Dorm life.....?

Question

I am so hungry right now. All I have is junk food. Next time I go to the grocery store, I'm going to have to grab some things I can make in my dorm. The only cooking appliances I can have are a microwave and an electric tea kettle. It kinda sucks. What are your ideas?

Answer 1

Lot of options here, depending...

That electric tea kettle, depending on the model you've got, can be used for a *lot* more than it was intended for. If you've got a shorter, wider version, it's essentially an electric pot.. which is almost an electric frying pan, just taller and narrower.

The older electric tea kettles, with the less sophisticated timers and temperature regulators, are essentially electric burners with a teapot welded to the top of them... If you are lucky enough to have one of those, the sky's the limit.. Heat it up, add a little oil, and you can fry in the sucker, as long as the object of frying isn't too large... if it's a big pot, and you're *REALLY* careful, you can fill it halfway up with peanut oil and use it as deep fryer.. but that can be really dangerous... (room fires tend to get one expelled from school.) And you need a deep fry thermometer for doing that properly.

Also, if your electric tea kettle can actually *boil* water, you're also in business... You can make rice, pasta, all sorts of things in boiling water, and most of them can be made right in the teakettle.

I'm a little less than happy with microwaves... I don't like them for much more than reheating, baked potatoes (just poke some holes in the potato before you nuke to avoid potato explosion), and melting butter... BUT.. that being said..

Heat up a good amount of water in your teakettle... once it's about at a boil, drop in some fettucini noodles.. let that go for a few minutes.

Melt a stick of butter in the microwave... stir in about a cup of heavy cream and some high bulk index (HBI) garlic powder.. maybe a teaspoonful.. nuke for another 20-30 seconds to reheat... (a ceramic or heavy glass bowl works best to retain heat while mixing)... stir, and whisk in a few tablespoons of "AA" grade fine semolina flour to thicken it a touch.... Nuke for another 30 seconds or so (times relative due to differences in microwaves.. get it good and hot, but not boiled and curdled and burnt..)..

Remove bowl of goodness from microwave, stir well. Drain water from teapot when noodles are done, apply noodles to plate. Pour Bowl contents (now a tasty alfredo sauce) over Fettucini.. Bam... dormroom fetuccini alfredo.

Another easy one is to get yourself some instant rice.. 2 cups water per 1 cup rice.. put in bowl, nuke till it boils. Or get the specifically microwave kind and follow directions on the package... once the water is absorbed and the rice is done, Toss in some garlic powder, some cayanne pepper (easy on it, it's spicy!), onion powder, a little salt, some black pepper, and some chopped up smoked sausage... Drizzle some olive oil over it, or better yet, some shredded cheese, and nuke till nice and hot, and cheese is melted. Instant rice and sausage cassarole.

The possibilities are nearly endless, depending on what you've got to work with.. When I was in college, I built an improvised oven out of two electric travel irons, some mountain dew cans, muffler tape, and some stolen street signs and baked a lasagne for our Resident Assistant... I guess rules were a bit more lax on our floor...

But, barring creative wizardry... If you've got an extra few bucks to spare, I highly recommend the book "A Man, a Can, a Microwave: 50 Tasty Meals You Can Nuke in No Time" by David Joachim. Besides being rather amusing, and written on spillproof paper, it's got some interesting and pretty good ideas on the subject that should, at the very least, expand your notions of what you can do with a nuker and canned goods. It's running at around 11 bucks on Amazon atm.

The important thing about improvised cooking is to pay attention to it and experiment with things.. Paying attention is important because cooking times are going to be rather dependant on your microwave, and you want to avoid burning/curdling/exploding food. Experimentation.. well, it can be fun, and lead to some tasty discoveries.

A can of pinto beans can be mixed with some pre-cooked ham chunks (available most places in the meat section), or god forbid, even a can of spam chunked up, for "Nuker Ham and Beans" (don't nuke cans, put them in a bowl.) Microwaveable mac and cheese can be made, stuck in a bowl with a can of tuna and a small can of cream of mushroom soup, stirred together, and nuked till the soup is warmed for a "Poor Man's Tuna Cassarole" (we call it "Glop" here)... Garnish with some crumbled Fritos for extra pizzaz... Tasty, filling, and cheap.. (alternately, regular mac and cheese might be made in the teakettle, depending on its design... (can be a pain to clean though, so attend to the cleaning promptly)... it's also cheaper than the microwave stuff..

And you can nuke some tater-tots or hashbrown potatoes (frozen) in a bowl till they're hot, cover with a can of chili and sprinkle liberally with some shredded cheese for yet another classic dorm cassarole...

Microwaveable rice dishes (lipton makes a nice chicken and rice one that I enjoy), stove-top stuffing, and other nukable side-dishes can be turned into an endless stream of main-course cassaroles by adding some formed of canned meat or smoked sausage and the application of shredded cheese.. Cassaroles are your best friend... you can make em out of nearly anything.. (yes, you can even dice up leftover dining hall grub, pack in a bowl, add either some tomato sauce, chili, or cream of mushroom soup (depending on the leftovers in question) and top with cheese.. cassaroles are *that* versatile...)

