How to Cook in a Dorm

Cooking in a dorm is a bitch. I'm going to help you guys out. There are a few things you just absolutely freaking need.

I'm gonna list your basic must-haves and some tips and tricks.

1. Medium sized pan with high sides

 Don't use teflon because it's toxic or aluminum because it rusts. Make sure it's wide enough to sautee vegetables in and deep enough to make small amounts of soup or beans or something.

2. All purpose cooking utensil, spatula, plastic cutting board and knife

Make sure you can stir, taste and pick up stuff with it. You may even stick with the good old fork and spoon but know that its handy to have something a little larger. Of course a spatula is necessary for making eggs, pancakes, quesadillas and many other things. As well everyone should posess a high quality knife for chopping and cutting. Don't skip on this one! You may get a knife that will rust or dull fast. You can buy very inexpensive cutting boards that either roll up or are very thin for storing. I bought mine at Ikea.

3. Extra virgin olive oil

You just can't beat it. It's the best.

4. Basic canned and frozen items

I really like mexican style food and so I keep black beans and tomatoes on hand most of the time. Find out what kind of food you like and what items are indispensable. I also usually keep frozen spinach on hand. You can put it in anything.

5. Spice blends

You should have two basic spice blends. The first is salt and pepper blend. I would go 2 to 1 ratio on salt to pepper. Depending on how much you like pepper though, you may want to change that. You might be able to find one of these premade or buy a shaker and mix it yourself. The other spice blend you can definitely buy. Mrs. Dash is great for this. Like I said depending on what kind of food you like you can get an Italian seasoning blend or any other flavors. Watch out for added sugar in these though.

6. Laundry basket

If you're like me and live on the fourth floor with the kitchen very far away then you will need something to transport all of your cooking items to the kitchen with. Something easy you probably already have in your room is a laundry basket. The plastic ones work nicely. If you don't have one already then try and find a collapsible basket that will fit easily into your closet or under your bed.

With all of these and some fresh ingredients you should be able to cook pretty easily in the dorm.

Here are some tips and tricks you can use to make things a little easier.

Garlic
It's delicious and nutritious. It has very high anti-inflammatory properties. Also, garlic is delicious in everything!!!! You will learn to love garlic in everything. As a default assume that garlic will taste good in whatever you're cooking... as long as its not pastries.

So to keep garlic for longer you'll need a fridge, some tupperware and your olive oil. Make sure you have tupperware that's large enough for the entire garlic head to fit in it. It will be smaller when it's chopped. Pull all the garlic cloves off the base. Cut the ends off and peel the paper off. Chop the crap out of them. Put them in the tupperware and pour just enough olive oil over it to cover them. When you want to use some just spoon out the amount you need. In most cases the amount of olive oil the garlic is in should not affect what you're cooking