I have nothing against Barnard and Columbia students who don’t cook. Between dining halls, food carts, neighborhood restaurants and grocery stores, there’s no shortage of places to have a balanced meal in front of you within minutes of deciding that it’s time you had food. But I do feel sympathetic for my friends who are spending more money than they’d like to on prepared meals because they don’t know how to cook.
If I had to guess, I think that the main reason why people might shy away from cooking is because they think it’s too complicated. In some ways, cooking is more time-consuming than eating out: you have to buy your food and prepare it yourself. But I think there are hidden upsides to these tasks. If you, like many college students, don’t set aside time each day to take a break from The Thing You’re Busy Doing—an actual break, where you’re not glued to your phone writing emails re: The Thing as you wait in the Sweetgreen queue or gulp down food in a sweaty corner of John Jay—then I recommend giving cooking a try.
Rarely do I spend more time thinking about how I’m feeling than when I’m in the supermarket figuring out what to stock my refrigerator with for the week: What do I want? What does my body need? How am I feeling? And, later, when I’m in the kitchen: What music shall I blast on my speaker while I cook?
Below, I present a rough sketch of the non-perishable items that I keep in the kitchen, and the perishable items that I usually shop for. I have no damning evidence for why you should eat like me; I just enjoy grocery shopping and want to share my joy for this pastime with the uninitiated. This grocery list doesn’t accommodate all restrictive diet types, but it is vegetarian—I find it cheaper and easier to cook dishes that don’t have meat in them. I also buy a lot ice cream, by the way; left that off the list.
Non-perishable food items:
Olive oil Balsamic vinegar Salt Pepper Cinnamon Garlic powder Dried basil Honey Agave nectar or maple syrup Canned soup Canned beans Canned tomatoes or jars of tomato sauce Peanut butter Unsalted pretzels Plain Instant Oatmeal Pasta *Nuts Dark chocolate Tea (caffeinated and decaffeinated)
Perishable food items:
Greek yogurt (Fage 2%) or cottage cheese Parmesan cheese (or whatever cheese you like to put on pasta) Milk Eggs *Fruit (fresh and frozen) Sweet potatoes Onions Mushrooms Carrots Spinach (fresh or frozen) or kale Bell peppers (fresh or frozen) Peas (frozen) Tomatoes Avocados Hummus Salsa Hot sauce *Bagels or pita bread
*Still have some swipes? Stock up on these during your visits to the dining hall. You can even bring back soup in a lidded take-away cup.
What can you make with all of this stuff?
Bowls
- Oats with fruit and cinnamon (for more sweetness, add honey; for more substance, add peanut butter)
- Yogurt, nuts and honey (add fruit if you want)
- Cottage cheese and fruit
- Yogurt with garlic powder and raw vegetables (e.g., cucumber, chopped tomato)
Toasts
- French toast (soak stale bread in egg/milk/butter/cinnamon mixture overnight, cook in pan, serve with fruit and agave nectar)
- Toast with hummus or cottage cheese, tomatoes and/or avocados, dried basil, salt and pepper
- Grilled cheese sandwich with soup
Greens
- Raw vegetables with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper
- Raw vegetables and hummus
- Cooked spinach
- Kale sautéed in olive oil
- Cooked peas
Snacks
- Carrots and peanut butter (don’t knock ‘til you’ve tried it)
- Sweet potato (microwave it)
- Pretzels and peanut butter or hummus
- Dark chocolate and fruit
Eggs
- Eggs with onions, mushrooms and bell peppers
- Egg sandwich with avocado and salsa
- Eggs with tomato sauce
- Canned beans, salsa, sliced avocado, sautéed onions and peppers, hot sauce, fried egg
Pasta
- Pasta with tomato sauce, cheese, sautéed onions, mushrooms and spinach or peas (add a dash of hot sauce for more flavor). Try making homemade tomato sauce: chopped tomatoes or canned tomatoes, sautéed onions and mushrooms, garlic power and dried basil and balsamic vinegar.
If you want meat…I recommend frozen meatballs (for reheating on the microwave or stovetop and tossing with pasta); canned tuna (I like mixing it with balsamic vinegar, curry powder, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper and eating with pita bread); or a small piece of fish (to bake in the oven or cook on your stovetop).
Cooking newbies, make my day by picking up a few of these items after you finish class! Shopping is really the only labor-intensive component of any of these dishes. Besides, you may even find it fun to compare brands and decide what items you’d like to purchase for the week, especially if you bring a friend. If you don’t know how to prepare a certain item, no biggie; Google has everything you need to know.
Whatever you do: Don’t. Waste. Food. Keep an eye on expiration dates and your produce. Or, live by this mantra: “You can freeze perishables, or offer them to hungry friends. But do something, please, before fruit flies descend!” ¡Buen provecho!