My son is going off to college is just a few short weeks. We are sending a microwave oven with him for cooking. He has never learned to cook on his own. He would be a perfect example of someone that cannot boil water. He can tear apart a carburetor, repair bike tires, tie his fishing ties but the kid cannot boil water. Oh well, perhaps that is a bit severe, he could probably boil water but what to do next would dumbfound him.

I am glad to see that there are many microwave cooking products on the commercial market today. With this knowledge, I know that he will not starve. I also am guaranteed that he will appreciate every home cooked meal he enjoys when he comes home to visit. I am also fairly confident that he will be more than willing to learn to cook for himself once he has enjoyed microwave cooking during the entire first semester of college.

In a recent grocery-shopping trip, I tried explaining to him how the coupon system works, how to purchase items in bulk and how to save money on different products, his eyes glazed over with disinterest. I smiled to myself because I, too, was once eighteen and I remember believing my parent’s knew very little compared to my own personal vast knowledge. I also remember realizing how smart my parents were and how little I actually knew once high school and family were hundreds of miles away.

How Times Have Changed When It Comes To Microwave Cooking

We did not do much microwave cooking in my day. We did not have the luxury of microwave specific foods and packaging like they do today. The opportunity to buy individually wrapped breakfast burritos, macaroni and cheese bowls, teriyaki chicken bowls and other prepared frozen foods were not as readily available. So many food companies today create snack foods and individual meals with college students and kids in mind. I tried to explain to him that these specially wrapped convenience foods are often very expensive. He doesn’t believe me when I tell him that college is a time of personal growth and poverty for most college students. He will learn. I did.

So for now, we will send him on his life. I have packed him cartons of top ramen (he loves it) and a specialty cookbook discussing the hundreds of ways that you can prepare top ramen noodles into quality meals. We bought him a microwave and all the necessary cookware and supplies he will need to stock his first kitchen. I don’t know if I packed enough Tupperware. We will undoubtedly be sending him many care packages once he arrives. Mostly though, I will probably have to send money. He cannot live on microwave cooking alone.