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| Can I afford real food? |
When I started living off campus the summer after my freshman year of college, I started thinking of meals in terms of dollars. I also bought all my meals in box form. It was all Pasta Roni (the herbs and angel hair pasta was a particular favorite, retailing at 1.35 and sometimes 99 cents on sale). And Boca burgers. And spaghetti. The idea of cooking something from a recipe or buying a fresh vegetable seemed completely overwhelming, and expensive. If I used half of an onion for a recipe, how would I use the other half? I knew my boxes of Pasta Roni would never go to waste, so I stuck with safe territory. I also panicked if I bought a three dollar meal from the campus cafe for lunch, because after all, that would be $15 a week and would add up to $60 a month, which is WAY too much to spend on lunch. However, after I got out of college and got jobs that allowed me a small amount of discretion with how I spent my money, I stopped thinking about the costs of food, and didn't freak out about the prospect of an inexpensive meal out.
