College is the right time to learn how to cook

College is one big adjustment period. Cooking and eating by yourself might be one of the biggest learning curves of them all, especially in kitchens that don’t resemble home. I feel that I have learned a thing or two while cooking and learning in subpar apartment kitchens so I would like to share my knowledge.

You are not Gordon Ramsey

I watch an unhealthy amount of cooking shows (usually late at night when I want to torture my starved self) and I have just started to venture into actually cooking what I see. My roommate and I have found out, surprise, our lack of experience and unequipped kitchen do not necessarily lead to success.

Maybe it’s a combination of young confidence and stupidity but this hasn’t seemed to slow us down. We might waste a little bit of food but we don’t see it as a waste of time. We gain experience and no-how every time the fire alarm goes off and the neighbor bangs on the wall. No, you are not Gordon Ramsey but you should have the confidence of a belligerent British chief (minus the fake accent).

Your kitchen has a personality

If you have a kitchen like mine, you know what I’m talking about. The spiral burners heat unevenly, your oven takes an hour to get to temperature and your fridge is not the coldest in the Sears catalog.

If something is truly broken, don’t be afraid to call maintenance. But everything else is kind of just a fact of life. What I have had the biggest problem with is timing. Sometimes I try to keep things moving so I can have hot food on the table. But like I said, I don’t have what you would call an efficient kitchen.

My tip for you is to test everything out with less expensive food. Get a rough estimate for how long and how even things cook. I also have a little trick for burners: turn off the light in the kitchen and see were they glow the hottest and which burners are the most even for even cooking.

Sharing is caring

I have a roommate and he buys a lot of food. Most of the spices and baking essentials are his. I’m not going to say that everything has always been harmonious when it comes to sharing the kitchen but I will say that our system has gotten better over time. 

The remedy for this problem is defiantly common sense. Do the dishes when you need to. Buy essentials when they run out. If you are making a dish for yourself buy everything and use it right away. 

If you have a fear of your roommate, expectations or even your own kitchen, get over it. Nothing comes easy when it comes to cooking on your own so get in that shitty kitchen, mess up and don’t forget to clean up after yourself when you are done.