Do you ever watch the Food Network on TV or see something on Pinterest and think how you would really like to make and eat something you saw, but then you remember you can’t because you’re a busy college kid? I thought this once, too.

There are a lot of reasons to live off campus, just like there are many reasons to live on campus. The main reason I moved into an apartment for my senior year was because I wanted to learn to cook before I graduated. However, I was concerned I wouldn’t know how or I would be bad at it when the time came and I would end up eating frozen foods. Fortunately, that isn’t the case for me.

A wise man once said, “Life doesn’t come with instructions, cooking does.” I took this to heart and learned how to cook.

If you have the opportunity to live off campus and buy the food you want to eat, then take it. Spend half-an-hour or an hour in the grocery store once a week and pick out all the delicious vegetables or meats or spices you want, and then go home and make something with them.

We’re all in college; we are all busy, and I do take that into consideration when I suggest spending your time and money shopping and cooking. I spend, at most, an hour prepping and cooking my meals on a daily basis. If you find you’re busier some days than others, then make an extra serving one night and put it in the refrigerator for the next day.

The way I see it is, if you say you’re too busy to make homemade dinners now, what are you going to do in the next stage of your life when you have a full-time job or are going on to graduate school?

There are tons of recipes out there with cheap and healthy ingredients that are made for people without a lot of time. You also might find, as I have, that taking a break from all the schoolwork by cooking a meal can be an incredible stress reliever.

So try not to buy the frozen pizzas and microwavable dinners just because they’re convenient. They’re not healthy, and quite frankly they don’t taste as good as homemade spicy potato curry or rosemary slow-cooker chicken.