Tag: cooking

4 Easy, Cheap and Healthy Hostel Meals

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Throughout my time abroad, I am always traveling. We all know that traveling is expensive, but there are many ways to save money, especially when it comes to food. A lot of people believe that staying in hostels is “sketchy” or “cheap”, but now days, there are many hostels that are nicer than many hotels. One of the best amenities when it comes to staying in a hostel is the guest kitchen. This means you can cook your own meals saving you a ton of money rather than eating out for every meal, which can really add up. Sometimes, thinking of something easy as well as healthy to make can be difficult. Especially when you are traveling, you don’t know what you are going to be able to find at the supermarket. With that being found, I have found a few recipes to make while staying in a hostel. All of them are made with easy to find ingredients that are healthy and are simple to make!

  1. GRILLED CHEESE, HAM, AND TOMATO SANDWICH: Sometimes hostels serve breakfast so if yours does, try and take some bread, ham, and cheese back to your fridge so you don’t have to go out and buy it yourself. If this is the case, all you would need to buy is some veggies like tomato. You can even take out the ham to make it vegetarian.

Kitchen tools needed: Frying pan and oil, sharp knife, spatula (or get creative with what you’ve got)
Ingredients:2 slices of bread, Ham and cheese slices,Tomato, sliced

HOW TO MAKE IT:

 -Make a sammie with all of the ingredients and throw it on the frying pan.
– Turn over once. Welcome to some gooey goodness, with a bit of protein and veggies.

2. PERSONAL PIZZAS: If you are with a group of people, have everyone contribute by buying one ingredient/topping for the pizza. Cooking the pizza could also be fun when cooking with a big group! Even if you are not with a group, see if other people in the hostel want to join!

Kitchen tools needed: Oven, toaster oven, grill, or if you have to, a frying pan and oil
Ingredients:Pitas, pre-made pizza crust, or bread slices from breakfast, Tomato sauce, Any cheese or other toppings you like on your pizza

HOW TO MAKE IT: 

-Lay out your “pizza crust” and spread with tomato sauce.
– Cook your crust in your kitchen tool of choice for 2-3 minutes. Watch to make sure it doesn’t burn!
-Take the crusts out and top them with whatever ingredients you want.

3. PENUT BUTTER BANANA SNADWICH: Perfect for quick and easy breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even a snack! Instead of a basic peanut butter sandwich, add the banana for some protein and extra flavor.

Kitchen tools needed: Knife
Ingredients: Bread (from breakfast), Peanut Butter, Bananas, sliced (you can also use strawberries or blueberries)

HOW TO MAKE IT:

– Spread peanut butter on bread.
-Slice banana and put on top of the peanut butter.
-Assemble your sandwich.

4: VEGETABLE STIR FRY: Although this one may be a bit tricky to find the ingredients depending on where you are staying, it is defiantly the healthiest option of the recipes. You can also add chicken or beef for some added protein.

Kitchen tools needed: Frying pan and oil, Sharp knife if cutting your own vegetables, Stovetop burner or hot plate, pot to cook rice, Spatula or spoon to stir vegetables
Ingredients: Frozen bag of assorted vegetables (you can find this at most supermarkets around the world, but you can always pick the veggies yourself), Brown Rice, Teriyaki or Soy sauce

HOW TO MAKE IT:

-Cook rice according to directions on package.
-While the rice is cooking, add oil to frying pan and bring to medium high heat. Add veggies and cook according to package. If you’re using fresh vegetables, slice them and cook on frying pan for 6-7 minutes or until slightly brown, stirring frequently.
-Add vegetables and cooked rice together, and top with sauce.

Heres a video I found on quick & easy hostel meals

Hopefully with these recipes you can save money while traveling, as well as eat a yummy healthy meal!

Mobile Journalism (MOJO)

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This week in class we talked about Mobile Journalism otherwise known as MOJO. There are many trends within MOJO that we should be aware of. The first is how high the demand for video is. This is because everyone now days is glued to their phones. People are now staying up to date on news via phone rather than watching it on TV. Another trend is the growth of social media. If your audience is on social media, they you too need to be on social media in order to stay interacted with them. Having quick and easy access to stream and post video content through your mobile device is a huge plus of MOJO. With that being said, it is easy to create content on the same platform that it is being viewed. Before today, the way we would stream media was through TV, radio, and books. Now days, content is multi-media and the key ingredient is your smartphone. Your smartphone can take pictures, record audio and video as well as editing graphics. These are all examples of mixed media content all through one device being your smartphone. Another trend is live streaming. Live stream is a trend that you are able to do within multiple different social media platforms, like Facebook live.

A facebook live video streaming from an iPhone.

Even major broadcasters are using livestream from their mobile phones.

One of the first live broadcasts through a phone.

Overall, mobile journalism is cost-effective, powerful, and in tune with the trends. When it comes to cooking, mobile journalism an easy way to help others when it comes to cooking. For example, all over YouTube there are cooking videos that allow others to learn different recipes by simply watching a video.

Example of a YouTube cooking video

Watching a video is a much easier way to learn how to cook rather than reading the recipe out of a cook book.

Social Media Post

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This week, we discussed social media. Social media is something we are surrounded by all the time in our everyday lives. Especially us millennials, everything is documented through social media. This can be a good and bad thing. When it comes to food, I always go to Instagram to get inspiration on meals to make or even when choosing where to go to eat. For example, tonight me and my roommates went to Monster sushi. When simply just looking at the menu, we had trouble deciding what to order. Instantly we all pulled out our phones to search “Monster sushi” on Instagram. There are a couple ways you can use Instagram when searching for food. First, would be looking at what people have posted under the tagged location. This is where you are going to find most of the photos of different foods the restaurant you are eating at is offering. I always do this because sometimes when just looking at the menu you can’t really get a feel for what the meal is going to taste like. That is why some food places add photos on their menu of their most popular dishes because more people are willing to order something that has a photo of it looking yummy. The next way you can use Instagram when searching for restaurants is simply finding their company Instagram page. This is where you are going to see all their best sellers because you are getting information from the actual source. However, using the location tactic when searching for food is going to give you more of a real answer, because it is customers posting.

Instagram isn’t the only social media we can use when looking at food. Facebook is another great way restaurants advertise their food. For example, when out to eat you can use Facebook to “check in” to show all your friends where you are eating. By checking in other people can do research on where you are out to eat. Facebook also allows you to read reviews on different restaurants to see if they are worth going to or not. Other than going out to eat, Facebook is always posting videos on different recipes to make. For example, I am obsessed with watching the “Tasty” videos that pop up on my Facebook feed and always save them so I can make them on my own!

Have you ever seen someone post a snapchat or even an Instagram story of food and you wonder where they are eating? In my opinion, social media is a great way for restaurants to be advertised due to the fact we can check in and show people where you are eating. That way there’s no need to wonder where that burger came from because we can use social media to advertise where, and what we are eating.

Good article on social media marketing