Before graduating high school further education may appear very distant to some students. This is understandable as college is a huge step towards adulthood and can also be a life-changing experience.
Often, after submitting your university applications, being accepted to your chosen institution may come as an unbelievable surprise.
However, the “wow, I made it” thought is usually accompanied by the “oh no, what will happen now? I don’t feel ready for this new chapter in my life”.
Even though you may have celebrated your 18th birthday or reached the legal age requirement in your country, moving out from the family home can be a very scary step and can cause quite a bit of anxiety.
Some people might approach it in a more relaxed way thinking that they’ll manage and they probably will, but it’s not as easy as it appears to be.
Having the liberties of adult life won’t cook, clean, or efficiently manage your finances.
Once moving away from home, you might start feeling a sense of duty and independence. You should consider (depending on where you live) that you may not receive the amount of external help that you did previously if any at all.
However, cooking and housework won’t be your only responsibility. You will have to balance all this next to your education. This means that to not get too overwhelmed you should stay on top of both your school work and home tasks.
By officially becoming an adult you will have to understand why self-assessment is important and that your actions have consequences.
Below I will be discussing some useful tips related to food shopping, cooking, and time and budget management.
Tip 1: Create a list of dishes that you like and would enjoy cooking once-living alone. Make sure to include a variety of meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner).
You should also keep in mind that if you don’t have much experience in the kitchen then initially cooking may be a bit challenging. It’s great to experiment with delicious complex meals, however, if you get the recipe wrong then you might stay hungry for the night.
To avoid this, try to collect a range of recipes, which includes both simpler meals and those that you could cook over the weekend when you have more free time.
Tip 2: Always have extra food at home (e.g.: canned soup). Perhaps canned mushroom soup isn’t the meal that you crave to have, however, if you forgot to go shopping or the cooking went wrong then it’s something that you’ll be grateful to find in your cupboard.
Tip 3: Make sure that your chosen recipes contain a variety of nutrients. Having a balanced diet is important and can be a bit difficult to maintain, especially when living alone.
Soon after moving out, you may feel freer and happier as you will be able to purchase the items that perhaps you previously weren’t allowed to or things that were rarely found in your household because other family members weren’t fond of it.
This is a great opportunity for you to explore new things and to fully grow into the individual that you are.
On the other hand, you should be mindful of your shopping list as chips and gummy worms will not keep you satisfied or full for a long time.
Greens are not as bad as you think they are. Once you find out what vegetables you prefer there is a lot to do with them in the kitchen, including using them as side dishes by roasting or frying them.
Tip 4: Side dishes are very useful as they can provide you with the energy that you need to get through the day. Some examples of side dishes are rice, potatoes, and steamed vegetables. You can even spice these up by adding some sauce such as sweet chili or soy sauce.
Tip 5: However, creating the chosen meals is not the most difficult task for certain students. Apart from managing your time and daily routine, some people struggle with budgeting.
Cooking dishes are only part of the job, purchasing the ingredients is the other.
Before going out to the supermarket you should carefully read the list of ingredients for your chosen meals as often they are much more complicated than in the picture.
In some cases, you might need five different spices or exotic items that are rare to find or are very expensive.
It is important to consider the price of each thing as it’s easy to overstep your budget for the week. You may have a very tasty Peking duck on Tuesday, but that may result in you only being able to buy cup noodles for the rest of the week.
Tip 6: Going out for social gatherings and maintaining friendships is also a big part of student life and adulthood. Nevertheless, you should keep a healthy balance between going out and studying.
Eating at restaurants is not only time-consuming but might negatively affect your bank balance, especially if you are trying to budget.
A meal at a diner may cost as much as food you might be eating for a day or two at home. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should not go out once or twice a week, just make sure that it’s not excessive.
Tip 7: There are also alternative solutions to socializing which might be a bit more budget-friendly, such as preparing meals at home to eat together or by going out for a coffee.
Tip 8: If you still feel anxious in the kitchen or don’t feel ready to cook more complex meals, then perhaps pasta and sauces are a good place to start.
