Laura and Deb on Campus - before cooking

 Just before Parent’s weekend, she sent me a text saying, “the H1N1 virus has hit my school!”  After last spring’s media frenzy, she is worried about getting this virus. For my advice, I retreated to a standard “Mom formula” – eat healthy and get plenty of sleep. But who am I kidding? In college, no way!

 If I’m lucky, she gets one nutritious meal per day in the dining hall usually consisting of salad or pasta. There’s a hefty amount of branded coffee in her diet too, which by the way means the same calorie content as milkshakes. Many schools are trying to prepare healthier dining hall meals, but that doesn’t affect the students eating habits!

How to Cook with Just a Microwave and a Refrigerator:

This got me thinking, how can you eat healthy with an electric kettle, a microwave and a refrigerator (without the freezer mind you)?  Gratefully, food choices have improved since I was faced with the same problem years ago in my college days. I’m sure guys will resort to ramen noodles, but that gets old after a while. And I would say girls are more particular so I asked my daughter to brainstorm some ideas.

Dorm Room Cooking Essentials:

Here are my daughter’s staples:

1. Tuna packets (with salt, pepper, and olive oil)
2. Microwavable steamed vegetables (both frozen and non frozen brands)
3. Cereal
4. Oranges and bananas (no mess or dishes to clean up)
5. Smart-ones frozen dinners
6. Yogurts (The yogurts in the bottles are really good on the way to class because no spoon)
7. In the university dining hall, I’ll get a wrap and put a salad in it from the salad bar along with some deli meat, just as healthy but way more interesting than plain salad

8. Tea!

Easy Recipes:No Cooking

They can track down the pre-packaged and pre-cooked aisles in the grocery store. Get a bag of pre–packaged salad, followed by pre-cooked chicken. Sprinkle grated cheese on the chicken and top it all off with your favorite dressing. Voilá you have a great meal! (Add a dash of TSG Outrageously Garlic or Tearless Onion and Chives on everything!)

As for the rest of staying healthy, I suggest:

• Bottle of hand sanitizer
• Tea mixed with honey and lemon
•  Chicken noodle soup
• Vitamin C

And if all else fails – call home to mom.

If you want a teen’s perspective on what’s healthy and what they like, check out this post from Radical Parenting   

For dorm room cooking 101, click here

College Student Holiday gift ideas:

• Everything College Cookbook by Rhonda Parkinson
• Healthy College Cookbook by Alexandra Nimetz
• Complete Idiots Guide to the College Diet by Shelly Vaughan James
• Cooking Outside the Pizza Box by Jean Patterson

Get involved! Click here and read how colleges can participate in local sustainable food projects.

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