Help with cleaner dirty eating?

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[img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Hey girls (and guys)! [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I've mentioned before I live in a cooperative and have little control over food choices, ESPECIALLY meat. I've been buying my own food, but...

I found an apartment. Which is great because I will get to buy my own groceries and eat what I want to when I want. I can move-in in the next six weeks or so. But, I need to save all the money I can until then. Which translates into--no more groceries for moi. I have to eat what is around here. I'll probably keep buying whey cuz its important for post-workout and tuna cuz its pretty cheap and is an easy addition to make sure I get in enough protein.

But, girlz...cereal is my weakness (though I'm good and eat raisin bran and skim milk). Carbs just are all over the place...most of the meals we eat are carbs carbs carbs...We eat a ton of rice and pasta here. I can avoid some of that by having a slice of toast instead, but there are times when that won't work. The meat is usually cooked with vegatables in a fair amount of vegetable oil (some of the stuff is really greasy). I can avoid some fried stuff if there are decent leftovers, but meat is usually gone in the first pass. And then there are a few Chinese cooks who insist on making some variation of stir fried rice...just fat and carbs...grumble grumble...

I just wanted help, maybe things to keep in mind, when eating in a place that I can't fix my own stuff. I am at the mercy of either: lazy cooks, cooks that love to drench everything in vegetable oil, cooks that make dishes I can't pronounce, and cooks that make their food so **** complicated I scream for a simple grilled chicken breast, salad, and sweet potato. I really like eating clean and simple. I feel so blah from a week of eating dirty.

Bah. Anyway, like I already said, I am currently trying to gain muscle anyway so it's not like I'm cutting while doing this. Is this going to be a major problem with gaining muscle mass as long as I get in enough protein? This is all I'm really concerned about...(well, I don't want to gain fat but I've been eating this crap for two years so another month ain't gonna kill me). I just miss my nice simple food. And now I'm probably going to end up eating about 4 meals a day instead of 6 like I was doing before. I can always have one meal of scrambled eggs/oatmeal, a tuna sandwich, another meal with natty peanut butter and apple, so there's three meals that are do-able with just two things from the grocery store...

ENDER GRUMBLES!

Advice?

[soccerchick]

if you plan on buying tuna at least you can mix it in with the rice and pasta...

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Hehehe...was that sarcastic? [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Btw...I may run for food buyer here at the cooperative. Rent is really cheap if I were to do that and I'd have a LOT of say in what kind of things get bought (like natural peanut butter instead of the oogie kind if its not too expensive). And I can still buy my own food for myself (like meat and whey) and I don't have to worry about trying to find a job about town. This one I could do in my pajamas if I wanted to and I don't have to worry about house labor. And running a kitchen is a good thing to put on a resume ya know?

Muhahahaha...

[soccerchick]

hey that would be cool. you could make sure the foods that are bought are healthier and you'd have cheaper rent... i'd do it. [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

i would think that would look good on a resume... what are you going to school for anyways ender?

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****it, someone just signed up to run against me. Granted I've lived here 2 years and he's lived here all of 2 months, but this sucks. Now I'm not sure if I want to run. [img]/forum/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

I may end up in an apartment after all. Don't know how I feel about that. I was kinda happy with staying here at the cooperative. It will be much easier to fix what I want to eat though if I live on my own.

*Ender sighs*

Btw, I'm an English major and I graduate next May. I'm a writer so any job will do as long as I have time for my little addiction. Not sure yet if I want to go to graduate school or not, but I have to pay off a hefty student loan debt before that. Everything is very up in the air, but I hope to go to Japan to teach English for a few years (and pick up some Japanese--the language not men!) and then maybe do some teaching in Latin America to work on my Spanish (my Spanish is TERRIBLE but I've studied it for a few years) or join the peach corps for a couple of years also in Latin America. Heard not so great things about the peace corps though, so its kind of a toss up.

Hey eggs are cheap too! Good Protien, well the whites anyway!

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[img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Yeah, I get eggs free here...at least for now! [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

egg whites with chicken breast and salsa....yummmmmmmmmmmm...

[soccerchick]

[ QUOTE ]
enderwigginout said:
Btw, I'm an English major and I graduate next May. I'm a writer so any job will do as long as I have time for my little addiction. Not sure yet if I want to go to graduate school or not, but I have to pay off a hefty student loan debt before that. Everything is very up in the air, but I hope to go to Japan to teach English for a few years (and pick up some Japanese--the language not men!) and then maybe do some teaching in Latin America to work on my Spanish (my Spanish is TERRIBLE but I've studied it for a few years) or join the peach corps for a couple of years also in Latin America. Heard not so great things about the peace corps though, so its kind of a toss up.

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wow talk about ambitious! [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] go for it girl and go for it all. your young and should do all you want once you graduate. i highly advise traveling. i have been out of school for alomst 3 years now [img]/forum/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] (omg its been 3 years) and have been trying to travel and see the world. so far i've see more of europe and the uk than of america! lol

i would still run for the cooperative shopper (is that what it's called haha?) and see what happens. you have nothing to lose right? well except the position... [img]/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] but you should at least try all your options before you decide to move out on your own, unless that's what you really want. [img]/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[enderwigginout]

Yeah, I'm trying to figure it all out right now. I'm thinking of running for a different office because the other guy seems like he'd be pretty good (right personality for it--you get bugged a billion times a day and sometimes I just want to be left alone).

So who knows?