When I moved to Davis to start attending college in the fall, I was unsure yet excited to learn how to live on my own, albeit with a roommate, for the first time. One of the things I was concerned about when I moved into my own place was how I would feed myself.
For the first quarter of my sophomore year, I was on the school meal plan which assuaged my worries about not getting three square meals a day. However, over time I grew tired of waiting in long lines, finding a spot to sit at the overcrowded lunch tables, and fighting other students for the last slice of pizza at the Tercero Dining commons. Luckily, my living space had a kitchen area, which I admittedly did not take full advantage of, that was fully equipped with a stove, oven, and microwave. With this in mind, it became a no-brainer for me to cancel my meal plan and cook my own meals as a solution to all my dining common grievances.
This plan sounded all well and good, but I had to take into account that the only prior cooking experience I had was helping out my parents in the kitchen with small meals and chopping ingredients before they went into the pan. I only had four solid meals that I could successfully cook on my own under my belt: scrambled eggs, french toast, basic fried rice, and ramen noodles (if you could even count throwing a packet of instant noodles into boiling water as cooking). It was clear that I needed to learn how to cook more filling and nutritious meals.
I started my college cooking journey by signing up for HelloFresh, a meal-kit subscription plan which gives subscribers different recipes with pre-portioned ingredients for each meal (NOT SPONSORED by the way). I figured that it would an easy way to get some ideas for new recipes while allowing me to polish and work on my cooking skills. As I cooked each meal, my confidence grew in the kitchen and I became more sure of myself when it came to handling the stove or making sure my food was fully cooked through.
After cooking a week of HelloFresh meals, I decided to cancel my subscription and continue my cooking journey without the help of their pre-portioned ingredients. I began to scour the internet as well as popular YouTube cooking channels for simple and approachable recipes that I could try on my own. The first recipe I tried my hand at was stuffed bell peppers (I specifically followed this recipe). This recipe seemed easy enough at first, but it was a bit challenging to manage my time as I had to juggle all the different steps of the recipe. After an embarrassingly long amount of time, I finished cooking and I would say that the meal was a success (though I did leave the bell peppers in the oven for a bit too long and slightly burned them). I felt so accomplished being able to not only successfully complete a recipe but to also have the finished product taste amazing. From that moment on, my love for cooking was ignited.
I slowly began to compile more and more recipes to try, scribbling down my favorites in a journal I specifically dedicated to cooking. I loved finding the perfect recipe and scrawling down the list of ingredients I would need. I loved biking to Trader Joe’s and Kim’s Mart to stock up on vegetables, fruits, protein, and the occasional Asian food ingredient such as oyster sauce or kimchi. There was just something so therapeutic and soothing to me about the cooking process, from chopping vegetables to scrambling mixed ingredients that produced a mouth-watering aroma. I was in love with cooking.
If you’re also a college student that’s intimidated but slightly interested in learning how to cook your own meals, I would highly suggest taking the leap. It’s not only a great life skill to have, but you also just might find the same joy I feel when cooking. A few cooking channels or sites that I recommend to find some great recipes are Maangchi (Korean cuisine), Epicurious, NYT Cooking, and Joshua Weissman. I hope these sites or channels have sparked your cooking interest and as always happy cooking!