You’re a year older and a year wiser. One year of college under your belt and you’re so sick of eggs made from powder, unidentifiable meat, and the constant shortage of cups that come along with eating in the freshman dining halls. You’ve abandoned that meal plan and replaced it with weekly grocery shopping with your new apartment roomies. The first few months of this new lifestyle will come with a lot of different feelings, too. Here’s a few, in chronological order:
1. Independence
You can’t wait to show off your cooking skills to your roomies and impress them the meals you will whip up everyday after class. Your mom always called you her “Sous Chef,” so you are more than prepared to cook for yourself. You refuse to text her for help, even if it’s 8 pm, you just got home from work, and you can’t for the life of you remember how long is too long when it comes to chicken breast.
#SpoonTip: Here’s the answer, along with some other foods, in case you ever find yourself asking the same question.
2. Creativity
You are the next Chef Gordon Ramsey. Your mom has helped to stock your kitchen with everything you could need to create healthy, balanced, artfully-crafted meals. You have a whisk, three wooden spoons, an oven mitt, and a Crock-Pot that you are not totally sure how to use.
That Pinterest board you created at 2 am one night during freshman year filled with Tasty videos and “easy” Crock-Pot recipes can finally be put to good use. You are quickly learning that crushed red pepper and chili powder can make just about any meat or vegetable taste 10x better.
3. Poverty
You hated grocery shopping with your mom in high school, but you hate it even more as a college student because instead of asking her “Mom, can we get Oreos?” you are asking yourself and your tiny budget. Your mind is saying “treat yo’self” but your wallet is saying “girl, you can’t afford to treat anyone.”
All you want to do is order a pizza, but you have $7 to last you until next Friday. So here you are on Sunday night, eating a bag of microwave rice, two slices of turkey that someone with money—or morals—would have thrown away two days ago, and a side of tortilla chips because you forgot to buy salsa.
4. Hunger
This one is pretty self-explanatory. A Lean Cuisine frozen meal doesn’t fill that hole in your stomach like a plate of homemade spaghetti and meatballs does.
5. Nostalgia
Just the thought of walking into that dining hall, swiping your card, and being welcomed back into the world of unlimited (subpar)food makes your mouth water. The pasta bar. The cereal dispensers. THE DESSERT TABLE. You can’t believe you ever dared to slander such a place.
Not that having your own kitchen isn’t a privilege, but looking back, the dining hall wasn’t half as bad as you made it out to be. Now, you just need to find someone with a meal plan to use a guest swipe on you. That kid that sits near you in your Pysch lecture is a freshman… right?