Hi friend! I am so grateful you’re here!
My name is Ally Weisgerber and I am a senior Journalism and Mass Communications major with a minor in Marketing at Samford University. For my Content Marketing class this semester, we have been given the opportunity to create a practicum of any topic we so choose and grow in content marketing strategies and experience– so I decided to focus mine on cooking as a college student. I was inspired to select this topic when I was sitting at home with my roommates one night and we were all discussing the obstacle of knowing what AND how to cook as college students. With crazy schedules and lower budgets, it can be quite difficult to plan adequately for each meal, three times a day. It also is so much more than cooking itself. It begins with observing the food you already have in your fridge and pantry, curating a list of groceries that you need to acquire, and create an efficient plan of attack when you arrive at the grocery store. In addition, you must create a sustainable budget way in advance to know how to stay consistent every month. Once these steps have been completed, then you have to put all of your mental strength and effort into the process of preparing and cooking the actual food. There are so many working parts into this topic that many of us don’t even think about until we are in the midst of daily life in college, going through the motions of school without being properly nourished and well-balanced. This needs to change!
This project is a strategy to combat this problem for all college students (& beyond!). Thus, A College Kitchen was born. I was inspired to choose this name as a college kitchen can look very different for each student but, ultimately, you can create one wherever you are. I hope to create an inviting place where we can all relate to the problem and ultimately work together to seek out a solution. Food can be a difficult and sensitive subject for many, so I want it to be an encouraging space for people to feel empowered to tackle cooking and food preparation on a daily basis. I plan to make my platforms simple, easy to understand, hopeful, refreshing, and enlightening.
What can you expect from this blog? I am hoping this will be a place that provides insight to college students that they may have never considered, by having easy access to recipes, budget strategies, grocery lists, and MORE. I also want this to be a space that you can share your ideas, tips, and personal recipes that we can all learn from together!
I am incredibly excited to get the chance to do my practicum on this as cooking on a budget has become something I am growing in passion about. In my first year of living in a house with a proper kitchen, it has been a learning curve going from ready to eat food in the cafeteria to planning my own meals every day. I have curated some of my favorite, easy recipes as well as accumulated a running list of tips and recipes I have come across over the years that I can’t wait to share with you all. I believe there can be so much joy and confidence found in the art of cooking, even if it is more simplified and less extravagant. My dream is to allow people to enjoy the practice no matter the place, time, or income they are working with and celebrate the work of their hands every meal!
Thank you for joining the journey!
