Millennial Eating Habits That You and Your Friends Totally Understand

By Sarah Grace Nicholson

Good or bad, the teens of Generation Y have innovative ideas about their lifestyles and how food fits into it. Compared to the homestyle meals our parents grew up with, our fast-paced agenda fuels these defining eating habits of our generation.

MORE:  How Millennials are Changing the Food Game

Our meals are all blurred into time frames that do not constitute a certain meal.

What do you call a bowl of cereal when you eat it after rolling out of bed at 12 pm? Does that make it lunch? Either way, we eat when we want and what we want because we are apparently the best kinds of adults.

MORE: 8 Weird Diet Habits That College Students Know All Too Well

We obsess over The Food Network.

…As well as all the fancy cooking shows that teach us how to cook filet mignon that would make Gordon Ramsay gasp. Yet, we rarely make attempts at these dishes, or even have the ingredients in our fridge for that matter. Perhaps accidentally, we could describe how to make a gourmet meal but probably have never physically tried to do it.

MORE: 7 Food Network Shows We Wish Were Still On

We desire simplicity in our food packaging.

The vitamins and nutrients advertised on packages confuse the majority of us, and we lose interest in trying to figure them out. We need to be told in simplest terms that Vitamin A will keep our skin glowing, or Vitamin C will help with our nasty cold.

We love good photographs of food almost as much as we love food itself.

“Food Porn” on Instagram has almost 40K followers. There is just something about a filtered picture of a stack of fluffy pancakes that we can’t resist.

MORE: 5 Steps to the Perfect Food Instagram

We love customization and the power that comes with it.

Restaurants that let us order a sandwich, pizza, or burrito exactly the way we want it, while we hover over them telling them the exact amount gives us immeasurable joy.

MORE: 4 Sneaky Ways To Hack The Chipotle Menu

We like to believe we are health conscious.

Especially when we realize those ingredients are put in our bodies. We like the way we feel when we walk down the aisles of Whole Foods, pretending to be an expert in all things organic.

We’ve introduced a whole new meaning to the word “snack.”

Does leftover pizza, a baby sized burrito, or a mountainous plate of nachos really constitute as a snack? It sure does to us.

We seek value, and we want to see a bang for our buck.

When we believe something is valuable, we are willing to spend. We have no problem making a $5 Starbucks drink part of our daily routine… but only because that stuff is addicting.

MORE: 15 Facts That’ll Change How You Think About Starbucks

Cooking from scratch is only for special occasions.

If our significant other offers to cook us a homemade meal, we know the relationship is going places. Those comforting homemade meals show the time and effort our friends and family are willing to sacrifice for a nice night in.

We love finding food hacks that will trick servers into giving us that extra spoonful.

Nothing excites us more than getting away with an extra serving of something without paying the additional amount. Tip: Ask for a to-go box at Panda Express, even if you are dining in.

Most of all, we don’t waste time with eating.

Dinner is often eaten in front of the television or while we text. Fast food brings in millions in revenue every day, and convenience often dictates our diet more than cravings do.

These characteristics of our generation reflect on who we are—we’re social yet in a hurry; lazy yet exotic; resourceful yet willing to splurge. While our parents and grandparents may look down on us for being too career-oriented and tech-savvy, we’re willing to work to accomplish our goals.

The food habits of our generation are also still changing—who knows, we might even figure out how to cook a meal at home in the next couple years.

Photos courtesy of Chris Ford, flickr.com, Brian Killian, @foodpornweb, Twitter, & Beth LeValley. 

Spoon University is a food network for our generation, where all the content is produced by college students. They cover everything from simple recipes and local restaurants to dining hall hacks and healthy living tips.