Off-Campus Cooking 101

By Colleen Walsh Fong

There’s nothing worse than dorm food!

Except maybe the food you make for yourself when you’re suddenly in charge of cooking your own meals. And eating better food to help you save money and keep you healthy made your “Top 10 Reasons to Get a College Apartment” list, right?

Now that you’re in your own place you’d like to make eating good food a reality. And, if you’re like most students, you want the process to be easy.

If you’re about to purchase cookware, take a look at these 2 articles, which can help you buy what you need without breaking the bank:

· 15 Critical Tools For A“fore”dable Cooking

· Getting Onto Greens Without A Wedge

And check out some ways to save time and money on an ongoing basis, too.

Are you new to cooking? Unsure of how to plan meals? Want to use all of the food you buy? You may want to spend $3.99 to download a copy of the app-like touchscreen cookbook for college students.

Inside you’ll find info about staples for stocking your kitchen, how-to links to glossaries and technique demos, instruction and tips. You’ll also find a semester’s worth of weekly grocery lists, meal plans, and the recipes to cook them. You can download it to any smart device, but if you keep it in your phone it will be with you wherever you go.

Do you have roommates? It’s a good idea to talk about how you’ll handle food right from the get go. Do you want to share the expense and the workload of eating group meals? It can be nice to have company in the kitchen and at the table. But be sure you agree upon a budget and a task list so you avoid arguments about whose turn it is to cook and bickering over who ate more than his or her share of the lunchmeat!

If you find you want different types of food, or different amounts of it, try going it alone. Be sure to each label your food, though, so it is clear what belongs to whom.

Whichever system you decide to use, respect each other’s budgets and belongings and you’ll have a deliciously easy year.

Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles / Free Digital Photos

Colleen is the author of 3 touchscreen cookbooks that do everything but the cooking for you. Check them out and find free recipes and helpful cooking and food info here.