Going to college is an exciting yet terrifying experience. There is the promise of starting fresh and exploring a world of possibilities. But with turning over a new leaf comes the responsibility of being on your own — and of feeding yourself. Whether you like it or not, eating is a central part of the college experience. You make (and break) bonds over meals, you fret about gaining the Freshman 15, and if you do freshman orientation correctly, you attend only the events with free food. Food, to a large extent, helps you figure out the direction you will take in college: the friends you will make, the groups you will join, and the person you will be.
Maybe your parents will try — or have tried — to ease the transition to college by buying you “quick” and “easy” cookbooks and sending you care packages every month in the hopes that food will be one less thing to worry about. But then you get to college and encounter two big problems. First, you don’t have the time, money, or resources to cook. Between classes, extracurricular activities, and making friends, it’s hard to set aside time to get ingredients and equipment (which all cost money), and to cook, eat, and clean up. Your kitchen, if you have one, is laughable and could at best aid you in microwaving a packet of Easy Mac.
A second and even larger problem has to do with the meal plan. Many colleges mandate that students — particularly freshman — be on some sort of meal plan, meaning that you feel obligated to eat your meals at the dining halls because they are prepaid. But it is easy to get bored with dining hall food and eventually resort to takeout most nights, effectively wasting the money you have already spent on a meal plan. And you can’t survive on your parents’ care packages forever. Does this situation sound familiar? If you haven’t left for college yet, trust me; it will.
So when the realities of college dining inevitably start to unfold when you’re on a meal plan, and you have zero time, will, and/or resources to cook, and you want to avoid getting stuck in a boring eating routine, that’s where this cookbook comes in. The aim of these 75 recipes is to provide students like you with recipes that are easy to follow, easy to remember, and easy to customize on the fly. These recipes will allow you to transform the day-to-day items that most dining halls offer into dishes that you will not only enjoy, but find a lot more appealing than your standard cafeteria fare. Whether your dining hall is a state-of-the-art Google-esque situation or in a serious state of disrepair, you can use (and adapt) these recipes to make your meal plan a lot more exciting — even with limited resources. Armed with this book, you will never again view your meal plan as limiting and unappealing. You will be ready to face fearlessly any kind of dining hall and make delicious, varied meals at any time of the day.
I realize this idea is pretty out of the ordinary — shocking, even. So I have prepared a Q&A section to respond to any lingering doubts you might have about reading this cookbook.