Students eat quick, easy food

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    Students said they eat what they eat for three reasons: it’s fast, easy and cheap.

    In a survey taken of 100 BYU students, pasta topped the list as the food of choice for 27 percent of the students.

    “I don’t have a lot of time to prepare good, healthy meals,” said Angie Stoker, 19, a sophomore form Post Falls, Idaho, majoring in nursing.

    Stoker said she eats pasta because it is easy to make, it tastes good and it does not cost a lot of money.

    Sandwiches came in a close second with 20 percent of the students naming it as their most frequent meal.

    Some students said they eat pasta and sandwiches because they like to think they are eating healthy food.

    Some said they did not think that eating the same food regularly is healthy.

    Health is not everyone’s motivation. However, Sammie Markham, 25, a senior from Houston, majoring in theater and media arts, said he eats grease most often.

    Many students agreed they do not eat enough vegetables or protein. And more than any other reason, students eat what they do because it is fast.

    Jennifer Jones, 19, a sophomore from Utica, N.Y., majoring in physics, said she finds it hard to cook for just one person.

    “It’s good to have a real balanced meal everyday, but it’s kind of impractical to make a full meal everyday,” Jones said.

    Other students said they like to make more food so they will have leftovers.

    With pasta knocking down American favorites like hamburgers and sandwiches, a student explained why.

    “Pasta is stuff they can make in quantity not quality unfortunately,” said Whitney O’Reilly, 19, a freshman from Redlands, Calif., who has not declared a major.

    O’Reilly said pasta is convenient for her to eat because it does not take a lot of time, money or energy.

    Some students are motivated by their lack of cooking skills to eat foods like frozen pizza or burritos.

    Other frequently eaten foods for college students are bagels and cereal. Mexican food and chicken tied at seven percent, with salad and rice tying at six percent. Pizza and hamburgers also tied at five percent.

    No matter what they eat, nearly all students agree on the reasoning for their most common choice of food: time, money and convenience.

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