Dorm Hacks for Hangry Students

It’s 12:01 am. You just got kicked out of Sterling Library and are on your treacherous walk home after a long day of grinding. Your stomach rumbles because you only took a few bites of the dry pork chop and mashed potato at dinner five hours ago. You decide it’s time for meal number four. 

Where do you go? Gheav is open, but do you really want to traverse those aisles on a weekday? You are probably sick of bacon-egg-and-cheeses and green grapes anyway. Nice Day Chinese is open too, but it’s far, a little pricey, and takes over ten minutes – no one is that patient at midnight after studying. Shah’s Halal is your last option; it’s quite delicious, worth the trip, but again, I like to keep that as sacred territory for weekend nights. 

You're lost, hangry, tired, and hopeless. Until you remember that article you read with dorm food hacks and realize that with a few ingredients and a little time, you can create a full meal all in the comfort of your own room. 

There are various identities you can take on if you want to embrace the dorm cooking experience. The most typical and efficient: the Microwave Baddie. The slightly more dedicated and taste-savvy: the Assembling Ninja. And finally the ultimate foodie student: the Plug-in-pot Connoisseur. I am most definitely the latter, but I will attempt to recap all my tricks and tips from easiest and least time to most complex (and usually more delicious!). 

Level One: Microwave Baddie:

• Pantry essentials:

  • Soy sauce

  • Rice seasoning

  • Ramen

  • Microwave rice

  • Seaweed snacks

  • Yogurt 

  • Granola

  • Edamame 

  • Miso soup packers

  
  

• Upgraded staples:

  • Rice. Instead of just plain microwave rice, which honestly, I’ve done, a little bit of rice seasoning, soy sauce, and seaweed snacks makes a great and quick snack.

  • Yogurt. This may sound silly, but the number of people who are depressed about not having yogurt in the dhall just tells me how much Yale loves yogurt. So go buy some, get some granola and enjoy. If it's the AM, just bring the yogurt cup to the dhall in the morning and use all the toppings they have.

  • Edamame. Everyone loves edamame. No one knows you can just buy it frozen, microwave it, top it with whatever and that's it. The Loop and J&B deli for sure have it, otherwise just order online.

• Full out dishes:

  • Instant Miso Soup My mom would not consider this a full out dish, but it's more than rice with the additional nutrients of a broth, and with some soy and seaweed, and even some ramen noodles for extra carbs, it feels almost gourmet.

  • Ramen butter noodles. Throw out the seasoning packets. Cook noodles as regular in the microwave but drain out 90% of the water. Add butter, cheese, salt and pepper, (and soy for more flavor) and you basically have a delicious butter noodles  

Level Two: Assembling Ninja:

• Pantry / fridge essentials (additional to above):

  • Kimchi

  • Spicy Mayo

  • Ponzu

  • Melty Cheese

  • Avocado (could be the pack version)

  • Can tuna

  • Chili crisp

  • Chia seeds

  • Tortillas / Tortilla chips

  • Cheese 

  • Salsa

  • Milk of sorts

  • Fruit of sorts

    
    

• Upgraded staples:

  • Ramen #1. Ok, you’re bored of ramen and want more flavor, enter Buldak. I like stir fry ramen - not brothy - because it almost feels like pasta. Add some cheese and even kimchi if you have on hand and you’ve got a great comforting meal.

  • Nachos/Quesadillas. Classic; the steps are essentially tortilla (in crispy form or not) cheese in between, upgraded with optional Kimchi for extra flavor, topped with some salsa or chili crisp. 

