Transitioning from high school to college for many people is a very large jump in their lives. From different workloads and expectations, pricing, and, most commonly, living on your own. Living by yourself versus with family to some capacity is a large change and affects a lot of aspects of someone’s life. Yes, you now have almost all the freedom in the world, but you also have to take care of yourself to make up for that.
One of the aspects that changes the most is having to feed and prep all your own meals. This isn’t just meal planning; this is buying groceries, budgeting, and cooking as well. All these things, especially for someone fresh out of high school, can be easily overwhelming and possibly lead to unhealthy habits forming.
But don’t worry, here for you today I have some prime college food tips to help that transition, food-wise, be a little less bumpy and hectic overall:
The biggest tip is to make sure you stock the kitchen properly. This makes sure you have long-life foods in the kitchen at all times, like peanut butter or canned vegetables(especially if frozen vegetables aren’t available). As well as buying long-lasting options of your favorites in decent-sized capacities, such as rice or beans depending on preference; these can serve as bases or substitutions in a lot of different meals.
Most websites and people are going to tell you to avoid buying cheap instant foods like instant ramen and unhealthy options in the frozen section. But when it’s 2 AM, and you have to eat something quick after studying, boiling some water for instant ramen noodles is going to go a long way in making sure you are not just full but get the proper amount of sleep. So major tip: don’t shy away from these options, but there is an importance of maintaining a balance between these options and healthier, more planned-out alternative meals.
And for those with jobs or extra money to spend, a wise and always useful option is ordering food. Now, yes, ordering food over time can be very expensive and financially costly, but again, if you have the funds, ordering food can be worthwhile, especially to reach certain cravings. DoorDash, from my own experience, has several deals, including the buy one, get one free deal, which can create an entirely new meal for another time if bought and stored away.
All in all, buying, prepping, cooking, and eating in college is an important aspect of living alone that can easily make or break your collegiate career. Food provides us with the nutrients and energy needed to go throughout the day, and missing these can be very detrimental in the long term.
