Adult Upgrades for Your Favorite College Eats

College is the greatest four (or five, we're not judging) years of your life. You live with your friends, your parents are several zip codes away, and you don't have to worry about that insurmountable pile of debt until six months after you graduate. And the best part of your undergrad education? You're always eating. Like, always.

College students have a tendency to recklessly indulge because they're young and wild and free. They know no reprecussions, and by reprecussions we mean backfat and muffin tops. But if you've graduated years ago and still find yourself gravitating towards the microwave come dinner, you have some serious life changes to make. You're grown now. And grown-ass adults can't put ice cream on chicken tenders at 3:30 a.m. and look themselves in the mirror. You have work in the morning, not a class you can skip, and your boss doesn't consider worshiping the porcelian god a religious excuse to skip work.

Every once in a while nostalgia for the great days at ye old university will set in, but the fat creeping up around your thighs ain't that nostalgic, and neither are we. Take your sad packaged dinners and your college reminisicent meals and give them an adult upgrade. Click on to find out how to pay a tasty tribute to the good old days while maintaining your pride and self respect.

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College go-to: Studying in lieu of dinner
Adult upgrade: Chopped salad

Finals period is a time where you sacrifice sleep, sanity, and most importantly, meals for the sake of your GPA (that is, if you aren't taking the "consume everything in sight" route). Either way, everyone comes out of that hell week changed. But don't consider the 10 pounds you lost in the library a victory. A true diet consists of eating healthier and exercising. Now that exams are behind you, making a salad with lots of fresh veggies is the way to go.

College go-to: Every soda in the dining hall mixed together
Adult upgrade: Water or homemade lemonade

Sure, Sprite, Coke and lemonade do make for a tasty concoction, but that doesn't mean you should drink it everytime you eat. You are grown, you pay rent, and, most importantly, you don't have unlimited access to 15 drinks at one time for the beautiful price of "my parents pay my room and board" anymore. If you're really into making your own drinks, here's a delicious recipe for homemade lemonade. Now that you're grown, feel free to mix in all the vodka you want.

College go-to: Food left on the floor
Adult Version: A creative remix of yesterday's dinner

It doesn't matter that no one saw that you eat that bag of chips out of your trash can. You are old enough to cast judgement on yourself. You no longer live in a dorm where anything is edible past 2 a.m. Drunk-eating everything in arms' reach in not acceptable when it's 5 p.m. and you're sober. Leftovers now refer only to the food that you cooked or bought within the past 2-3 days that you were unable to finish. Check out a few ways to revamp your leftovers into a whole new meal, and just say no to eating out of the garbage.

College go-to: Your roommate's dinner
Adult upgrade: Whipping up a quick stir fry

Yes, your roommate probably shouldn't let her Thai carryout take over the entire shelf. Maybe she was asking for it by leaving a fork in one of the boxes. And OK, the post-it labeling the General Tso chicken as "Mine!" is kind of drooping to the side so could you have known it's hers? It could be yours. You could've drunkenly called Hunan Palace. Grow a conscience, you full-grown human. It's not your food and your roommate doesn't even like you. Cook up this 3-minute stir fry next time hunger and laziness strike and avoid the passive-agressive notes.

College go-to: Hot Pockets
Adult upgrade: Homemade calzones

The average college student uses a microwave four times a day.* Therefore Hot Pockets, those delicious, steamy snacks, became your campus staple. You have risen above this. There is an oven and a stove in your apartment for a reason. Bake a calzone, the grown man's Hot Pocket, and revel in your newfound adulthood.

*This is a rough estimate, but it sounds accurate, right?

College go-to: Hot Pockets
Adult upgrade: Amy's Vegetable Pie in a Pocket Sandwich or Spinach Lasagna

College taught you well. You can eat virtually anything that comes out of a freezer as long as you heat it first; its owner and the length of time spent in the freezer are trivial details. Now that those dark four years are behind you, and you only have one roommate, when all their Hot Pockets have dissapeared there will only be you to point fingers at. Instead, buy your own meals and opt for one of the healthy, frozen options from Amy's Kitchen. Bean burritos, FTW!

College go-to: Anything with sugar
Adult upgrade: Low fat desserts...in moderation

As you grow older, your body begins to betray you. What once slid away after a night out, will now linger on thighs, arms, and bellies. This thing is called fat, and it's coldblooded and doesn't give a what about your skinny jeans. You can no longer eat entire pints of ice cream every other night. Eating candy from the university store when you're bored should not be a regular Tuesday afternoon habit. Instead, whip up one of these low fat dessert recipes from Delish. Satisfying your sweet tooth and keeping love handles at bay simultaneously, yes!

College go-to: Easy Mac
Adult upgrade: Homemade Macaroni and cheese

Macaroni and cheese doesn't just come in microwavable cups. There are people who work in restaurants who actually cook pasta and cheese together, for more than 10 minutes, on a stove. If you give them green slips of paper they will let you eat some. Or, if you're running short on bills, cook up your own mac-and-cheese the way your mom once did.

College go-to: Natty Lite
Adult upgrade: Beer that costs more than $10 for a 24-pack and doesn't taste like diluted water

Frat boys never die. They just get older and work in finance. Don't think this means you can still pound Natty Lites with the boys after work. We all like a little college nostalgia every now and then, but your beer isn't the place to find it. Toss in a few more dollars and upgrade yourself to a nice IPA or a hoppy pale ale. We reccomend Sierra Nevada.

College go-to: Sugary cereal
Adult upgrade: Fiber-heavy cereal

Frosted Flakes are a blessing to youth worldwide. But you are no longer a student who can eat a box of cereal on the way to lecture, and cholesterol is something you might want to think about now. Whole grain Cheerios and regularity await you.

College go-to: Really, really, cheap pizza from the place with all the health code violations. Or, worse yet, Digiorno.
Adult upgrade: Mixed Vegetable Pizza (homemade, of course)

When the pizza place you regulary dine at keeps closing due to visits from health code officials, perhaps you should find a new restaurant. For the ambitious adult, check out this recipe for homemade pizza. It's like Papa Johns in your kitchen, only without your arteries crying out.

College go-to: Energy drinks and candy bars
Adult upgrade: Coffee

The slight tremor in your hands post-energy drink binge should not be worshipped as your victory over sleep. All-nighters are not mandatory in adult life as they are in college. Please pick up a coffee on the way to work for your liver's sake. Hell, here is a list of affordable coffee machines if the Starbucks barista has yet to spell your name right.

College go-to: Trader Joe's Two buck Chuck
Adult upgrade: Wine that requires more than a 5 dollar bill

We really support the broke life but wine does actually taste better when it costs more than two dollars. Trader Joe's is a clutch college move, but now that you actually get annoyed at being carded, it may be time to upgrade to something a little fancier. Start here.

College go-to: Dollar menu anything.
Adult upgrade: Chicken fried rice

Burger King is a beacon of hope and a speedy end to hunger. But all the chicken tenders you eat at 1 a.m. will be beaconing their way to your thighs if you continue to eat like a teenager. Sometimes you just don't have time to wait for food, we understand. Here is a recipe for a 15 minute Chinese chicken fried rice. Thank us later.

College go-to: Ramen
Adult upgrade: Spaghetti Carbonara

Without ramen, no one would graduate college. Fact. It is the stomach staple of every college student. For one dollar, your stomach will stop disturbing the kid glaring at you during your exam. Unfortunately, buying ramen while carrying a briefcase simply isn't socially acceptable. But if struggle followed you into adulthood, here is an affordable and quick pasta recipe to satisfy that noodle craving.