Tag Archives: students

Summer BBQ’s: Student Style

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With warm weather, and summer comes lots of BBQ’s and backyard parties. This summer I have attended a lot more BBQ’s then I previously had in summer’s before, simply since I am living away from home. Now me being both frugal AND a lover a food here are a few tips to make the next BBQ you attend awesome, cheap and the food you make tasty.

If you’re hosting;
  • Get friends to bring their own;
    • Food
    • Alcohol/drinks
  • Get everyone to split on bringing certain food items or necessary things for the BBQ
    • Smore’s supplies
    • Charcoal, Fluid etc.
    • Food that everyone is sharing ie. Chips and Dip, Lettuce etc.
    • Ice
  • Don’t use paper plates, despite what you think, throwing out plates every single BBQ will add up. Another bonus of being a student is the fact that your dishes aren’t the greatest, just use the same one’s you use when eating inside!
If you’re a guest;
  • Bring your own food, you get what you want and don’t feel guilty eating your friends food.
    • When grocery shopping during the week make a few food choices based on what’s good on the BBQ
      • Chicken/Beef/Pork Skewers
      • Steak/Burgers/Hot Dogs
      • Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes
      • Red Peppers/Various Veggies
    • Honestly everything tastes good on the BBQ
  • Bring your own alcohol, you can even be the one to bring a certain part of a blendable drink and get one of your friends to bring another ingredient. Plus if you don’t have a blender, one of your friends may have one! Sharing is awesome isn’t it?
  • Load up on BBQ foods when they are on sale; buns, hot dogs, burgers and keep them in the freezer.
Some awesome BBQ recipes
  • Most of these recipes were made by me fiddling around and throwing ingredients together. Therefor there aren’t exact measurements and cooking time instructions (BBQs do vary in temperature though so that kind of saves me there)
Spicy Franks Red Hot Chicken Breasts
  • 1 Chicken Breast (Boneless or with Bone, I remove skin usually to reduce fat)
  • Franks Red Hot Sauce (the amount you put on depends on how spicy you like things)
  • Seasoning Salt/Cajun Spices etc.
  • Sour Cream
Instructions; put chicken breast, franks red hot sauce, and various spices into a plastic bag. Shake around so chicken breast is completely covered. Grill on the BBQ until completely cooked. Once cooked, serve with a side of sour cream for dipping, it will cut the spice a bit too.
Goat Cheese Filled Chicken Breast
  • 1 Boneless Chicken Breast
  • 1/5 of a goat cheese packet
  • Seasoning Salt
  • Chopped Cherry Tomatoes/Finely chopped Spinach
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Toothpicks
Instructions: Lie Chicken breast on the largest flat portion. Take a knife and slice horizontally into the chicken breast from one of the sides (just like you would for a sandwich bun). Don’t cut all the way through. You have just cut the pocket where the goat cheese will be placed. Take goat cheese and place into a small bowl. Dice up cherry tomatoes, spinach or whatever you want to mix in with the goat cheese. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste, and use a fork to mix the ingredients together. Take this mixture and place in the chicken breast pocket you previously cut, place this more in toward the back of the chicken breast, away from the edges. Once stuffed, take toothpicks and seal up the edges as best you can. Sprinkle seasoning salt on the outsides of the chicken breast for additional flavour. Place on the BBQ and flip halfway through to get both sides cooked. After its finished being cooked remove toothpicks and enjoy.
Awesome Tin Foil Packet Sweet Potatoes
  • 1 Sweet Potato
  • Cinnamon
  • Cooking Oil (Canola/Olive)
  • Tin Foil
Instructions: Chop sweet potatoes into bite size chunks (they do shrink slightly when cooked). Tear off a large enough piece of tin foil to wrap and seal around the sweet potato pieces. Lay sweet potato chunks in the middle of the tin foil (shiny side out), sprinkle cinnamon on sweet potato and drizzle with oil. Seal up and form the tin foil into a packet surrounding the sweet poatotes. Throw on the grill and check every so often to make sure nothing burns (make sure to seal the packet back up once you finish checking). Sweet potatoes will be ready when the pieces are soft. If cooking with meat, put this on the BBQ first, it takes longer to cook than meat.
Tin Foil Veggies
  • 3 Different veggies; Example: Tomatoes, Snow peas, Peppers
  • Oil
  • Salt/Pepper or Soy Sauce
  • Garlic clove
  • Tin Foil
Instructions; Cut vegetables into bit sized pieces. tear a large enough piece of tin foil to completely surround vegetables in a packet. Place vegetables in the middle of the tin foil sheet (shiny side out), drizzle with oil and soy sauce/salt/pepper whichever you prefer (you can also add red pepper flakes or anything else). Chop up the garlic glove into about 8 pieces and place within the veggies in the packet. Seal up tin foil packet and then place on BBQ. This will take a bit less time then the chicken, and a lot less time than potatoes.
 
