Cooking Tips for College Freshmen

The "freshmen fifteen" is the theory that when a student goes off to college for the first time they gain fifteen pounds. These freshmen no longer have their parents cooking for them and they have to resort to finding food for themselves. If these students were not taught to cook then they'll probably eat a lot of pizza, fast food and junk food. These eating habits can be detrimental to a student because they could become sluggish and will find it harder to concentrate on class. These are a few tips for college freshmen to eat better.

Grocery Stores
The grocery store is your friend for more reason than one. Many large grocery stores, like Publix, make fresh meals that can be a life saver. College students are often strapped for cash but some of these meals are pretty inexpensive. Recently I bought a meal at Publix that contained a chicken, two sides and some bread for just $10. We were able to split the meal four ways, which is just $2.50 each.

Crock Pot
Money is tight for a college student but it might be wise to invest in a crock pot or see if Mom has an extra one lying around. Crock pots are an easy way to cook without having much cooking ability To use a crock pot you simply put some kind of meat and vegetables along with some kin of sauce or soup and as long as you know how to pour and stir any college freshmen can figure it out.

Sandwiches
Don't underestimate the power of a good sandwich. Even if the sandwich is more like a sub sandwich and is loaded with meat and cheese it is probably still better than the grease soaked food you're going to buy at fast food restaurants Try to put at least one or two vegetables on there though, okay?

Other Appliances
Also don't underestimate the toaster oven or microwave. A lot of people that cook will stick their nose up at such appliances being used for "real meals" but there are some things that are very good made in the microwave and toaster oven (I like scrambled eggs in the microwave just as much on the stove) To find a good recipe for the toaster oven or microwave go to Cooks.com or some other recipe site and search for toaster oven or microwave. If the appliance is mentioned in the instructions then the recipe should pull up when you do a search.