When I moved into my college apartment, I barely cooked since I had lived at home my entire life. I knew how to do the basics, like making easy breakfasts and lunches, but when it came to dinner, I always had it taken care of by my parents. Cooking in college made me fall in love with creating different dishes and allowed me to be creative in a way I never had before.
Throughout the summer going into my junior year, I had a lot of time to experiment and practice my cooking skills before the semester started.
College students try to avoid the dining hall by ordering take-out, but that can become costly. To save money, here are a few things I learned from living on my own to make cooking in college fun.
Always Have The Basics
Like your closet, your fridge and pantry should always have the basic ingredients.
I always have:
- Milk: I prefer almond milk because it lasts longer than regular dairy milk.
- Eggs: It's a good source of protein and can be used for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- Pasta: It can be topped with literally anything, mixed with any meat or vegetable, and can be eaten hot or cold.
- Rice: Like pasta, this is very versatile and can be eaten with practically anything. Rice can be tricky to cook unless you have a rice cooker, but it's a piece of cake to make in a pot once you practice a few times.
- Basic condiments and seasonings like ketchup, salad dressing, hot sauce, salt, pepper, garlic/onion powder, Adobo, etc.
Canned Items
I always have canned soups and vegetables like beans, chickpeas, corn, peas, etc., for quick and easy dishes. They also do not go bad as quickly as regular produce does. Soups are good for a rainy day when you’re low on groceries and need a quick meal.
This is an unpopular, maybe controversial, opinion, but I also always have canned tuna on hand. It is a great source of protein and can be dressed up in so many ways.
Cycle Through Foods
Getting into a routine of getting the same groceries makes shopping and cooking a lot easier. In the beginning, I recommend getting good at cooking certain meals and sticking with them for a few weeks to get into a routine so cooking isn’t a chore. As you get comfortable with cooking, venture out and find new things to try.
Meal Prep
If you’re someone who is busy like me, it can be hard to find time to cook every single day for dinner. When people hear meal prep they immediately think of gym rats and their strategically planned out meals, but meal prep is for everyone. It makes cooking in college so much easier and can save you time throughout the week. Cooking in bulk makes cooking easier in general and ensures you have dinner every day, no matter how busy you are that week. I like to cook at the beginning of the week, so I have dinner throughout the week. I eat anything after the five-day mark.
Don't Over Buy Groceries
I cannot stress this enough: don’t over-stock. That’s how things go bad, and you waste money. Be smart about what you are buying and have a plan to go into the grocery store. I like to go to the store once a week so I can eat my food in a timely manner before it goes bad.
It is also important to learn what you can freeze to save and use later. For example, I like to freeze my bread since I don’t eat a whole loaf of sourdough fast enough for it to not go stale, and I like to toast my bread regardless.
Make A Grocery List
Always have a grocery list and keep track of what you do and don’t have before you go shopping. I like to go through my fridge and pantry before I go shopping and make a note of what I do and don’t have so I don’t buy something I already have or forget something important. This is also good so your fridge and pantry stay clean and organized, and you don’t have any food rotting in your kitchen.
Do Your Research
A quick Google search will give you all the answers to any questions you have about what you’re cooking. It is important to know how to handle certain meats, how to do a thorough clean-up, and how to safely cook so you don’t get sick.
Learning how to cook in college and having a healthy diet will keep you focused and make you feel good! It is so important to make sure you have a well-balanced diet, especially in college. There are so many things to stress about, and eating right should not be one of them.