Tin Foil Spiced Potatoes
  • 1 Potato
  • Salt/Pepper/Seasoning Salt/Cajun Seasoning etc. (this is where you add the spiciness if you want it)
  • Oil
  • Tin Foil
Instructions: Cut potato in half length-wise. Cut into multiple slivers lengthwise as well. Place on a sheet of tinfoil (shiny side out) and drizzle oil, and sprinkle with seasoning salt and other spices. Fold up tinfoil into a packet and place on grill. Cook until potato wedges are soft. If cooking with meat, put this on the BBQ first, it takes longer to cook than meat.
BBQ Roasted Pepper’s
  • Whole Red/Green/Orange/Yellow Pepper
Instructions: You don’t even need to cut the pepper. Simply wash/rinse and then place on the grill. Leave on until the skin is burnt and then remove. Let cool and then peel skin off and remove seeds/stem etc. The pepper should be completely cooked and not crunchy at all. For those that don’t want to peel the pepper. Cut into rings/remove stem and seeds and place on the BBQ that way.
If you attempted any of these. Look at you go..your a BBQ pro.
And then if you don’t want to do any prep. Check out M&M Meat shops. They have some awesome stuff and you can literally just throw it on the BBQ.Image Source BBQ Photo

Anyone have any other tasty and easy BBQ recipes?

Student Laptop Buying Guide

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For students it’s simply a given now that we have laptops, and unfortunately it’s very rare for a single laptop purchased before University to last you for the entirety of your degree. So because of this we need to budget, save up and at some point purchase a new laptop to get us through classes, essay’s and various other school related projects.

I had the unfortunate problem of purchasing an HP laptop before I started university, it lasted quite a bit of time but it sounded like an airplane, was as hot as furnace, had the battery capacity of a AAA battery and had a screen flickering problem by about a year and a half. Now I’m not saying all HP laptops are bad, I just wont be purchasing one any time soon. During boxing week sales this year I purchased a Lenovo laptop which I haven’t had any problems with yet…knock on wood. Before I made that purchase, I spent a ridiculous amount of time researching what laptop to buy, which brand, PC or Mac, battery life vs screen size. The list goes on. Now, since I spent countless hours researching and researching, and being extremely OCD about it, I can pass on some major points to cut down on research time and keep it simple.

Once again, there are people that are gamers, spend countless hours on their computers and require insanely powerful ones to do so…I believe that a majority of you won’t be using your laptop for that purpose..and this post is for you.

1. Budget-Determine how much you are willing to spend, this is the most important part, this is how you determine how intense and powerful your laptop is and whether or not you can actually afford an Apple computer (is anyone else aware of the fact that they are just taking over?!)

