Adventures in Adulting: Cooking

Cooking Healthy and Affordable

"I'm the best person in the world" - me after I cook anything at all

— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) August 21, 2015

Nothing says adulting more than resisting the urge to swing through Chick-fil-A and cooking a healthy meal all by yourself. Cooking is a struggle in itself, but adding factors like healthy and affordable seems like an impossible task for a busy college student like myself.

Faced with the determination to take yet another step in adulting, I set out to cook something other than grilled cheese or ramen.

My Experience: 

First, I took to Pinterest to find out what a healthy plate looked like. 

Next, I began looking for the perfect recipe that would truly test my adulthood. (Shout out to my high school self for already having pinned hundreds of recipes).

Finally, I headed to Kroger to shop like the legit adult I am. I must say navigating a grocery store is a close second in difficult adulting to cooking. But I persevered and ventured back home to my kitchen with some salmon, asparagus, and other essentials for my adult meal.

And ta-da! A dinner I was actually proud of!

                           

Reflection: 

As I mentioned in my first blog, I plan to reflect on my adulting experiences and connect them to ways local Athens businesses can better relate to college students in the area. After reflecting on my experience, I couldn't help but think about how difficult it was to plan this meal with my limited knowledge on healthy cooking. I felt pretty overwhelmed walking through Kroger. And then I wondered what my local Kroger was up to on their social media. 

I was able to find what looks to be an existing twitter account (@AlpsKroger), but not a single tweet and so much missed opportunity to connect with local college students. Why isn't this Kroger tweeting healthy, easy, and affordable recipes? I'd be all over that 'ish. Maybe post a recipe that would use a certain food that is on sale. Super Cheap? Now I'm really on board.

Before heading to Kroger I relied heavily on Pinterest. Why not have a Pinterest board that has all of the tweeted recipes in one place? This is a great opportunity for Kroger to get involved in the cooking process before I even get to their store.

Now once I'm in the store, I wouldn't mind a booth that showed some of these recipes coming to life. This booth could be a great way to promote their social media to students. Something as simple as "follow @AlpsKroger for more recipes and weekly ads."

Lastly, I think Kroger should host gift card giveaways to boost retweets. Every college student will grab at the opportunity for free groceries.