Your stomach is grumbling and considering the fact that it’ll be a long while until you’re done with class, your temporary source of satisfaction is just going to have to come from pictures and videos of food rather than tastes of it.

We’ve all been there: hungrily scrolling through Tasty video after Tastemade video and somehow finding yourself on Bobby Flay’s Instagram account, watching him grill some expensive cut of meat to perfection. We save some recipes, thinking “‘this will be a good snack I’ll definitely experiment with,’” but do any students really ever use these videos for anything except entertainment?

Steinhardt sophomore Gabrielle Henoch said she certainly doesn’t use the videos for anything other than passing time. Avocado toast, eggs, noodles and fruit are her main sources of sustenance as a college student short on time and on a budget, but that hasn’t stopped her from spending way too much time watching amusing, short instructional food videos.

“I kill so much time watching Tasty videos on my bed when I’m hungry and bored, and I don’t even realize where the time goes,” Henoch said. “But I’ll never actually cook any of it.”

It’s not that Henoch doesn’t necessarily want to experiment with recipes but more because she lacks culinary capability.

“Sure, I’ll want to make those Nutella brownies,” Henoch said. “I’m just a horrible chef, and don’t even have the time anyway.”

Aside from entertainment purposes, food videos can actually benefit students. CAS sophomore Kaitlynn Keller uses the videos when she’s in need of quick and easy meals to prepare on a tight schedule.

While she admits that she finds it weird that people engross themselves in food videos and never actually experiment with the recipe, herself included at times, Keller said that Tasty videos have been super helpful for prepping a week’s worth of meals, especially when she lived in her own apartment.

“I don’t cook,” Keller said. “But since I live with my parents still, I’ll show my mom Tasty videos, and be like ‘oh I really want you to do this.’”

Food videos have also helped Keller compile grocery lists, which helped her when she first started grocery shopping by herself and was overwhelmed by the sheer number of options in the store.

“I decided on Sundays to look through the videos, find my top five, write down all the ingredients and go to the grocery store with that list,” Keller said.

Sick of the sandwich options at the Market Place at Kimmel? Or Lipton Dining Hall meatless Monday fare? Well, since you probably fall victim to the occasional — or frequent — Tasty food video binge watch like the rest of us, put it to good use. It looks like these short clips can be valuable beyond just entertaining us in moments of boredom and hunger — the results might even make us go “oohh, yes.”

Email Celina Khorma at [email protected].