Tasty is a YouTube channel that uploads one to two minute cooking tutorials of various desserts, appetizers, dinners, breakfasts, drinks and more. Their description box includes the list of ingredients and a step-by-step recipe for us fast-tracked millennials.
The two recipes I decided to try out were the Layered Ham & Cheese Potato Bake and the Mini S’mores Pie. I picked these two recipes based on my cooking abilities, so beginner recipes, and what looked most delicious in the videos.
How could you resist wanting to cook a lasagna made of potatoes, cheese and ham after seeing the gooey mozzarella layers? And then topping that off with eating a cupcake version of a s’more for dessert just screams food coma. I’ll admit I was feeling gluttonous that night.
Here’s how my experience went broken down based on difficulty, price, and entertainment.
Difficulty
As college students, our time is limited and we often have to prioritize what we want to devote our time to. Choosing two from the trade-off triangle is too relatable to college students. Do we want to focus on a healthy lifestyle, good grades, or a social life?Tasty makes it easy to conquer two out of the three parts of the trade-off triangle if you end up following the videos to cook meals with friends.
In some cases, taking the time to cook at home is tedious when you could just eat take out. So, I wanted to choose recipes that didn’t look like they would take too long to cook and were easy to follow. The videos definitely made cooking look easier than it actually was.
As someone who learns best through visual representation, the videos were a life saver because I probably would have ended up dicing the potatoes rather than slicing them (oops). The meals themselves didn’t require a lot of cooking experience, which gave them major bonus points in my book.
Here’s the breakdown based on my experience.
Price
A challenge with planning meals is sticking to that college budget. Spending your whole paycheck in one grocery shopping trip is too easy. #TYBG most of the ingredients I needed were on sale. However, these recipes don’t exactly take into account a college budget or maximizing the most bang for your buck.
My eyes went wide when I saw what the final tab came out to, which was way more than I would want to spend for an everyday meal. An automatic con in my eyes is the price and absence of budgeting. On top of that, you have to buy all the ingredients on the list in order cook this meal. I wasn’t in a position where I could try to substitute for a cheaper alternative.
Entertainment
The best part about following a Tasty YouTube video was cooking this meal with friends. This was all of our first times following a how-to YouTube video, so we didn’t really know what to expect. It was fun preparing the meal together since we bonded over our mistakes and successes. We accidentally left the first batch of the S’mores Pie in the oven too long and basically burned all the mini pies.
Although the videos took longer than expected, cooking with friends compensated for the added time. What more can a college student ask for than good company, yummy food and bomb-ass music?
Now here comes the answer to the real question: would I go back to the Tasty YouTube channel to find new recipes to cook?
Yes and no.
My yes is for the creative variety of recipes Tasty has. For someone who isn’t the best at cooking and likes to follow recipes exactly, I would definitely go back to the YouTube channel. The recipes are broken down into simple steps that makes it easy to follow. I would definitely make the s’mores pie again out of the two dishes.
My no is because it isn’t always the most budget-friendly for a student. Another thing that I would want to change is for Tasty to list the total duration of preparing and cooking the meal and the cooking difficulty. Dishes that are fast to make would be great for those wanting to cook, but are on a time crunch would be another great addition.