How to: Cook in your dorm room

Living in a dorm room can put a crunch on your ability to prepare a healthy and satisfying meal for yourself. Anything that’s made in a microwave usually isn’t up to par with what your mom serves you back home. But fear not cookery adventurers we have a few practical tips to help you beat that residence hall food rut.Think beyond the ­Cup  Noodles. Coffee-makers and hot water boilers (usually used for tea) can transform into stovetops for cooking Top Ramen or Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese. Basically anything that can be boiled can be cooked in one of these — although it might be wise to buy a separate boiling device if you actually want to use one for your hot drinks. Ramen flavored coffee might not agree with everyone. A microwave a bowl and some plastic wrap are all you need to steam fresh vegetables in your room. Just put the veggies in a bowl with water cover with the plastic wrap making a few small holes and zap it in the microwave until they’re fully cooked. Just remember it might be a good idea to open the windows and warn your roommate before steaming the more potent-smelling vegetables like broccoli and aparagus. Become a Foreman Frontiersman. Because Foreman Grills are one of the few cooking accessories allowed in residence halls on campus it’s probably a good idea to invest in one and get some good use out of it. Although Foremans are intended for meat they have a range of other uses. Quesadillas grilled cheese sandwiches or even Eggo waffles all come off the Foreman warm and browned to perfection. Get creative with what you grill. Try slicing up pound cake and grilling it with some pineapple rings. You might be surprised at how far a plug-in meat cooker and a little imagination can go. Escape the frozen dinner ditch. TV tray meals are packed with preservatives and sodium. They often make their way into college freezers because they’re fast cheap and easy (three things college students can never pass up especially when combined) but avoid them when possible. Healthy eating helps improve your metabolism and your mood. Grocery stores are working to make healthier meals easier to prepare. Hit the frozen food section and you’ll find individual serving sized bags of veggies that can be steamed in the bag.Pull a Betty Crocker. Investing in a good cookbook is never a bad idea. Cruising the cooking aisles of your local bookstores never fails to disappoint. Whether you’re a gourmet chef cooking on an eight-burner stove or can’t even make toast without charring it there are cookbooks available that can meet your needs and skill level. If you can’t spare the change to buy one you can take a look at Websites like AllRecipes.com or BettyCrocker.com which each offer 100s of different recipes for all occasions. But better than both these options is getting a hold of some family recipes. You already know which ones you like and you can compile them into your own cookbook. Take advantage of what’s nearby. Did you know there are tons of rosemary bushes around campus? Because it’s prone to growing near the sea it’s understandable that it flourishes here. Rosemary is an awesome herb that can pack in flavor to your hum-drum dorm dishes. Not to mention it has a fancy taste; it’ll make you feel like a grown up. Keep an eye out for the pine needle-looking shrubbery and small white pink purple or blue flowers. Give it a sniff to make sure. It’s a hard scent to mistake. Next time you go through the drive-through ask for extra ketchup mustard Ranch dressing what have you and tuck it away in your dorm room to save for a later date. To battle the bland food blues keep those Taco Bell hot sauces on hand.