Learning how to cook while in school is a very important tool to master. With the cost of school being so high, it is beneficial for students to save some money by choosing to cook at home, and not spending so much money at restaurants. The most difficult part for most people is just to start the process, so start simple! If you don’t know any recipes, there are a lot of easy recipes available for free online! Learning to cook as a student will help you later on in life, when you have your own home and have to cook meals for yourself. The earlier you start, the better!
When cooking for yourself, you should pay attention to the way you are preparing foods. Cook using healthy fats: instead of butter, use olive or canola oils. Choose healthy cooking methods like baking, steaming, broiling, or roasting instead of deep frying to limit fat. Reduce the amount of sodium you cook with. You can do so by rinsing the canned vegetables before cooking, using less of the seasoning that comes with the taco kits or the packaged pasta. Lastly, to get the best out of your cooking experience, use herbs and spices to flavour your food!
Furthermore, balancing school, work and a social life can be challenging which is why meal prepping is an effective tool to stay healthy in school. The best tips to save time with meal prepping is to cook your food all in one day and save time. Choose a specific dish you want to cook for the week; get all the ingredients (eg. veggies, rice, fish or other meats) and prepare your meal in a few hours and distribute it into containers with appropriate amounts. Getting all your cooking done in one day prevents you from getting lazy and ordering food.
A university student’s life is very time consuming and it can be difficult to find time to make a good nutritious meal. You can save time by finding recipe ideas from cookbooks or even online cookbooks. In fact, the website Cookspiration (https://www.cookspiration.com/) is a great resource to find healthy recipes according to your financial and nutrition goals. They even have a Menu Planner option which allows you to plan your meals for the whole week. Another great way to save some time is following a cooking class or workshops either in person or online. It is a very interactive way to learn great time managing cooking skills.
All in all, this is the perfect time to pick up and develop a lifelong skill. Between food diversity, fun recipes, meal prepping and practicing healthy eating, learning to cook will propel you into the future with a skill that will not go unnoticed. While taking advantage of resources and adding your own personality into your cooking, you will be sure to make the most out of this useful and very fulfilling expe