keep in mind is temperature of foods that normally need to be refrigerated. The "temperature danger zone" --40 degrees F to 140 degrees F-- is where bacteria multiply best. Keep hot food hot and cold food cold when outside the refrigerator. Purchase inexpensive refrigerator thermometers for your refrigerator and freezer compartments and check them occasionally. Refrigerators should be kept between 34 degrees F and 40 degrees F, and the freezer at 0 degree F or lower. Wrap foods tightly or cover for storage in the refrigerator or freezer, and move older foods to the front, to be used next.

Guidelines for lengths of time some common foods can be kept safely in the refrigerator and freezer are: 

You can do this with caution and only if the food still has ice crystals and has been held in the refrigerator for one day or less. However, quality may be lost with refreezing. Consider cooking the food and then refreezing it.

Freezer burn-the white, dried-out patches found on improperly wrapped food-won't make you sick, but it will make food tough and tasteless. Wrapping food correctly in materials meant for freezing (aluminum foil, heavy duty zip-loc bags or thick freezer paper) and pushing out excess air will prevent freezer burn. 

A few important things to keep in mind when you're preparing and cooking your foods are:

• Wash your hands in warm, soapy water before and after every step in the food preparation process.
• Clean food preparation surfaces often, and remove food particles. Sanitize cutting boards after each use with hot, soapy water, and let them air-dry.
• Beware of cross-contamination of utensils (e.g., don't put cooked meat in the same dish used for raw meat).
• Marinades can only be used if they have been thoroughly cooked.
• Change dish cloths often, as they are perfect breeding grounds for bacteria. Throw out dirty sponges.
• Thaw frozen meats for cooking in the refrigerator, never at room temperature. If you defrost foods in the refrigerator and not in the microwave, it's safe to refreeze them.
• Don't use a cracked egg you find in the carton; these can harbor disease-carrying organisms.