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    Cooking for Students

     By John Olaveson, 1B Civil

    Well now. This article will be a pleasure to write. You see, I love to cook. Not only that, I love to invent new recipes and then tell everyone about them. There is one recipe that will stay mine forever. To experience it, you must become my friend or be my family.

    Now, to get down to business. Cooking for oneself is not as arduous and traumatizing as one may think. A good, tasty, healthy meal can be prepared in a short amount of time. And a good meal doesn’t have to cost enough to blow your budget.

    When preparing meals, there are a few rules to keep in mind. Simplicity is one. There’s no use throwing lots of strange ingredients and spices into a meal just to see what it will be like. Unless you’re at your parents’ house or your friend’s place, that is. No use risking your own food supplies now is there? And simple is cheaper, because you don’t need to buy (or preserve) as much food.

    Rule two is to buy things only when they’re in season and avoid luxuries. Sure, a t-bone steak tastes really good when done on the barbecue, but steak is expensive. Save that for when your parents take you out to a fancy restaurant, like the Keg. In the summer, corn-on-the-cob is plentiful. Anywhere outside the borders of urbanization (and sometimes within) you can find fresh corn stands with very reasonable prices. Do not buy fresh corn in the winter!!! It will cost at least three times as much as summer corn. Buy lots in the summer and then save it in the freezer if you must, but don’t buy winter corn.

    Accessorize your dishes. You don’t need to have bland Kraft Dinner all the time. Add some veggies, perhaps some peas or carrots or mushrooms. Make it like a pizza. Toss some sausage in there, or some bacon (if that’s not out of your price range, either), or vegetables. Spices are a good additive to food, as well. A twist of lemon can turn your salad into something different and more palatable. Curry is one of my favourites. It goes on eggs, pasta, pizza, chili, and lots of other stuff (opportunity-permitting).

    Here are a few tips to staying healthy through food. Don’t eat fast food. Grease in moderation won’t hurt you, but a meal that’s at least half grease will certainly clog some arteries. Keep your diet in balance. Meat is all well and good (especially for those carnivorous men out there; girls, you know who I’m talking about), but meat by itself ain’t so great. Add those forgotten veggies. There are lots out there to choose from. Entire walls of supermarkets are taken up just for veggies. Then there’s the fruits. Juicy, sweet fruit. Again, the choices are many. Apples, bananas, and oranges are the three basics. Berries, melons, and all the other miscellaneous fruits also taste great. There’s nothing like juicy cantaloupe in the morning, or strawberries and bananas on cereal.

    Grains are essential, too, but don’t go overboard. Sure toast is easy to make, but it tastes much better with jam or honey or something else on it (even a little butter). Pastas of all kinds are available, easy to make and easy to serve. Heat some sauce, grate some cheese, or just dash on some spices! A great treat for a pasta-lover like me. The quickest recipe I’ve got for pasta I have is this; cook some pasta, add a little butter to prevent sticking, then add curry and garlic until you have enough to meet your desires. As simple as that.

    A few wonderful, nutritious, and easy dishes are the following; chicken caesar salad, spaghetti with tomato sauce, a sandwich (don’t forget lettuce and/or tomatoes). I like to stick to what I know, so my personal list is not so long. But I’m sure that all you intelligent readers can think of stuff to whip up to meet your dinner-time cravings.

    Cooking for yourself isn’t so hard. Just maintain the balance (oh, I forgot all about dairy!) and you’ll do fine. And if you’re a few minutes late to lecture, at least you’ll have had a good home-cooked meal. Where do you think chefs learned how to cook, anyway? Certainly not in class.

    A word for the future. When you can afford to waste a few supplies with an unsuccessful attempt at a meal, then be creative! Add those crazy things together! And if you make a good meal, you can name it after yourself and sell it to someone. Or be like me and just keep it for yourself. Some things are better to be treasured, like a fine bottle of wine.

    Copyright © 2003 The Iron Warrior