You’ve probably gone hungry through a day of classes at least once. And if you haven’t, you’ll know the feeling eventually. That hunger gnawing at your stomach is hard to forget. Even harder to forget is the loud gurgle during that one quiet moment during lecture.
When caught up between classes, part time jobs, club activities, internships, and more stressful and exciting commitments, it’s difficult to remember to squeeze in enough time for a satisfying meal. More often than not, students end up too tired to cook, let alone summon up the energy to put together a nutritious dinner, resorting to shoving late night ramen or greasy takeout dinners down their throats just to quiet the hunger.
Shove no more and make this year the year that you treat your body right! Read on to discover the top five tips to help you save time and make college home cooking a reality.
1. Buy frozen vegetables. How many college students see actual green on their plate? Only 6% of students are eating 5 servings of vegetables a day compared to the recommended 7-9 servings. The benefit of frozen vegetables is that they have no need to prep! Usually already cut into manageable pieces, you can sauté them with a few teaspoons of olive oil, steam them in the microwave, or pour them directly into soups or stews for a quick addition of greens. And don’t worry about the quality. Frozen veggies are the next best thing to fresh ones- usually picked and frozen at height of ripeness.
2. Cook pasta in 60 seconds! Soaking the pasta in water for a couple hours beforehand will allow pasta to boil in a minute.
3. Don’t discard leftovers unnecessarily: Last night’s leftovers can become tonight’s essential ingredients. Start planning dinners using the leftovers. Fried rice, stews, and casseroles can easily be made from a medley of ingredients and become a delicious dish.
4. Rotisserie chickens. Inexpensive and ready for use–every college kid’s dream, really. The chicken is incredibly versatile: you can use the drumsticks for a side dish, breast slices can be put in sandwiches or salads, and even the bones can be used to make chicken stock.
5. Batch cooking. Prepare all your meals in advance. This method seems relatively time consuming, since you’re committing an hour or two to prepare a week’s worth of meals. But it’ll be completely worth it in the end! It’s a huge time saver compared to the six hours you’ll be spending in the kitchen all week if you were making homemade meals everyday. Plus, save food from eating out! Start with a simple meal and with practice, batch cooking will be a speedy and effortless process.
6. Bonus! Use a slow cooker. A cheap crock pot can make all sorts of stews, chili, casseroles, BBQ dishes, and even dessert to last you a few days’ worth of meals. Have the crock pot working while you’re away sleeping or at school! The Internet has a lot of resources when it comes to crock pot recipes.
You can use these small steps to make cooking homemade meals much more manageable. Welcome back to school, collegiettes!