Benefits from Homestyle Cooking for Students
College life is an exciting time with a lot to learn, from classes and social skills to cooking. Homestyle cooking has a ton of benefits for college students that you may not have thought of. Not only will you learn skills for the future, but also save money and improve your health.
Having the Taste of Homestyle Cooking
Homestyle cooking benefits include the taste of home, certainly if you are far away from it. You can call up your parents to give you easy-to-make recipes that you loved growing up in your household before the allure of college took over.
College students should try to go away from eating out and focus a bit more on being in the kitchen. You do not have to make complex meals (unless that is your thing), as simple ones can do the trick and get you started on your cooking journey. And it is fun!
Here are some great cooking tips for college students:
- Buy pre-cooked meals, but not too many of them.
- Have a big salad as a meal instead of as an aside. This is healthier and can fill you up, giving you energy for the day. Also, salads are easy to make.
- Buy bottled/ jarred sauces such as tomato sauces. While you can make your own, it can take a bit of time which you may not have. Certainly, after a hard day of lectures or a long night of partying.
- Cook in bulk so that you have meals to last you a while. Not a month, just another day or two.
- Breakfast for dinner. One of the great things about being an adult is that no one can stop you from having cereal for dinner or as a quick snack.
- Make soup. This is a great meal to have for a few days, and it is easy to make. It is just a salad with meat in hot water with spices
Practical Skill Development
You can experiment with your home cook recipes and come up with something new or more to your taste. You can also discover new ways of making an old meal.
There are also so many great recipes online that you can try all of them and find the ones that are best for you and your schedule. The two that caught our taste buds are “quick mushroom and spinach lasagna,” which take 10 minutes of prep and 35 minutes in the oven while you do something else.
Or you can try the Jumbo sausage roll with salsa beans, which is a big meal to fill you up, and it can last. On the quicker and lighter side, there are easy-to-make chorizo and fried egg wraps which take 20 minutes to cook and prepare.
Improves Money Management
While you can order deliveries and takeouts, these will be expensive, especially if you do that for every meal. Plus, if you are always eating out then, it no longer becomes special. Cooking at home can save you money as well as teach you another skill: money management.
You would have to budget for your food and make time to hit the grocery store and get all you need for the week. Furthermore, you can also look out for sales and price drops to save you even more money. You are a student, so you could be using your funds for something more fun instead of just staying alive.
And, you never know what new ingredient you may find in the stores or markets to try out. You could end up finding your new favorite fruit.
Health and Diet Conscious
Another huge benefit of home cooking is that you would be taking better care of your health. This is because there are many chemicals on takeaway foods, as well as ready-made meals, that can have a bad effect on your body, such as weight gain.
You would be more in control of what you eat and even how much of it. Cooking at home can help you lose weight if you need to or bulk up if you want to. You can eat as much protein as you need without breaking your bank or damaging your health.
When you make a meal, you also can get excited at the outcome of your time and effort. This can make it taste a bit better, and you would be improving every time you cook. Not to mention how much money you would be saving. And, the meals do not have to be complex like soup, salads, wraps, or even just boiling eggs.
Utilize Time
The skills gained from home cooking while in college are cooking, obviously, money management, as well as time management. You would have to make a run to the grocery stores or markets at least once a week to stock up on the ingredients for your meals.
This will teach you how to manage your free time well. It is a skill that is better done than talked about. And, another thing is that you would not only be making one meal but making bulk meals to last for another day. Leftovers are always good. If you have a busy week with exams, then you would have to plan your meals ahead since you will have less time than you usually do. Therefore, making bulk meals beforehand can help you out a lot. Certainly so when the shops are closed, and you have nothing to eat.
Stops Canned Goods Diseases
One more thing that is not talked about too much is that eating canned food, takeouts, or even too many noodles can end up causing weight gain as well as other potential health issues, even if they are mild ones. Cooking at home allows you to eat more balanced and healthier meals, which can boost your immune system, as well as decrease the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, etc. Plus, it will give you more energy while also improving your sleep pattern.
While you are young, it is best to start looking after your body as much as you can, certainly so if you know of health issues in your family. There is a strong chance that these are in your genes.
As well as, the older you get, which you will, the harder it is to control your weight, be it to lose or to gain. The best is to start eating healthy by cooking your own meals to get on the right way. The future is coming, and your body and health need to last. You would not want to deal with too many problems down the road if you can help it.
Last Spice
Homestyle cooking is a great way to learn new skills, manage your time and money as well as look after yourself. Plus, when you do have a meal out, it will mean more. So give your parents a call and ask for cooking advice. Bring a taste of home to your college lifestyle.