Recipes To Rave About (For Those Cold Winter Days)

Imagine waking up to a blizzard outside. You crave a filling breakfast, but snow falls steadily between you and the closest open dining facility. 

While a blizzard is not quite what Liberty’s snow days looked like this semester, many people didn’t want to face the cold, snow and wind to find their three meals for the day.

Instead, students across campus turned to resources in their own dorms to sustain themselves until they felt ready to brave the cold. 

It would be easy to grab a granola bar or eat a bowl of cereal, but the cold outside was a force to be reckoned with, making warm foods more appealing. 

For those who live in the Quads or on East Campus and have access to kitchens, making food for themselves is not nearly as difficult as it is for those who live elsewhere 

on campus. While challenges still present themselves – such as finding time to go to the grocery store or monitoring how much is spent on food each week – students are able to get creative to find ways around those challenges. 

Eden Street, a freshman living on East Campus, regularly makes pasta, chicken and sautéed vegetables for dinner. She makes this meal because it’s easy to portion out
one serving.

“Target and Walmart have a box or bag of pre-separated chicken by serving size,” Street said. “It’s like one breast per pouch.”

Street’s roommate, junior Kezia Evans, likes to make soups when it’s cold outside, particularly tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich to dip into it. Soups make good warm foods to keep on hand because they don’t spoil quickly and are easy to heat up, even without a kitchen. 

For those without access to a kitchen, cooking warm foods in the dorm can be trickier. However, several students have come up with creative ways to do so. 

Bethany Smith, a senior living in South Tower, likes to make rice and stew in her dorm room. 

“It’s pretty easy to make. All you need is a microwave,” Smith said. “I usually make it with packets of minute-rice. I make the rice in a bow, then pour a can of stew over it, heating it for a minute or two before eating.”

The components of this easy, warm recipe will last throughout the semester, eliminating the need for regular trips to the grocery store. 

Smith also loves bread, but she doesn’t always prefer store-bought bread. So, she invested in a bread maker. Starting with a basic bread recipe, she added desired flavors to get her perfect loaf of bread. While not everyone may be as devoted to bread, this goes to show that if you love something, you can make do, even in a college dorm. 

Joshua Schilinski, a junior living on East Campus, recalled the days when he and his former roommate in the Circle would spend hours combining uncommon foods to make meals. One of their favorites was ramen cooked in an electric kettle and topped with boiled eggs. His roommate at the time, Boaz Conrod, had a small, inexpensive machine that would boil the
eggs perfectly. 

“It was an egg boiler but by steam,” Schilinski said. “And then we would put those into the ramen and make stew.”

With or without a kitchen, meals are only limited by your imagination when cooking in a dorm room.

Hetzel is a feature reporter. Follow her on Twitter