Cooking in the dorms

Going from living with your parents for the last 18 years to living on your own can be a very exciting transition but it also comes with one major downfall: the end of unlimited groceries.

Your dorm room is your new home and your new home definitely doesn’t have as much room and space as your old one did. You will have to learn how to utilize your dorm appliances and what groceries are essential. Don’t fret though —  These are a few tips that will definitely guide you through your first year of eating in the dorms.

Kitchenware to bring:

• plastic silverware
• microwavable bowls/plates
• tupperware
• can opener
• cups
• storage containers

Tips:

1. Bring a microwave- this is essential to functional dorm room. Your microwave will be your new best friend.
2. Keep fresh fruit around- apples and bananas are always good essentials to keep around. They can serve as a quick snack or a side to a meal but don’t keep them around for too long. Fruits will attract ants and bugs!
3. Canned items- whether its canned soup or canned vegetables- they’re quick to heat up and can also count as a full meal. (Stick with low sodium soups to avoid excess salt intake!)
4. Floor Kitchens- utilize the kitchen on your floor! There is an oven and large refrigerator- you won’t do this for every meal but maybe setting a day or two out of the week to bake your meal will be helpful to you.
5. Healthy meals are still possible- although it is harder to get full balanced meals, you can follow simple tricks and rules to healthy eating in your dorm. Keep fruit, nuts, canned tuna, and vegetables in your room at all times.

Microwave Triscuit Pizza

(Submitted by Casey Matthesian)

Ingredients:

• Triscuits
• Ragu Pizza Sauce
• Mozzarella and cheddar cheese
• any extra topping are optional

Directions:

Step 1: Place Triscuits on plate in an organized shape with all of the squares touching.

Step 2: Take spoonfuls of Ragu pizza sauce and put the sauce on each triscuit individually. Don’t get too carried away with the sauce though, otherwise the triscuits will get soggy after a mere 30 seconds in the microwave.

Step 3: Use an equal amount of Mozzarella and cheddar cheese on each Triscuit. Or just dump the entire bag of cheese on the plate, thats what I usually end up doing.

Step 4: Put your masterpiece in the microwave for 45 seconds. Then when the time is up, wait five more seconds. Then add another 20 seconds. This is how you get the cheese in the middle melted to perfection. If you use paper plates microwave in increments of 15 seconds until done — I learned this the hard way. Nobody likes pizza Triscuits with a glaze of melted plastic.

Step 5: Enjoy. You may want to seek out help from an addiction center when you’re a victim of microwave Triscuit pizza like me.