There's literally *tons* of options... far too many to fill in here. But I hope this little listing gives you some ideas for getting creative in the dorm. :)

Answer 2

Well, you can cook lots of things in the microwave. Pretty much anything in a can (like soup) would be good, and so are tv dinners, as long as you have access to a freezer. Cereal & milk are good if you have a fridge. Pop tarts aren't very good for you but can be heated up in the microwave. Again, if you have a fridge, you can keep meat & cheese in there and make sandwiches. Also, hotdogs, again if you have a fridge. If you don't have a fridge, you can always get a loaf of bread and some peanut butter & jelly. There's always easy-mac, and I think they now have something like that but hamburger helper? or something similar. Microwave oatmeal is good too. Sandwich crackers, the kind with cheese or peanut butter between them might be a good thing. Popcorn! Possibly canned tuna and crackers, but your roommate might hate you. Keep some apples, oranges, and grapes around, and carrot sticks/baby carrots or celery sticks are good too, but be careful not to buy too much, so that they go bad before you have a chance to eat them. Canned fruit would work, too. Mandarin oranges are tasty!

OMG I almost forgot ramen...you can even add stuff to it, you don't have to eat the noodles plain, if you have a fridge and can keep some eggs, you can heat up some water in the tea kettle to boiling, crack an egg or two into the bowl, and then pour the boiling water over top, and that'll cook the eggs, and then you can put the ramen in, and it'll "cook". Almost like egg drop soup with ramen noodles in it.

Good luck! Dorm life SUCKS. I survived a semester of it, that's all I could take, then I moved to an apartment.

Answer 3

I'm a meat eater, but I sometimes make a veggie burrito that is yummy and only needs the micro. Of coarse, hope you have a little fridge?

You'll need:

Tortilla shells (small)
can of refried beans

Toppings: (use only the ones you like..Iike them all)

jar of salsa
black olives (diced)
a tomato (diced)
an onion(diced)
an alvacado(sliced or diced)
sour cream

heat beans in micro, about 1 minute. Heat shells about 30 seconds.

Spread sour cream on tortilla. Then some beans. Then add toppins, all chopped of coarse. (except the salsa). Add salsa last.

It doesn't sound like much, but it is a yummy and satisfying meal, quick, and only need a microwave.

And even a meat eater like me enjoys it. (actually, I disliked refried beans, till I tried these...) It is not only better than it sounds...but more filling than it sounds!

Try it, you'll like it.

Refrigerate leftovers. or eat later that night. :)

Answer 4

Try looking online or at your library (public, the school one might not have one) for a microwave cookbook. Most of them have recipes that don't need refrigerated items. I have a book like this, and some of the recipes are awesome (minestrone soup!). Good luck and enjoy!

Answer 5

hey there.....
I can seriously remember my time at a dorm and I remember that I didn't not have access to a fridge...but had the same stuff u have....limited..but still do able. Some items I had that I lived with in a dorm are.....
noodles in a cup...( u can just add water to this), I've also seen cup size pasta's, soups, instant mashed patatoes in a cup, bowl of noodles, all this stuff can be found in ur dry soup area of ur grocery store....I've made the powdered chicken noodle soup in my microwave and it took me 5 mins...I just add crackers and walla
Canned food such as soups, stews, chilies,pastas. I wouldn't say canned meats cause unless u have a fridge it wouldn't taste too good to eat them without condiments such as mayo, mustard, or katchups cause u need to have them all in the fridge after u open them.
Packaged oatmeal..(just add water) Quaker oats aren't bad. Fruit are a good choice ( apples, oranges, bananas) cause u can keep small amounts out in a dry cool area of ur dorm. Powdered milk is a good idea for things like cereal ( just add water to it) U can use this for other things as well such hot chocolates, ect...a loaf of bread is a good idea, I was famous for my Peanut butter and banana/or apple sandwiches . My total favourite (to this day) a few slices of raisin bread with peanut butter a sliced apple, banana and a sliced pear.( pears keep well outside the fridge) For things like jams, cheeze whiz, on the days that I had extra monies I found a resturant that left their jams and such out on the table and just loaded up my purse with the little packages of jams and such...(those keep out
well in a dorm no need for a fridge). For the days where I had to eat in my dorm with out the kitchen I kept canned meat I added this stuff to my noodles, I've used canned weiners in microwaved mac and cheese or a can of tomato soup. I've added canned beans to my mac and cheese, the canned tuna and crackers are good..now u can get canned tuna meals...it isn't that bad tasting....it's better then dorm food I think....lol....
I've come across pasta in a bowl thing and u just add water... u heat it in the microwave...they are good...the come in flavours such as mac and cheese, fettucini alfredo (i've added a can of peas to this along with a can of chicken and some bacon bits) I've used instant rice added to a can of tomatoes heated in a microwave with the canned chicken along with a bit of Italian seasoning.(not bad honestly) ......just be creative..with all this...u will think up some good ones to suit ur own tastes...the chinese stores have some really awsome noodle bowls u can just add water to....
I hope this all helps...good luck with the studies.....

Answer 6

Campbells make some great soup to go items that you just nuke, they don't even need to be refrigerated.
Also try nuts and peanut butter, they fill you up faster. Only other thing I can think of is Ramen noodles.
Hope it helps.

Answer 7

put an egg + a white in a custard cup with a little bit of water, and mix...pop it (covered) in the microwave for about a minute and a half. it's good, and eggs are healthful :)

Answer 8

i also live in a dorm...yeah its kinda sucks but be creative my gurl....why dint you buy a ready to eat things...like can food or something you just have to heat it....my friends & i sometimes cook can food using a electric kettle...amazing huh....if you want to cook you can buy a rice cooker....with rice cooker you can cook anything like home cooking....

Answer 9

BOSTON IS AN AWESOME CITY!!!!!!!!!!!! not super huge like NYC, but big enough and the best damn sports around!! Clean city , fine dining, ..a great community, shopping, night life, close to maine and new hampshire for all the outdoor needs, ...everything you need to be happy~ "welcome in advance"

Answer 10

scrambled eggs and toast
t.v, dinners
beef stew in a can
soups
pre cooked bacon=heat and eat=make BLT`s