After work and studying, students tend to neglect the importance of eating. However, living on campus some students have found ways around time-consuming meals and discovered easy and healthy dishes they can enjoy.

Araceli Partida,’ a psychology major, usually makes dishes like chicken, rice, salads and vegetables, however, there is one dish she makes that according to her, may sound very strange. It is a family recipe and something that she grew up eating.

She is one of numerous students who live on campus that try to replicate dishes that come close to home.

‘My sophomore year is when I started living in the dorms, that’s when I started to try to buy healthy foods,’ said Partida.

Before she lived in the dorms, Partida didn’t eat healthy. She would eat whatever her mom made, which ended up being greasy foods. She commuted from over an hour away and that left little time for eating during the day. Once Partida moved into the dorms, she had more control over what she ate and more time to make it.

‘I make tuna and then I put sour cream and I cut up an apple like in little squares and then I mix it,’ Partida said. ‘The tuna, the sour cream, the apple and I put mustard sometimes. It sounds weird but it tastes good I promise.’

‘ Junior Janice Pope a kinesiology major enjoys cooking. Also a resident of the dorms, she said cooking is one of her hobbies. Her favorite thing to cook is fried chicken.

Before marinating the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and hot sauce she said she washes the chicken.

‘Then I put it in a baggy and I put it in the refrigerator and let it marinate for about an hour. I take it out drop it in some flour and then throw it in a pan with hot oil,’ said Pope.

Pope said an important part of being a good and smart cook is knowing how to shop.
She said when she goes to the store she knows what she wants or her mom buys groceries for her.

‘I won’t buy things I’m not going to eat. It saves a lot of money. Instead of going out you just cook here and have leftovers,’ said Pope.

Sophomore Melody Mena’s favorite food is cereal, she said its cheap, easy and a good healthy meal for students.

‘One thing I do eat is I eat cereal every single morning, it never fails,’ Mena said. ‘I eat cereal for a lot of meals because it’s convenient.’

‘[My favorite thing to cook is] spaghetti because one its pretty easy and two I like to stir fry a lot of vegetables in olive oil because its healthy,’ said Nik Reyes, a graphic design major.
Reyes said spaghetti is a very easy and versatile thing to cook. He recommends it for those who are limited on time and want leftovers.

He likes to add extra ingredients to his sauce and said that is the best part.
Reyes’ advice about smart shopping is to really think about actions when purchasing food.

‘I would advise students to make a plan both budget wise and health wise on what they want to eat and to find the equal balance in between.’ said Reyes. ‘Students should plan a budget especially in these times, plan a budget. Work out a certain schedule on what you’re going to eat every day.’