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Dorm room cooking


Starry Knight

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So my sister shares a dorm more or less with about 6 people and has asked me for help with eating healthier

She has a couple of problems in doing so first is limited space to store stuff as they all share a single fridge

 

Limited budget she has an income of about 600$ per month to work with about 450$ of that pays rent just rent as far as I know about 80$ of that is on Transportation as well

 

Third they have no shared kitchen only a single refrigerator for all of them (So no Stove/oven), the dorm master also takes thier food whenever he pleases

 

They aren't allowed to bring in a coutertop element, a hot plate and deepfriers as far as I know

 

She is trying to find another place to live with a friend however for now she would like some tips as far as I know she has a yonana, a slow cooker, a mini oven and a microwave, I have a vegisteamer that in the near future we can give to her and our dad might have a mini fridge for her provided she has enough room and is allowed to have one

 

If anyone has any tips that would be awesome

 

Any recipes you want to contribute would be awesome as well

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Given that your sister dorms with 6 other people, I'd say the best bet is to find a better place - one where she doesn't have to cram and live under a food-taking "dorm master," imo. That way, she and that friend could use their money for rent and food and transportation for better use.

If that can't happen, is there any public storage they can access nearby? If so, they could store the things they don't need at the moment to free up space. 

 

So you say she has a microwave. Here's my tip for that:

Spoiler

 

This is the first time I'm hearing a yonana and I swear it's the sole answer to my finding-a-way-to-eat-ice cream-and-healthy-at-the-same-time conundrum. 👀

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Well meanwhile she's got a slow cooker aka the only cooking appliance you need really. I make thyme chicken (just thyme, bay leaf, salt, soy sauce and veggies including onion, 3hrs slow cook), rosemary pork (just the same as the chicken but rosemary instead of thyme and bay leaf, 3-4hrs slow cook), lemon salmon (lime juice, garlic, parsley, salt, 2-3hrs slow cook), among other dishes mainly bean soups.

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22 minutes ago, Candy said:

Well meanwhile she's got a slow cooker aka the only cooking appliance you need really. I make thyme chicken (just thyme, bay leaf, salt, soy sauce and veggies including onion, 3hrs slow cook), rosemary pork (just the same as the chicken but rosemary instead of thyme and bay leaf, 3-4hrs slow cook), lemon salmon (lime juice, garlic, parsley, salt, 2-3hrs slow cook), among other dishes mainly bean soups.

But would you really want to cook for that long all the time? Sounds tasty, but it's...too slow.

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4 minutes ago, SilverHelio said:

But would you really want to cook for that long all the time? Sounds tasty, but it's...too slow.

ah, I have a slow cooker with timer function, so hopefully Starry's sister's also does. I prep the food and leave it cooking while I'm gone to work. When I return, the slow cooker is in "Keep Warm" setting and I have yummy dinner xD

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1 hour ago, Candy said:

ah, I have a slow cooker with timer function, so hopefully Starry's sister's also does. I prep the food and leave it cooking while I'm gone to work. When I return, the slow cooker is in "Keep Warm" setting and I have yummy dinner xD

I just got her the slow cooker and it does, I will suggest it next time chicken comes on sale as chicken is expensive here even at our cheapest store

Silver her and her friend are looking but aren't finding much most people around here rent out at about 800$ per month for a single apparent building in the lower end of things

 

Better then living off canned food anyways

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19 minutes ago, Starry Knight said:

I just got her the slow cooker and it does, I will suggest it next time chicken comes on sale as chicken is expensive here even at our cheapest store

Silver her and her friend are looking but aren't finding much most people around here rent out at about 800$ per month for a single apparent building in the lower end of things

 

Better then living off canned food anyways

honestly gotta get a better job or an extra job tho. $800 really is pushing the minimum limits imo if one wants to lead a healthy life.

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1 hour ago, Candy said:

honestly gotta get a better job or an extra job tho. $800 really is pushing the minimum limits imo if one wants to lead a healthy life.

She's trying to get a job currently, she has one semester left of school, she's been applying for jobs and trying to find a new doctor she had a seizure again the other day but the doctor she's with won't do anything about it unfortunately, she also has a couple other disabilities the doctor she has now won't help with though nurses and a couple clinics that's she's been to have noted them for her doctor and the doctor metafoically just tossed them in the trash

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7 hours ago, Starry Knight said:

She's trying to get a job currently, she has one semester left of school, she's been applying for jobs and trying to find a new doctor she had a seizure again the other day but the doctor she's with won't do anything about it unfortunately, she also has a couple other disabilities the doctor she has now won't help with though nurses and a couple clinics that's she's been to have noted them for her doctor and the doctor metafoically just tossed them in the trash

Wow that sux she doesn't have a good doctor. It's a shame that these kinda doctors give physicians a bad rep. And the good ones tend to charge exorbitant amounts so gotta have good insurance.

I hope your sister has good luck finding a job. I'd offer advice but I've never looked for a job since i went to grad school just to avoid it xD

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4 hours ago, Candy said:

Wow that sux she doesn't have a good doctor. It's a shame that these kinda doctors give physicians a bad rep. And the good ones tend to charge exorbitant amounts so gotta have good insurance.

