Cooking Like You're Not in College

College. The "best four years of your life." I have heard my fair share of people talking about their college experience and how amazing it was. We hear about the crazy spontaneous decisions, football games, and long hours of homework. However, I have noticed that we rarely hear about cooking in college. Why is that? Why has cooking become something that we don't associate with college? Those precious college years live in our early adulthood where we are expected to take care of ourselves and be responsible. What better time to learn to cook for yourself?

Instead of living off of ramen and boxed mac n' cheese, imagine living off of fresh, home cooked meals that make you feel better, healthier, and happier. We are told that cooking these types of meals isn't possible in college, time and expense being the biggest reasons why. However, I believe that it is a lot easier than we think to cook for yourself the way you would after college. This blog is going to cover grocery shopping, cooking, and saving time for college students.

Shopping

The most difficult step in learning how to cook for yourself is learning how shop for yourself. If you aren'r careful, you will end up purchasing too much food, too little food, or spend more that what is available in your budget. While mastering this skill can take time, just starting to pay more attention to your habits while at the grocery store can go a long way.

Most college students live on a pretty tight budget but there are loop holes for saving money while buying better food. My first tip is buy cheap side options that can be used is many ways. An example of this would be a box of instant rice, frozen vegetables, and potatoes. These sides are super cheap at the grocery store and are super variable.

My second tip is to buy protein in bulk. It is always cheaper to buy the bigger package of chicken, hamburger, etc. and separate it yourself for meals. I will usually buy a 5lbs package of hamburger and split it into several ziplock bags to freeze and cook whenever I need to. This saves money because you can correctly portion what you will eat and not waste what you don't eat or goes bad before you can eat.

Cooking

Cooking can be a daunting word because for some it is easy and for others it can be hell. It can be especially hellish when you are a college student with barley any experience in the kitchen. It is time to stop letting fear keep you out of the kitchen. Just as Chef Gusteau from Ratatouille said, "anyone can cook!"

This blog will contain several recipes with detailed instructions to help those at any stage in their cooking career. The secret ingredient to being a great cook is confidence. As you start prepping for and cooking meals that are outside of your comfort zone, you need to remember to be patient with yourself. If you lack patience in your cooking you will not be able to build confidence and that will in turn prevent you from cooking to your fullest potential.

Saving Time

One of the biggest concern's people have about cooking in college is time. Time is precious and the majority of students don't have enough of it. There is no lie in the statement that cooking takes time. But if you are willing to put in the effort, the reward is going to be far less time consuming that you think.

My greatest tip for saving time while cooking in college is meal prep. We live in a society that has donned the phrase meal prep into something that is scary. When I say meal prep I don't mean those fancy little containers that are stackable and cute that contain meals for you to eat for everyday of the week. I mean that when you take 30 minutes to cook something for yourself, you double or triple the portion so that you can eat it for lunch/dinner in the nest couple of days.

I have this tip to be super helpful in my college experience. It is usually 2-3 evenings during the week that I have some extra time so I will make a bigger dinner that can stretch into my lunch and dinner the following day. This allows me to eat better food more often in a fraction of the time. If you are planning to cook anyways, always make extra because it will save you so much time down the road!

Cooking in college does not have to be scary or difficult. If you implement these tips in your college life, you will see great changes in health and academic performance that stems from eating better food.