How I turned cooking into a new form of self care
If you go to UW-Madison, you know the panic of trying to find housing for sophomore year two months after arriving on campus in freshman year. But after finally signing your lease and moving in the next year, you are faced with another problem: being fully responsible for all of your meals. Personally, this prospect was intimidating because, although I had cooked occasionally, I was not prepared to cook every meal for myself.
Over the summer, my mom had the foresight to start training me to cook. She began by teaching me some of my favorite dishes that she always made and then gradually I started cooking on my own. I set a goal for myself to create two new recipes per week and made the experience more enjoyable by logging each new recipe and rating it based on its deliciousness and the complexity and time it took to make. At the end of the summer, I had compiled all of my new, tested (and sometimes altered) recipes into a Google Doc organized by meal and difficulty. During the summer, I also discovered the joy of cooking for other people. I made a very simple dinner for my parents and brother: pasta with goat cheese, mushrooms and spinach. It felt so lovely to finally cook for my mother, who cooked for all of us for so many years.
When I finally got to my apartment in late August this year, I was still a little apprehensive about cooking. I was worried that my job and classes would leave me too tired to cook or buy groceries and instead of cooking healthy meals for myself, I would end up eating only grilled cheese (no hate to grilled cheese) and spending all of my money on takeout. But slowly, over the next couple of weeks, I created a routine for myself that ensured I always had a stocked fridge and a full stomach. I started setting time aside every Sunday to go to Trader Joe’s and then cook a big batch of something on Sunday night. On Tuesdays, I only have one class, so that became my other designated cooking day. I created a spreadsheet to help me account for every meal of the week and what ingredients I had leftover and needed.
As I settled into my routine and the new school year, I found that going grocery shopping and cooking became a time that I really looked forward to. I love looking at the new seasonal items that Trader Joe’s has and picking out one to try every week as a treat and, for me, there is something incredibly calming about unpacking grocery bags. I also found cooking and meal prepping to be another form of self-care. It feels productive, but also gives me a creative outlet and a way to work with my hands. Every Sunday, getting to listen to an audiobook as I cook feels like the perfect start to my week.
I get to make the meals I crave and I have found that I am getting more vegetables and protein when I prepare my own meals. Being a semi-picky vegetarian in the dining halls meant not always knowing if there was something that I was going to like and being more hesitant to try things out of my comfort zone. But by making the meals myself, I have been trying a much wider variety of foods.
Cooking symbolizes a new form of independence for me. Even though I have been living without my parents for a year, learning to cook felt like finally being truly self-reliant. It is also a way to show people in my life that I care about them. My roommates and I will frequently do dinners where we cook and all eat together and I will often come home to freshly made baked goods on the counter. While I would never consider myself an expert chef by any means (my roommate still cringes whenever she sees me chop onions), I have learned to really enjoy cooking.