I hope your sister has good luck finding a job. I'd offer advice but I've never looked for a job since i went to grad school just to avoid it xD

If she can't find a job I'm dragging her to a special class for writing resumes they help with getting a job if not that there's a really good agency I know that helps you each time you apply to a place that tailors your resume to the company wishes but is mostly factory work

Edited by Starry Knight
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2 hours ago, Starry Knight said:

If she can't find a job I'm dragging her to a special class for writing resumes they help with getting a job if not that there's a really good agency I know that helps you each time you apply to a place that tailors your resume to the company wishes but is mostly factory work

Where can I sign up? 👀

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5 hours ago, SilverHelio said:

Where can I sign up? 👀

In Canada most major cities have a resume writing program well at least Ontario, where I am theres at least 6 different temp agencies which helps get job experience and can lead to permanent hiring depending on the placement though most of it's factory work

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2 hours ago, Starry Knight said:

In Canada most major cities have a resume writing program well at least Ontario, where I am theres at least 6 different temp agencies which helps get job experience and can lead to permanent hiring depending on the placement though most of it's factory work

I've only been to Ontario once. Oops 😅

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  • 2 months later...

$70 just isn't gonna cut it for anyone, and chicken is easily the cheapest meat available. I mean, outside of like, bologna and chopped ham and stuff. not healthy but can be delicious, and cheap. And I'm pretty sure $70 Canadian stretches for less than the American dollar, even in the cheap towns and cities I've lived in.

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5 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

$70 just isn't gonna cut it for anyone, and chicken is easily the cheapest meat available. I mean, outside of like, bologna and chopped ham and stuff. not healthy but can be delicious, and cheap. And I'm pretty sure $70 Canadian stretches for less than the American dollar, even in the cheap towns and cities I've lived in.

Yeah, beef is cheaper then chicken here

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Recently I've been making ramen with poached eggs and bacon bits.

 

Throw in some ginger cause I like ginger and sprinkle some chopped green onions over the whole thing when you're done.

 

Really brings some personality to such a simple meal.

Spoiler

IMG_0107.JPG

 

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2 minutes ago, 5hift said:

Recently I've been making ramen with poached eggs and bacon bits.

 

Throw in some ginger cause I like ginger and sprinkle some chopped green onions over the whole thing when you're done.

 

Really brings some personality to such a simple meal.

Sounds good, I have been making Mr noodles with hard boiled eggs just tried it with soft boiled eggs might try poached eggs next time, when do you cook the poached eggs?

 

My sister likes making her grilled cheeses in the toaster oven apparently, sometimes threw on tomatoes as well, we like using bacon crumble and sliced meat in ours

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I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't really keep track of cooking time.

 

First I get the water bubbling hot, then I add the seasoning packets and noodles. After the noodles begin to separate, I drop in two eggs. Be sure to stir them right after you do to prevent parts of them from sticking to the bottom of the pot and becoming a gigantic bomb in the rear to clean off.

 

Dorm cooking isn't an exact science unless you make it one. So long as the egg white is cooked through, you should be fine.

 

I have tried soft boiling eggs before, didn't go so well the first time. Be sure you boil the eggs for at least 6 minutes and immediately shock them in an ice bath.

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1 minute ago, 5hift said:

I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't really keep track of cooking time.

 

Dorm cooking isn't an exact science unless you make it one. So long as the egg white is cooked through, you should be fine.

 

I have tried soft boiling eggs before, didn't go so well the first time. Be sure you boil the eggs for at least 6 minutes and immediately shock them in an ice bath.

more meant do you drop the egg in at the beginning or half way through or near the end roughly, I haven't made poached eggs so I don't know how long they take to cook

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you can probably get bagels for cheap, along with pizza/tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese (or even another cheese of your choice, such as muenster, preferably already shredded). you can make two personal pizzas out of one bagel, along with a generous spread of the other two, plus whatever you feel like grabbing for optional toppings. Easiest to use a toaster oven, but pretty sure some foil/a pan and a regular oven will do the trick. 

Also, you can roast sesame seeds in vegetable oil on a pan for a bit, then add crumbled peanuts. you simply put it as a topping on rice and it's delicious. You can probably google the recipe or find better versions of it online, especially since I'm like, half remembering this from over a decade ago. But I'm pretty sure it's super simple, and keeps well. My stepdad learned it from South Korean troops he trained with at one point. 

 

I was gonna say try Aroz Con Leche… but that has a few more ingredients than I thought and takes quite a bit of time compared to what I thought. Totally delicious, either hot or cold. The closest easily available thing you could get to it is tapioca/rice pudding and sprinkle some cinnamon on it. 

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dropping this post here in case any of it is relevant advice to you
i've lived a bit over a year without a fridge and a stove, and I can confirm that rice is a lifesaver tbh, as was my microwave
having a fridge, however small, is already a good advantage bc it allows you to store leftovers, so you can buy and prepare stuff in big portions that needs to be kept cold

image.png.20d05d442c717787972722e76567b208.png

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