{"id":97112,"date":"2019-04-09T12:01:02","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T10:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=97112"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:23:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:23:16","slug":"you-can-easily-survive-on-a-tomato-with-some-salt-and-pepper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/04\/09\/you-can-easily-survive-on-a-tomato-with-some-salt-and-pepper\/","title":{"rendered":"You can easily survive on a tomato with some salt and pepper"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you’re trying to get good academic results, maintain your social life, work out and get the housekeeping done, it just doesn’t feel like there’s any time left for cooking. But are time constraints the real reason that students are not cooking? Or have they simply never learned how to do it? And can a life without cooking be healthy and affordable? These three students hardly ever cook.<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Why don\u2019t students cook at home? Are they really too busy or do they simply lack the skills? For Russian Psychology student Alexey (35), it\u2019s a combination of both. \u201cI want to get good marks and that just takes up a lot of time. My parents taught me how to cook, but I don\u2019t enjoy doing it. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve never developed my cooking skills. But honestly, it\u2019s going fine; I\u2019ve been living like this for twelve years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psychology student Elai (24) says the habit simply crept in over time. \u201cI used to do a bit of cooking at first, with my sister, when my parents were still working. And with my last housemate. I used to do the grocery shopping and she used to do the cooking \u2014 that division of labour worked really well.\u201d Elai feels that she\u2019s a reasonable cook, but she doesn\u2019t enjoy cooking and uses every little obstacle as a reason to get takeaway or to get food delivered to her house. \u201cMy internship was in Amsterdam and I live in Rotterdam, so I had to get up early every day and got home late. I only had two hours to myself every evening, so I didn\u2019t want to spend that time doing grocery shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laxness<\/h2>

Pre-master student Saskia (24) recognises that laxness in herself and only cooks when she\u2019s in company. She is doing an internship right now in which she gets served her breakfast, lunch and dinner, and she\u2019s starting the master Media & Creative Industries. \u201cMy housemate shares my lack of passion when it comes to cooking, so we usually just get food delivered. A friend of mine is a great cook, so sometimes we cook together. Or she does, at least, and I watch from the sidelines with a glass of wine in hand. In those instances, I do see that there\u2019s a certain kind of magic going on \u2014 in the way she thinks up all those cookie combinations, like goats\u2019 cheese with walnuts and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexey and Elai admit that they\u2019re not cooking enthusiasts. \u201cSome people experience cooking as a type of meditation,\u201d says Alexey. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on; they really feel the food. I\u2019m not like that at all.\u201d Saskia: \u201cIt\u2019s very hard just cooking for one. There\u2019s always so much food left. My freezer gets packed or the food starts going off. And frankly, I am usually stuck for inspiration as well. It\u2019s a lot easier to just order food in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomato<\/h2>
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

If students aren\u2019t cooking, what are they eating? All three students told us that they did make their own breakfast and ate it at home. Elai: \u201cI am not leaving the house without having breakfast. I usually have quite a healthy breakfast: something like curd with muesli and fruit. Sometimes I also have a sandwich or oatmeal with an apple.\u201d Curd is also Alexey\u2019s favourite breakfast, as it\u2019s his main source of protein, \u201ctogether with French cheeses\u201d.<\/p>\n

Anyone who\u2019s ever visited the local Spar supermarket, knows that students love their lunch or dinner to go. Falafel salads, sandwiches, wraps, croissants \u2014 the on-campus supermarket has it all. Still, these students aren\u2019t really into these lunch options. Alexey: \u201cAll those meals are way too expensive. I\u2019d rather eat an apple or tomato standing up, possibly with a bit of salt and pepper. My diet is based on fruit and vegetables, meat gives me abdominal pain. By adding various ready-made sauces and all sorts of veggies, my lunch or dinner is never boring. I can make some eggs or pancakes, but I only do that every so often. Once a year, maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Saskia\u2019s diet is quite the opposite. \u201cPizza, hamburgers, kipcorns (a Dutch fried chicken snack); we usually ate snacks as a meal. If I had a lecture, I often got a bun with a meat croquette in the cafeteria. Or an apple at the on-campus Spar. I used to do some cooking, but not for lunch. For dinner, I\u2019d cook some pasta, or make a rice or oven dish, like the red pesto pasta that my ex used to make. Very simple dishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those dinner dishes are actually what Elai eats for lunch. During her internship, she used to eat big meals for lunch and smaller dishes for dinner. \u201cI would usually eat a sandwich or something like that for dinner, or I would get a Turkish pizza or chips at a cafeteria. For lunch, I would eat something rice-based with vegetables, ideally without meat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kipcorn for dinner<\/h2>

It\u2019s easy for your salt or sugar intake to skyrocket, especially when you\u2019re not cooking yourself; it means you can\u2019t be sure of what\u2019s in the meal you\u2019re eating. Do these students feel unhealthy? \u201cI don\u2019t need to cook to stay healthy,\u201d opines Alexey. \u201cI don\u2019t need full meals. I try to balance my intake of proteins, carbohydrates and fat, and avoid sugar and salt as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elai agrees in part, but she has noticed that she\u2019s lost a lot of weight. \u201cBecause I don\u2019t have a lot of time, I don\u2019t always get the chance to eat well. I want to try and cook a bit more this year. As I\u2019m also working out twice a week, I need to consume enough protein.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saskia admits that her diet isn\u2019t the healthiest. \u201cI used to eat far too little during the day and far too much at night, but the eating at night was mostly to satisfy cravings for things like fried food, cookies and crisps. Now I\u2019m getting a lot of healthy food at work, I\u2019m definitely noticing the difference. I feel a lot healthier when I\u2019m eating a vegetable dish or lasagne as opposed to a kipcorn for dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

\n\t\t

How can you afford a life without cooking?<\/span><\/p>\n

A life without cooking sounds expensive. But it doesn’t always have to be that way. Alexey spends approximately 42 euros per week, while Elai spends about 20 to 30. Saskia’s lifestyle is a lot more expensive: she estimates that she’s spending over 100 euros a week on food. “But,” says Elai, “I might spend 10 euros a day during my exam weeks. That’s just something I need during those periods.”<\/p>\n

The shopping basket of the average student contains over 30 euros of weekly groceries. So, how can students who never cook get by on so little money? Elai indicates that she’s only buying very simple products, like fruit, oatmeal, curd and muesli; no expensive vegetables or fruit and no biological or luxury products. There is a certain pattern to Alexey’s groceries: “Rye bread and rice crackers for carbohydrates, French cheese and curd for proteins, and all kinds of vegetables. There are expensive and cheap vegetables, but you can easily live on a limited budget if you go for the cheaper options.”<\/p>\n

How do these students pay for this? DUO appears to be the most important source of their income. Elai and Saskia have taken out a loan that allows them to pay for their food. Alexey saved up in the years preceding his studies, when he was a software engineer. But if the groceries only cost 42 euros a week, he should be able to manage, even just on his DUO loan.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t

De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t