In the previous blog, I wrote about the shopping in the U.S. such as supermarkets. Thus, this time, I write about cooking for myself, which is the first experience in my life.
Cooking for myself for the first time in my life
I did not have any opportunities to prepare foods for myself even though I am a sophomore in university.
I was impressed by a friend who sometimes cooked for himself when I was a high school student, but I did not imagine that I did it because I was dependent on my mother in terms of diet.
Some university students start to live alone, but I do not. Thus, same as until high school, I ate what my mother made, ate outside near the university, or at the restaurant that I was working as a part-time job when I was in Japan.
That is the reason why I have to prepare foods by myself for the first time in my life since I came to the U.S.
I felt unrest at first, but there is no one who does not cook for oneself when cooking is necessary to live.
In Japan, eating outside may be one option, but that is really difficult here in the U.S. because the price is high.
My diet in this semester
my original plan
As I mentioned above, I started to cook for myself just after the beginning of my life in the U.S.
However, actually, I do not always cook for myself.
Even though the kitchen is contained in my dorm, I did not have a plan to cook for myself at first.
That is because I resisted to cook for myself due to the fact that I had had no experience of cooking. Thus, I had a plan to use dining in the university instead of cooking while I was in the U.S, but I changed my mind because of the two reasons below.
The diet system of the university
Before talking about the reasons, I explain the diet system of the university briefly.
Almost all the students in Stony Brook who use the dining register for the meal plan.
This plan has 8 options, and the expensive ones(between $3150 and $3580 per semester) enable students to use two dinings in the university as many as they want, exchange meals in the fast food restaurant in the university(has a limitation), and also invite their parents or friends to the dining a few times.
The dining is located both the east and west side of the university, and it is a buffet system.
We students can get sufficient nutrition through many kinds of foods such as noodles, pasta, pizza, rice, meat, salad, fruits, cereal and desserts, hence freshmen who live in the dorm without kitchens are required to register for the expensive plans.
At first, I used this expensive plan, but I changed it because the foods in the dining were not very delicious and broke even was really difficult.
The current plan that I use costs $900 and it involves $900 dining dollars, which can only be used for foods and drinks in the university, and 10 meal exchanges, which is the right to enter the dining ten times.
This dining costs $15 for lunch and $16 for dinner, thus we can benefit $150 if using it for lunch ten times.
It is possible to use credit card in this dining, but using dining dollar is profitable because we do not need to pay taxes by using it, which result in saving more than one dollar.
The dining dollar can be used in the next semester and we can add deposit at any time, thus I changed to this $900 plan from the $3580.
What I also use a lot other than the dining is the food truck.
There are about five food trucks in this university on the weekdays, and they offer drinks, hotdogs, Halal foods and so on.
I prefer to eat Halal these days, thus I eat it every week. It costs about $10, which is cheaper than the dining(of course, the amount is smaller than the foods in the dining).
↑ This is a food truck that sells Halal. It is sometimes crowded. but we do not need to wait more than ten minutes.
Mixture using dining and cooking for myself
I just changed the meal plan, instead of cancelling it, because I thought cooking for myself for every meal was still difficult.
The shift from 0 to 100 in terms of cooking may make me dislike making foods, and I can eat more in the dining than cooking for myself.
Recently, I have been to the dining and eaten a lot twice or three times a week, and bought the Halal in the food truck once a week.
Also, about once a week, my friends drive me to the restaurants apart from the university, and sometimes go to New York City. Thus, I cook for myself about 5 times a week.
I need to do my homework of course, thus I think this plan shift was appropriate for me.
Then, I write about what I cook and eat in my daily life.
What I cook for myself
My diet
Here is my present diet.
On Tuesday and Thursday, I have a class at 9:30 a.m., thus I try to wake up at 9 a.m. everyday.
And I usually eat breakfast and lunch at the same time.
What I eat for breakfast is usually the same, and I try to have all the three major nutrients(carbohydrates, proteins and lipids) for lunch and dinner.
Thus, I write about what I eat for breakfast first, and then about both the lunch and dinner.
breakfast
What is breakfast for me?
It is not a good idea for me to spend a lot of time to cook for breakfast because I do not like to get up early and I am a beginner.
In theory, I should eat egg, meat or fish in the morning, but I do not want to cook in the morning. Thus my policy is just eating a light meal for breakfast.
In addition to this, I try to eat healthy foods, which I explain below.
Banana, oranges, and apples
What I try to eat every day is fruits.
I had a habit to eat fruits every morning when I was in Japan, thus I am to continue it.
Especially I prefer to eat banana because I can eat without using knives. I also eat oranges and apples due to the fact that I can get them for free in the dining.
Sometimes I cannot get banana because it is popular for everyone, but I basically do not buy fruits in the supermarkets.
Yogurt
This is also indispensable for breakfast.
Yogurt has two types same as in Japan. One is packaged yogurt, and the other is a big plastic box yogurt.
