You’re hungry and you want to make dinner but you open your fridge and realize you actually have no food left to eat. So it’s time to make a grocery store run, but us college students run into a good amount of problems making these weekly trips. I personally didn't realize how hard it was to grocery shop for one person until moving into my own place this year. Here's a few thoughts I, along with some of my friends continuously run into during these trips:

1. I finally have full control over all my meals, I'll only buy healthy things this year!
2. If I buy this bag of salad, that means I'll have to eat salad for 5 days straight before it goes bad
3. Remember, college student on a budget, I need to buy things at a good/cheap price.
4. Hey! Produce can be cheap, but oh wait now I actually have to cook it and make a meal out of it.
5. Now I have to think of every ingredient I need to make that meal.
6. Pasta and bread is just so easy though...
7. Maybe I should add kale to my diet....but wait, I see dino nuggets in the freezer section.
8. How do I push my cart around all these people without hitting something/someone?
9. I want these cookies but I don’t want to eat all of them by myself….maybe I can force my roommates to eat them.
10. I need milk but I don't need THAT much milk.
11. Hey I remember eating this as a kid!
12. How did my cart end up being $60?
13. Oh no, did I really just forget my reusable bags at home again?
14. Do I pay for a bag now or do I just try carrying all my stuff by hand?
15. This food better last me for more than a week

Since settling into my new apartment, it's become more of a common problem where I’m trying to choose what to eat and when to eat it. After a few days I end up looking into my nearly empty fridge hoping I can mix a bunch of random food together and call it dinner.

It's another step into adulthood I was definitely not as prepared as I should have been for. I didn't realize how many steps it took to actually make a good homemade meal. The process of buying groceries but needing to know what you want to make so you can buy everything you need beforehand is a lot harder than I imagined. I definitely took that for granted back home and am appreciating my mom more than ever right now! It'll take time, but I'm sure once I get into the swing of things, I'll be able to prepare meals that actually look and taste decent. Just another learning process that everyone has to deal with at some point in life. Taking it step by step, and day by day, I may not be the next iron chef, but I can sure as heck try!