By: Star McCown ‘21

What is Meal Prep? Meal prep is when you plan your meals and snacks for the week ahead of time, preparing your meals early on, and portioning them out for convenient meals-to-go throughout the week. Why should you try meal prepping? Well, meal prepping can help you eat balanced and nutritious meals, and exercise good portion control. You can also save money planning and making your meals ahead of time rather than eating out when you’re too busy to cook, or wasting money on groceries that end up going bad before you remember to use them. Don’t know how to cook? That’s okay! Your meal prep journey can begin with simple beginner recipes, and over time, you can level up your meal prep once you feel more confident in your cooking abilities. If meal prep sounds like something you want to try, then this blog post will help you get started on your meal prep journey.

By: Alexis M Peters ‘20

Okay, I’ve done some pretty wild food challenges in the past (check out my adventure of eating raw vegan in the USC dining halls for a week, here!) but this time, it wasn’t voluntary. I’m gonna let you guys in on a secret: Adulting is hard. This is my first year living off campus in non-USC housing, and my roommates and I completely forgot that paying for our own gas is… a thing? For those of you who have had the wonderful fortune of living in university housing, where they take care of that stuff for you, let me explain. Your landlord does not pay for your gas! (Well, sometimes they do, but check your lease agreement to be sure!) And guess what? Stoves and ovens run on gas! So… for an entire week, while my roommates and I waited for the gas company to come and flip a switch to get our stove up and running, I had to make do with the few appliances we had: a rice cooker, an electric kettle, and my one true savior: a toaster oven.