2. Ask yourself a few preliminary questions.

    • Check out this laptop quiz from Inc. Some of the specs are old in terms of the laptop recommendations. Here’s an updated score sheet.
    • If you answered mostly As, you are most likely a gamer or a graphic designer, and you’ll need a souped-up machine with optimal power, portability, and versatility. An Intel i7 processor and 10-12GB of RAM will maintain your machine’s speed and battery life as you run multiple applications. Opt for a super-sized hard drive (750GB-1TB, 7200rpm) to accommodate your multi-megabyte files. Gamers need advanced 3D graphic chips, along with 2GB of dedicated graphics memory. Geek-up your notebook with more built-in hardware, like a rewritable DVD drive and Bluetooth technology. Wireless broadband access, either built-in or through an access device, will keep you from being tethered to Wi-Fi hotspots. Stick with a 15.4-17 inch screen or wider, allowing you to view spreadsheets and movies with ease. And upgrade to at least six USB ports so you can connect more of the latest peripherals. Example Alienware M17x
    • If you answered mostly Bs (This is probably where most students are), you like to mix business with pleasure. You aren’t an obsessive tech geek, but you want the flexibility to watch Family Guy while checking your email and updating your Facebook profile. For work, you’ll be doing the basics: email, word processing, spread sheets, and Power Point. But, for fun, you’ll also be downloading music and storing digital photos. Permanent data, such as pictures, mp3s, and documents, are stored on the hard drive. The more you plan to download, the more hard drive space you need. You need at least an 500 GB hard drive, and one with at least 7200 rpm will perform better. The computer stores the programs it is running right now in its RAM, or random access memory. In order to run multiple programs at once, quickly—say, a DVD, a music player, and the ESPN.com homepage—you need something with at least 1GB of RAM. A built-in wireless antenna and an Ethernet port will connect you to high-speed internet. Be sure to get something with plenty of USB ports for your speakers, flash drive, and a mouse. For entertainment, get a CD/DVD drive and at least a 14.1 inch screen or less. ExamplesMacBook  Various Dell options 
    • Since you selected mostly Cs, you’re all work and no play. Your main concerns should be portability, security, and durability.It’s much easier to travel with a smaller, lighter machine, and a 13.3-inch widescreen will fit nicely in your carry-on and on a tray table. A shock-mounted or solid-state hard drive (SSD) will give your information some extra protection, and a spill-resistant keyboard is also important. And you’ll definitely want a fingerprint reader – a security scanner built into the palm rest that allows you to enter multiple passwords with the swipe of a finger. If business takes you on the road, make sure you can use an extended battery and that your notebook is equipped with 802.11 agn Wi-Fi. Frequent travelers should look for EVDO or HSDPA options—mobile broadband connections that don’t require internet hotspots. Bluetooth technology will let you sync the laptop with your smartphone and also let you use a wireless mouse, but you’ll also want some USB slots to accommodate an external optical drive or hard drive, as well. Look for 1-2GB of RAM and a 100 GB hard drive, but keep in mind that more memory will mean more weight. Examples Dell Business Options Lenovo Thinkpads
3. What’s are the most important features for you?
  • Does it need to be pretty/nice looking? (this may knock business laptops out of the running)
  • Do you need long battery life? (Apple kills this)
  • Large screen size or small screen size? (ultrabook or netbook or laptop?)
Most often Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Air covers most on this list, if not all. It just depends on the money you want to spend.
4. Check out these sites for various laptops that you can choose from.
5. How to get a deal
  • ebay.ca (A great spot to find cheap Dell laptops, you can also get the warranty switched over to you through the seller, do your research with this, contact the seller etc.)
  • redflagdeals.ca (Great site to find information on various deals through Dell, Lenovo etc.)
  • canadacomputers.com/ &  newegg.ca/ (both often have doorcrashers and various deals)
  • Want an Apple Laptop but for cheaper? Buy refurbished you can purchase Apple care for these as well
6. Other deals to watch out for
  • Apple often has a student deal available towards the beginning of the school year. It varies, some years it may be free Office, it used to be a Free iPod touch. Bestbuy and Futureshop often try to replicate these deals, so speak to them and see what they can do for you in store.
  • Back to school deals often start in August (I think its cruel personally, we still have a month before school starts! But unfortunately I don’t influence these things)
  • Around Black Friday every year (US thanksgiving) Apple, Dell and other large manufacturers have sales on as well as on Boxing Day.
5. Found a laptop your interested in? 
  • Check out CNet’s reviews for most laptops. Type in the model number and there’s likely to be a review.
  • Often you can go on YouTube and search the model you are considering as well. There are a ton of video reviews to view.
When you’re about to buy..
1. If you collect Airmiles or Aeroplan miles, go through either of the following to collect miles on your laptop purchase. Buying with a credit card that allows you to collect these miles will let you double dip as well!
  • Airmilesshops.ca
  • Aeroplan estore 
2. Consider shipping and taxes. These extra’s often add up big time when your buying a laptop since it’s an expensive purchase
3. Warranty or no warranty?
  • Most computer manufacturers will give you a 1 year basic coverage as a warranty that comes with purchase. Now from my experience, laptops, cell phones and other electronics tend to break just after the manufacturers warranty expires (I think they plan it that way…) so adding on an extra year of coverage for $50 to $100 may be worth it for you. Apple’s Applecare also seems to be a pretty comprehensive option. Definitely consider it, because we all know how well we take care of electronics. Dell also offers Accidental Damage Coverage-yes this covers spilling beer on your laptop.
Some Extra Tips
  • Laptop’s sold at places like BestBuy and Futureshop are meant to last for 2 years max! It might be best to get a business laptop if you tend to beat your computer up, need longer battery life and durability.
  • Check out the post Three Mistakes I Made with my Last Laptop
  • CNet’s Best 5 Laptops  (some of these may not be available in Canada)
  • Best & Worst Laptop Brands 2012

Hopefully this post hasn’t completely overwhelmed you but instead provided a great guide for when you’re purchasing your next laptop. Good luck!

Image Source’s: Dell Laptops Macbook