I buy either of them every two weeks because both of them have merits and demerits.
The packaged yogurt has a great point that I can eat it immediately just after opening the lids, but it is not suitable for adding fruits.
On the other hand, a big one requires me to move yogurt into the dishes, but I can add fruits, almond, and cereal, which make me eat them together and it is efficient.
I try to eat either of them every day.
↑The left one is a big-sized, and the right one is a packaged yogurt. Especially, I have bought the right one since I came to the U.S. It also has a strawberry flavor and is a good value.
Cereal
There must be many people who come up with cereal speaking of the American breakfast.
It is also very easy to prepare cereal for breakfast, thus I always have a stock, but I have eat it less than before.
That is because of the milk. It is common to eat cereal with pouring milk, but the taste of American milk is different from that of Japanese, and it makes me have a stomachache.
Actually, American milk contains Vitamin A and Vitamin D, and also it contains less lipids than the Japanese one, which is a disappointing point for me.
Recently, as I have mentioned above, I have sometimes eaten cereal with yogurt.
Almond
Finally, I started to have almond these days.
I buy almond because I can easily get dietary fiber through it and it is cheap in the supermarket.
I want to have nuts or raisins at the same time, but I only eat almond because they are expensive in the U.S.
I purchase the unsalted one, and mainly eat it with yogurt every two days.
These are what I eat for light breakfast every day.
Lunch and dinner
What is lunch and dinner for me?
I do not have a lot of free time in a lunch time due to the class or TA activities(I will write about it soon), but am usually free at night.
However, I do not make a specific plan about what to cook at the beginning of the week because I sometimes have a lot of free time in the afternoon, or have some plans irregularly.
I prefer to cook with using fire at night, and try to cook meat dishes or soup for two servings. By doing so, I can easily eat them in the next day.
Halal foods are sold only in the lunch time, thus when I eat it for lunch, I usually cook for myself at night.
Here, I introduce some foods that beginners can easily make.
Rice and bread
First, before talking about specific menu, what is indispensable for diet is rice and bread, which are carbohydrates.
Some may wonder that I can eat rice in the U.S., but we can easily buy the Japanese rice(produced in the U.S.) named as Nishiki.
There are so many Asian students, especially Chinese, thus we can eat rice in the dining, but that is Indica rice, which is different from Japanese rice.
However, that is also delicious, and I appreciate for that.
I do not have a rice cooker now, thus I cook rice by the pod. It is a little bit uncomfortable because I cannot cook something else by using pod while making rice.
Because of this, I make five cups of rice each time, and preserve it in the refrigerator. It takes about less than a week, and I make it again, and again. This is a cycle these days.
Regarding to the bread, I buy the white bread that has already been cut. I bake it in oven that is in the kitchen.
I usually have six pieces of bread each time, thus I put cheese, ham, fruits jam, or peanuts butter on it. I sometimes eat lettuce with the bread, too,
I had had peanuts butter few times until I came here, but I bought it because many of my suite mates used it. This is a good example of “When in Rome, do as Romans do.”
It is rich enough to be thirsty, and it embodies American products. However, it is cheap and easy to preserve, thus I recommend to people who will study in the U.S. and do not have a lot of opportunities to cook like me.
↑ This is the Japanese rice Nishiki that I eat in the U.S. It tastes really good.
Curry and Hayashi-rice
As I wrote about curry and Hayashi-rice produced by Golden Curry in the chapter of Asian Market in the previous blog, I have made it a few times.
The process is just to cut and stir-fry potatoes, onions, carrots and meats, and add the curry mix or gravy mix, thus it is easy for beginners.
I can make two servings by putting four mixes and eat it in the next day, which is efficient.
Mapo-tofu
Same as the curry and Hayashi-rice, I can also buy the Mapo-tofu in the Asian Market and it is easy to cook.
However, one problem is that I cannot buy tofu in the supermarket, thus I need to buy it in the Asian market.
Ground Pork is necessary for the mayo-tofu, and it is also easy to cook, thus this is suitable for beginners, too.
Spaghetti
Spaghetti is also one of the easiest dishes.
I have made Neapolitan and tomato sauce since I came here. I can buy both the ketchup for the former and the spaghetti tomato sauce for the latter in the supermarket. After that, I just need to boil the pasta.
I used a thin pasta for the Neapolitan at first, which resulted in eating something like a Japanese Somen, thus using a thick pasta is preferable.
Soup
A soup that contains many vegetables and ingredients is easy to cook and healthy.
I use potatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce, sausage, chicken tenders and eggs. Finally, by pouring chicken broth, I can have a really delicious soup.
At first, I put neither broth nor chicken, thus it was as if drinking hot water with some vegetables, but the chicken broth changed the taste drastically.
It is a long blog today, but diet is indispensable for living. I am very happy if people who will study abroad read this blog. Thank you very much for reading.
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