Life

18 Dishes Every Adult Should Know How To Make

by Food52

Making the switch from college to the real world doesn't have to be tough — at least when it comes to finding your meals. You may no longer have the conveniences of a 24-hour dining hall to keep you fueled, but not to worry! Food52 has rounded up the perfect dishes every adult should know how to make, so you'll never find yourself looking for something to eat.

Here at Food52, we love recipes — but do we always use them? Of course not. Because once you realize you don't always need a recipe, you'll make your favorite dishes a lot more often.

Today: What you should have on hand as you move out of the dining halls and into the real world — a world that includes kitchens.

It's graduation month, so if you or anyone you know is graduating, you've probably read all the Buzzfeed listicles floating around. ("13,597 Things Every Former Undergrad Will Miss!" 1. Watching all of your classmates troop to the lawns on the first sunny day of the year; 2. Huddling up in the library for 30 hours straight with nothing but a large cup of coffee and a sense of impending doom; 3. Late night heart-to-hearts with Ellie Goulding playing in the background, etc.)

But you know what you won't miss? The College Student's Diet: dining hall food on good days, vegetables on great days, take-out on bad ones, and Hot Cheetos washed down with espresso on the worst. Not to mention the sheets of cookies and vats of ice cream after each bad break-up.

Whether you're saying goodbye to campus life forever or for a while, browse through these 18 guides for basic foods you can make and customize now that you're free from meal plans, course schedules, and constantly recurring nightmares of midterms:

1. How to Make Pancakes Without a Recipe by Sarah Jampel

2. How to Make Any Frittata in 5 Steps by Kenzi Wilbur

More: How to make baked eggs, and the best egg sandwich.

3. How to Make Any Savory Galette Without a Recipe by Marian Bull

4. How to Make a Grain Bowl Without a Recipe by Leslie Stephens

5. How to Roast Any Vegetable in 4 Steps by Marian Bull

6. How to Make Any Pesto in 5 Steps by Phyllis Grant

More: Now that you have pesto, here's how you can get creative with it.

7. How to Make Macaroni and Cheese Without a Recipe by Catherine Lamb

8. How to Make DIY Nachos Without a Recipe by Lee Frank

More: Whip up some homemade salsa for those nachos.

9. How to Make Guacamole Without a Recipe by Leesa Frey Freeman

10. How to Make Any Burrito in 5 Steps by pierino

11. How to Make Hummus Without a Recipe by Hillary Pollak

12. How to Make a Vinaigrette Without a Recipe by Kenzi Wilbur

13. How to Make Any Marinara Sauce in 5 Steps (and 20 Minutes) by cookinginvictoria

14. How to Roast a Chicken Without a Recipe by Kenzi Wilbur

More: Stretch that roast chicken with chicken salad or chicken noodle soup.

15. How to Make Tomato Soup Without a Recipe by Brette Warshaw

More: Switch it up with lentil soup.

16. How to Make Any Puréed Vegetable Soup in 5 Steps by Kenzi Wilbur

More: Make vegetarian or vegan chili when you need a little something extra.

17. How to Make Any Veggie Burger Without a Recipe by Marian Bull

18. Banana Bread by Hillary Reeves

By Jenny Xu