This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at BC chapter.
If you are anything like me, you struggle with the whole “adult-ing” thing. Now that I live in an apartment, that means I have to learn cook something for myself other than popcorn. With burning a piece of chicken and lighting a paper towel on fire already under my belt, I’m slowly starting to learn some tricks to make cooking a little easier. Here are some of the more useful ones I have discovered so far:
- Buy most of your groceries frozen. To avoid letting your vegetables and meat from going bad, buy them from the frozen aisle. It also limits the number of trips to the grocery store.
- Meal prep. When you come home from a long day of class, the last thing you want to do is put effort into making a meal. If you section off your ingredients into a container and place them in the freezer, dinner is as easy as putting it in the microwave.
- Take as many shortcuts as you can. Check out the ready to go sections of your grocery store, often stocked with precut vegetables and fruit.
- When in doubt use soy sauce. If you love stir fry, all you have to do is add some chicken and vegetables in a pan, add some soy sauce, and you’ve managed to make something not only edible but tasty.
- Cook with your roommates. Cooking with friends means less overall work, and more importantly, less chances for screw ups.
- Use one pan recipes. You can find a ton of recipes on Buzzfeed or even Pinterest that take minimal time but will make you seem like a pro in the kitchen.
- Ask your parents to freeze dinners for you. Although this is the lazy way out, I already have my mom stocking up for parent’s weekend.
If all else fails, take out is always the best option. Happy cooking!