Living off campus means college students must cook for themselves, often for the first time.

KYW’s Lynne Adkins reports a local university is trying to steer kids to healthy choices.

Temple University offers trips to the grocery store with a registered dietician to help students make smart and healthy choices so they can keep off those extra pounds. Nicole Patience, clinical dietician at Temple Student Health Services says its best to keep meals simple, easy and cheap.

“We discuss how to put together a meal starting with ramen noodles or pasta side packets, how to add nutrient dense healthy foods to it to improve the nutrition in the meal.”

She teaches the students what to look for on food labels, understand portions, and learn how much of each food group is needed each day.