• Full out dishes:

  • Rice bowl. Don’t freak out. Yes, tuna in a dorm might seem crazy. But it really makes a great protein booster and a little spicy mayo and ponzu really brings it to the next level. Combine this with some seasoned rice, avocado from Gheav, kimchi, and seaweed and you basically have an Emily Mariko bowl in your room in less than ten minutes. Add some chili crisp for extra yummy spice

  • Chia seed pudding. YUM. Bored of dhall breakfast? I know I am, so this special and easy recipe comes from my friend Sasha who has influenced me. Get any sort of plastic cup/container and look up an easy recipe on how to make chia seed pudding (chia seeds and milk and maybe some syrup). Stir and let it sit overnight then in the morning top with stolen fruit and enjoy !!

Level Three, Final Boss: Plug-in-pot Connoisseur:

• Pantry / Fridge essentials (additional to above):

  • Eggs (stolen from Dhall or fresh)

  • Frozen Dumplings

  • Frozen Edamame

  • Frozen cut veggies

  • Big seaweed/onigiri seaweed

  • Sesame seeds

  • Rice vinegar

  • Garlic paste

  • Ginger paste

  • Butter 

  • Oil 

    
    

• Upgraded staples:

  • Ramen #2. But this time, get a better quality ramen, like a frozen pack or stove top one, and go crazy with every frozen item you wanna add like dumplings, veggies, etc. The difference quality ramen can make vs cup noodles is huge. Trust.

  • Marinated eggs. DON’T BE SCARED. You have all the ingredients to make delicious soy marinated eggs. Just boil them in your plug in pot, add to a container with soy sauce, rice vinegar, ponzu, garlic paste, sesame seeds, and let sit. These go bad in a couple days so don’t go crazy and make ten at once, unless that's what you're into. Add these to ramen or as your source of protein in your rice bowls.

  • Breakfast quesadilla. Now that you’ve got a pot, make the quesadilla with some butter and crisp one side. Before flipping, add an egg into it and the cook. Top with avocado and salsa and you’ve got a full breakfast.

  • Gnocchi. Gheav does indeed sell shelf-stable gnocchi and my my my is it delicious. Simply cook them in a pan and add butter, pesto, milk, cheese, and voile. 

  • Better mac and cheese. We’ve moved on from microwave to stove top. My preference? Goodles white cheddar mac and cheese. You now have stolen milk from dhall, butter, cheese, salt, pepper, and you can really make mac and cheese the best you can. PRO TIP: Gheav has pesto so if you want an extra boost of FIRE flavor add that in. Technically this works too for microwave but it wont be as yummy 

  • Dumpling salad. Whether pan-frying is in the cards, which I recommend, cook the dumplings, microwave some edamame, cut up some cucumbers or avocado if you have it, add every sauce you have, and yum you’ve leveled up dumplings.

  • Butter noodles supreme. With the pot, make the ramen noodles, discard most of the water, add butter, garlic, soy, gochujang, cheese, and stir until well combined and melted. Sprinkle it with rice seasoning. Nostalgic and delectable!

• Full out dishes:

  • Fried rice. Microwave your rice. In the meantime add butter, garlic, ginger and melt down in your plug in pot. Add rice and stir. If you want an egg at this point, crack it into the side of the pot, scramble, then combine with rice. Add in frozen veggies, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Top with chili crisps if you want it spicy and enjoy. Tip: sub noodles for rice for lo mein rendition!

  • Onigiri. This requires some more equipment like the onigiri mold and wrappers. If you buy the grace of gods, make the spicy tuna mixture or some kimchi, warm some rice, and watch a tutorial on tiktok. It is easy to do and requires little buying if you have all the equipment.

  • Sushi. Yes, I am crazy. It was the first semester of freshman year and your girl was itching to cook. I got big seaweed, microwave rice, avocado, and just rolled it on my little common room table (with a cutting board and towel of course). I would say it was very successful, but you could just as easily make mini hand rolls with seaweed snacks without the technique of rolling sushi.

TLDR: General Insights

• Nearly all ingredients here last two weeks + and are multi-use.

• You don’t need every ingredient; add what you have and like.

• Get disposable plates/bowls/utensils and a cheap knife.

• You got this. Enjoy munching.