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Lifestyle

Healthy Meal Hall Hacks for When Salad Bar Becomes Unbearable

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at STFX chapter.

First year at Meal Hall on a 17-meal-per-week plan can seem daunting when you’re trying to maintain a healthy diet. I found that shovelling spinach, cucumbers, tuna and balsamic vinegar onto a ceramic plate is not was satisfying as I wanted it to be. From my years of experience, I have created some fail-proof healthy meal hall hacks. 

It can be tempting to give up on meal hall all together and hit up Tall and Small whenever lunch time rolls around. Unfortunately, the classic Turkey Pesto isn’t great for you bank account. 

DIY Turkey Pesto Wrap

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 5 minutesCook time: minutesTotal time: 5 minutesServings:1 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. This recipe is pretty straight-forward. First, layer all the good stuff in your tortilla and wrap it up.

  2. Place your wrap in the panini press until it’s warm.

#SpoonTip: toss some goat cheese in there from the make your own pizza station (ask nicely) and you’ll be on a one-way trip to flavour town.

My Kitchen Smoothie

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 10 minutesCook time: minutesTotal time: 10 minutesServings:1 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Toss everything except the granola in that Vitamix and blend well. Use water to thin it out if needed.

  2. Bring your own bowl from the cereal section and pour your smoothie creation in. Top with granola.

#SpoonTip: style points if you find additional toppings like sliced banana. 

Chicken Burrito

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 5 minutesCook time: 2 minutesTotal time: 7 minutesServings:1 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. First, warm up the frozen chicken pieces from salad bar. You can either microwave them or throw them on the panini press with a little bit of cooking spray and let them get crispy.

  2. Throw everything in the tortilla with whatever other burrito fillings your heart desires. Add flavour with hot sauce or peppers.

  3. The panini press is a must with this recipe to warm everything through and give you that real SUB Café burrito feel.

Grilled WOWBUTTER and Banana Sandwhich

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 5 minutesCook time: 2 minutesTotal time: 7 minutesServings:1 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Prep this guy just like your mom would make you a PBu0026J. Slice the banana and arrange it on a slice of bread with a layer of WOWBUTTER.

  2. Toast your sammie on the panini press.

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 2 minutesCook time: minutesTotal time: 2 minutesServings:1 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Add protein and rice to turn the broth into a hearty and filling lunch.

  2. Add in the vegetables to add nutrients in your meal.

  3. Siracha or other dried spices from the stir fry area allow you to be truly creative with your soup masterpiece.

Microwave Apple Crumble

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 5 minutesCook time: 5 minutesTotal time: 10 minutesServings:1 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Cut up the apple into bite-sized chunks and toss it with some cinnamon sugar in a soup bowl.

  2. Microwave for about three minutes until the apple is nice and saucy and as soft as you like.

  3. Top with meal hall granola and vanilla yogurt or a little bit of ice cream. This treat will satisfy your craving and is the perfect compliment to any healthy meal hall dining experience.

Everyone is prone to head to the meal hall poutine or burger bar. As long as you’re keeping it balanced with a blend of salads and other healthy mains then there’s no need to stress about the occasional piece (or pieces) of cake. Hopefully these recipes can help you switch up the healthy options.

Whaddup Spoon Fam. Rachel "Chill" Dickey here from sweet ol' Antigonish Nova Scotia. I am a part-time barista and full-time student living the university dream, which basically means I drink a lot of boxed wine and eat a lot of ramen. I spend my free time watching What I Ate in a Day videos, American Horror Story, and complaining about meal hall food. I study Marketing, I do stand up comedy, I play basketball, I yell abut feminism, (gurl powaaa), I thrift Dad-aesthetic t-shirts, I sew dresses into rompers, I eat cake, I drink too much black coffee, & I love food.The dream is to graduate with a Marketing degree and then proceed into a Chef Skills program in a college in a bigger city. I'd love to work at a bed and breakfast type restaurant concerned with healthy, vegetable-heavy, TASTY dining. A rotating menu is key for me when I talk about becoming a chef and working in a kitchen. I would go insane pretty quickly making the same dozen entrees every night.That's it that's all. Protect your joy. Save the bees. Water is precious.