Hello, strangers! Valory here. As you may have noticed, I've been absent from the blog for a while now. Blame it on a little thing called COLLEGE. I’m halfway through my first college semester at Bard College in NY, and all I can say is that it's been a quite the life transition for me! Things are pretty intense here with my studies, but I couldn't pass up the chance to share how I've survived the dining hall experience here. Read on for my college dining hall hacks and put some "yum" factor back into your cafeteria eating excursions!
Breakfast:
- Blueberry cinnamon waffle- The waffle batter in dining halls usually taste like rubber. Thankfully, my dining hall is good about having fresh fruit in the yogurt section all the time and cinnamon shakers. I shake some cinnamon into a cup of waffle batter, stir in some blueberries, and put it in the waffle iron. This takes my breakfast to a whole new level!
Lunch:
- Amped-Up Soup- My favorite thing to do for lunch is to get a mug of the pre-prepared soup, go to the salad bar and add my own veggies to it, then I sprinkle some pepper and pop it in the microwave. Add a piece of wheat bread toasted in the panini press and you’ve got the perfect lunch on a cold fall day!
Dinner:
- Pizza Bagel- One of the few things I like about my college dining hall is that they have freshly made bagels from a local café in the area and they’re served all day long! When I’m in a hurry and need a quick dinner, I toast a wheat bagel with some olive oil, and then I top it with some cheese, spinach, and garlic powder and warm it in the microwave until the cheese is melted. This is a yummy dinner "to go" and it tastes WAY better than the soggy pizza they serve.
Dessert:
- Almost-apple pie- This time of year, I am definitely missing my mom’s homemade fall treats. This hack doesn’t even compare to what she makes but it does satisfy my sweet tooth! First, I melt some butter in a coffee mug in the microwave. Next, I chop up about half of an apple, add some cinnamon, brown sugar, and granola, and warm in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until the apples are nice and steamed. Last, I'll add some vanilla ice cream and have myself a nice fall treat!
- Grilled cookie ice cream sandwich- The cookies in the cafeteria looked sad and needed some love so I decided to warm two in the panini press, scoop some ice cream in between them, and BAM! I have made a delicious ice cream sandwich.
Condiments:
- Fake Thai dipping sauce- I use this for basically everything I eat in the cafeteria. I just mix some peanut butter, a soy sauce packet, and a little bit of sriracha and I have the perfect sauce to add flavor to bland cafeteria food!
What do you think of these hacks? Can you think of any ways to make cafeteria food better? Trust me, I'd LOVE to know about them!
Liz says
Hi Valory! Dang you have some awesome food hacks here haha. Congratulations on getting into Bard, I hope you are enjoying your freshman year!
Okay so as far as your waffle hack... I went to Hobart and William Smith and we used to sprinkle chocolate chips into our waffle iron, but they used to get stuck in there and they banned us from putting anything in there besides batter. Soooo yeah that didn't last long!
My favorite hacks were: making root beer floats (root beer plus vanilla soft serve from the ice cream machine), adding ice cream to your waffles (they had the ice cream machines open during our brunch hours), making flavored cream cheese (take the regular cream cheese and add strawberry jam and voila, you have strawberry cream cheese), so many hacks!
Whitney Reist says
Thanks, Liz! Haha that's too bad about the chocolate chip waffles - maybe add chocolate chips on top and they will melt if the waffle is hot? I love all your hack ideas and I know Valory will too! Especially the flavored cream cheese idea 🙂
Beth Jenkins says
Oh your blog is just the cutest and I am super excited to follow along! Also, these dining tips are awesome and I wish I had thought of this when I was stuck with dining hall food!
Whitney Reist says
Hi Beth! Thanks so much for stopping by and the nice comment 🙂 We are glad you enjoyed the dining hall hacks!