College Cooking 101: How to Make Delicious Food While Living In a Dorm

College Cooking 101: How to Make Delicious Food While Living In a Dorm

For many college students, the dorm quickly becomes their new home. It's where they'll spend time studying, hanging out with friends and even working on their chef skills. While dorm life is often fun and exciting, it can also present new challenges in cooking. Dorm rules and size play a huge factor in what your new "kitchen" will look like. Because of this, you'll have to make adjustments, including how and what you cook in your new space. If you're interested in learning how to cook delicious food in your dorm, keep scrolling to discover our favorite tips and tricks.

Know the Rules

Before immediately looking up a mouthwatering recipe to make in your dorm, you must be familiar with all of the new house rules. Different college campuses have different rules when it comes to cooking. Some colleges may promote the use of toaster ovens, while others won't allow it. Know what appliances you can bring with you before planning out your meals. Next, designate a safe cooking area in your dorm. You'll want to make sure that your cooking appliances are far away from anything that might start a fire. This includes curtains, table cloths and bedding. Third, store your appliances and food in an area that isn't accessible to insects and pests. While your dorm will likely be free of these pests when you get there, they are great at finding good-smelling food. Keeping your food area clean and free of small creatures will ensure it remains fresh and edible.

Choose the Right Appliances

College Cooking 101: How to Make Delicious Food While Living In a Dorm | Bob's Red Mill Blog To avoid cluttering your room, you'll want to choose items that are necessary and require little space. When working through your list of appliances, we recommend separating them into categories of "want" and "need." Devices that fall under the "need" category may include a mini fridge, microwave, pressure cooker, electric kettle and toaster oven. "Want" appliances might consist of specialty items like a waffle iron. These are things that you may enjoy using but are not necessary for dorm life.

Meal Plan

Meal planning is an essential part of a dorm diet. Planning your meals ahead of time will help you stay focused on what you genuinely need and allow you to create a shopping list before heading to the grocery store. When meal planning, we encourage using the same ingredients throughout multiple recipes. First, choose a few meals for the week and think of other dishes that can be created using similar ingredients. For example, if you're craving a healthy quinoa salad bowl like this Ensalada de Quinoa, you can use similar foods to make this Breakfast Quinoa. Repeating ingredients will help you save time and money throughout the week. Additionally, choose meals that are easy to make. In college, your weeks fill up fast. Pre-making your meals or choosing quick-cooking recipes will ensure that you always have time to squeeze in a serving of your favorite foods.

Remember the Recipes That You Love

College Cooking 101: How to Make Delicious Food While Living In a Dorm | Bob's Red Mill Blog Creating a recipe bank of easy, dorm-friendly recipes will help you choose meals in the future. Remember that Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo you made the other night that turned out perfect? Save the recipe! You'll be surprised at how many recipes start accumulating once you get started. Once they build up, your weekly meal planning will become even easier. Just choose a few meals from your pre-existing recipe collection and create a shopping list.

Freeze Your Meals

Freezing your food is a great way to make sure your ingredients last. If you have access to a freezer, begin thinking about which foods you can keep frozen until you're ready to use them. Fruits, vegetables, meats and even sauces can all be frozen to enjoy later. Another way you can use your freezer is to store leftovers. Save time by keeping your leftovers and using them to make meals later in the week. While most foods remain fresh in the freezer for 3-4 days, you'll want to research the food you're making and it's freezing requirements.

Take Shortcuts

College Cooking 101: How to Make Delicious Food While Living In a Dorm | Bob's Red Mill Blog While we don't recommend taking shortcuts when it comes to schoolwork, we recommend them with cooking. One-pot meals, cold salad dishes and pured veggies are all easy ways to create flavorful and filling meals without all the extra steps. For a tasty and nutritious one-pot meal, try out this Instant Pot Chili. While making home-cooked meals in your dorm room isn't always easy at first, with a bit of practice, you'll become a pro in no time. From choosing the right appliances to creating a recipe bank of dishes, there are countless ways to make your dorm experience a healthy one. Have a dorm cooking tip of your own? We'd love to hear how you've made cooking at college a success. Let us know in the comments below. From everyone at Bob's Red Mill, have a happy and healthy day!
Bob's Red Mill
November 09 2020

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