Eating in College

Living in a college dorm room can be stress inducing at first. You’re nervous about living with a roommate along with your college classes and everything that goes with it. You’re probably even nervous about the food and college cafeteria.

When you’re living in a college dorm room, you’re probably going to have an eating plan for the college cafeteria. This will give you a certain amount of meals for the day, week, or month depending on how your college arranges the meal plan. You may have already found out your meal plan and done the math in your head and are worried that it won’t be enough. Don’t worry, though – chances are that you won’t be eating in the college café 3 meals a day every day. It may seem it at first but once you get into the swing of things at college, you’ll find that your meal plan is just right. The reason is because you’ll more than likely be eating on the go, in your college dorm room, or going to dinner with your friends.

You’re probably wondering about the quality of the food at college. You’ll find that some food items are really good and you know to have those items when they’re offered and you’ll also find what items to stay away from. Sadly, it’s going to be a trial and error process.

You may be wondering how in the world you can eat in your college dorm room unless you get takeout every time. With the simple addition of a mini-fridge or microwave, you can actually do a lot. Your college may even let you have a toaster but they may have regulations if you can use it in your college dorm room or in the common room. If you plan on eating on the go or in your college dorm room, there are some things you need on hand. You won’t be able to do an elaborate dinner like your mom made at home, sadly. After all, there won’t be much room in your dorm room or in your mini-fridge for the items you need to make that elaborate dinner, but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat good food. You can still keep some fruits, veggies, and dressings for salad in your mini fridge. What is great for eating in your college dorm room are boxes and cans of food – you can keep them in your closet in a designated area so you can have some different food options. This is where macaroni and cheese, soups, and ramen come in handy.  And if you’re allowed a toaster, you can keep some bread in your closet, too. And don’t forget about bringing leftovers to your college dorm room after you spend a weekend visiting your family.

The trick of cooking in your college dorm room (or even the common room)? Not setting off the fire alarm. The fire alarms in residence halls are extremely sensitive. You don’t want to be the person that sets off the fire alarm at 6 in the morning because of burned toast. Whatever you’re cooking, keep watch of it. Don’t wander off or get distracted by something on your cell phone. It isn’t like when you’re at home and you can step away from your toast and not worry about it burning or setting off an alarm. That may mean you have to start your toast at a low or mid-point in the settings and then when it’s done deciding if you need more time. The important thing is just keeping an eye on your food. If it’s starting to smoke and smell, stop cooking whatever it is.

Lastly, make sure you cover whatever food you are warming in the microwave. The last thing you want to do is scrape spaghetti or macaroni and cheese out of your microwave when you could be hanging out with friends.