Meal ideas - dorm living, no kitchen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is his problem to solve. He decided that every single thing on offer in the dining hall was inedible? I mean, THAT’S the place to go to put together meals — salad bar + grilled chicken + rice = stir fry; pasta + peanut butter/soy sauce/brown sugar = sesame noodles; just about anything can be made into a taco or put in or on a salad.

Sadly, this is true. It is Temple University and their dining hall food is quite bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can he have a hotpot type thing to boil water? How about a crockpot?

He can certainly boil water in the microwave.

I think a crockpot would be allowed since it has no exposed heating elements like a toaster oven does, but tbh that's a level of cooking that would be more complex and I don't think he's up for that without a kitchen.

He can boil water but not really make noodles...which is what I was thinking of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Salads. Nothing that can be made in a microwave is healthy. Why is it up to you to solve?

He is asking me for suggestions and to help him make a plan for foods he can make on his own without access to a kitchen.

Well, pretty much none of the other suggestions sound better, or healthier, than cafeteria food. PBJ. Canned food. Also, if he’s choosing this can’t he be resourceful? Tell him to ask it on IG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Cooking in his room is going to piss off his roommates/hall mates, because of the smells and cleanup, which he won’t do promptly or completely.

His roommates also say the dining hall food is pretty bad. They say it hurts their stomach after eating it. They do the swipes at fast food restaurants instead and have gone down to the 10 meals per week plan. But they are just going to spend money for breakfasts and stuff at the food trucks or Starbucks. My son needs to save money so he needs meals he can make in the dorm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Salads. Nothing that can be made in a microwave is healthy. Why is it up to you to solve?

He is asking me for suggestions and to help him make a plan for foods he can make on his own without access to a kitchen.

Well, pretty much none of the other suggestions sound better, or healthier, than cafeteria food. PBJ. Canned food. Also, if he’s choosing this can’t he be resourceful? Tell him to ask it on IG.

Well, I don't know what to tell you. He asked me for some ideas, I'm asking here for some ideas. I already got a few good suggestions, which I will pass on to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Salads. Nothing that can be made in a microwave is healthy. Why is it up to you to solve?

Overnight oats, heated up in the microwave, topped with fruit and nuts.

You can cook eggs in the microwave - I use this: https://www.amazon.com/Chef-Buddy-82-Y3496-Microwave-Essentials/dp/B004SJUGPI?ref_=ast_sto_dp

Most of those microwaveable oats are not healthy. But sure, that and a random boiled egg. Sure his roommate will love him making those every single day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that a school would ALLOW an on campus resident to only have 10 a week meal plan. Dorm life doesn't seem particularly conducive to preparing meals. However I'm not that creative either. Could end up getting expensive.

I had a 10 meal plan in college because I ate dinner at my nanny job most evenings before coming back to the dorm.

Similar.

In college I hosted and waitressed at a country club in the evenings and they fed us a shift meal. On weekends i worked a full lunch-dinner shift so was fed 2 meals. Fantastic high quality food.

I highly recommend this method.

[Anonymous]

Everything he ate on the meal plan would not have been healthy either. Some frozen, some sandwiches, some eating out. Assuming the 10 meals will be basically lunch and dinner during the week and he is only covering the weekend and breakfast (if he eats it)

[Anonymous]

The most practical options for that situation are premade salads, frozen microwavable meals, cup o noodles, and some of those sandwiches/wraps you can find in the deli aisle. Trader Joe’s has lots of choices if there is one nearby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is his problem to solve. He decided that every single thing on offer in the dining hall was inedible? I mean, THAT’S the place to go to put together meals — salad bar + grilled chicken + rice = stir fry; pasta + peanut butter/soy sauce/brown sugar = sesame noodles; just about anything can be made into a taco or put in or on a salad.

Sadly, this is true. It is Temple University and their dining hall food is quite bad.

So why did he choose to attend a school where he already knew he didn’t care for the food?

And really, you can’t screw up pasta or cereal. Put him back on the regular meal plan and tell him to be creative.

[Anonymous]

Temple has a lot of food trucks around it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is his problem to solve. He decided that every single thing on offer in the dining hall was inedible? I mean, THAT’S the place to go to put together meals — salad bar + grilled chicken + rice = stir fry; pasta + peanut butter/soy sauce/brown sugar = sesame noodles; just about anything can be made into a taco or put in or on a salad.

Sadly, this is true. It is Temple University and their dining hall food is quite bad.

So why did he choose to attend a school where he already knew he didn’t care for the food?

And really, you can’t screw up pasta or cereal. Put him back on the regular meal plan and tell him to be creative.

Seriously? No one in their right mind chooses a school based on food. But this is DCUMland so I'm sure there are a few wackadoodles here who do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is his problem to solve. He decided that every single thing on offer in the dining hall was inedible? I mean, THAT’S the place to go to put together meals — salad bar + grilled chicken + rice = stir fry; pasta + peanut butter/soy sauce/brown sugar = sesame noodles; just about anything can be made into a taco or put in or on a salad.

Sadly, this is true. It is Temple University and their dining hall food is quite bad.

So why did he choose to attend a school where he already knew he didn’t care for the food?

And really, you can’t screw up pasta or cereal. Put him back on the regular meal plan and tell him to be creative.

He didn't realize how bad the food would be, or that they were closing the second dining hall so there'd be only ONE dining hall on the whole campus!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Salads. Nothing that can be made in a microwave is healthy. Why is it up to you to solve?

He is asking me for suggestions and to help him make a plan for foods he can make on his own without access to a kitchen.

Well, pretty much none of the other suggestions sound better, or healthier, than cafeteria food. PBJ. Canned food. Also, if he’s choosing this can’t he be resourceful? Tell him to ask it on IG.

This. But if he really must do something, how about a one burner plugin induction thing. With a pot. No fire risk and he can properly boil things to make rice or beans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is his problem to solve. He decided that every single thing on offer in the dining hall was inedible? I mean, THAT’S the place to go to put together meals — salad bar + grilled chicken + rice = stir fry; pasta + peanut butter/soy sauce/brown sugar = sesame noodles; just about anything can be made into a taco or put in or on a salad.

Sadly, this is true. It is Temple University and their dining hall food is quite bad.

So why did he choose to attend a school where he already knew he didn’t care for the food?

And really, you can’t screw up pasta or cereal. Put him back on the regular meal plan and tell him to be creative.

He didn't realize how bad the food would be, or that they were closing the second dining hall so there'd be only ONE dining hall on the whole campus!!

How bad can it be? Do they have a cereal bar at breakfast? A salad bar at other meals? Fruit? Is it all deep fried grease or what? It beggars belief that the roommates say dining hall food hurts their stomach but fast food doesn’t.