I’m officially moved in to my new dorm!
I apologize for my long absence of posting, but I have been very busy traveling, moving in, and getting ready for school to start. In my last post I promised to share some pictures of my new room, so here it is!
My side of the room.
Art at the head of my bed, by Beth from Hero designs and Tasty Yummies.
Wall art to make my room more lively and colorful!
DIY Wall art made from simple materials: decorative paper and cardboard. Tutorial found here.
My stash of peanut butter and peanuts. This is most important to survival on campus.
Bragg’s liquid aminos is a great gluten-free soy sauce seasoning. Perfect for adding flavor to bland dorm food. Coconut milk is an all-around great product to have for baked goods and desserts.
Carrot sticks and hummus: the perfect snack for an extra dose of protein and vitamin A.
My pantry. Chock full of must-have goodies like bananas, oranges, spices, tea, unsweetened chocolate, dates, oats, rice cakes, and a gluten-free pancake mix.
Canned goods are great because they don’t need refrigeration and can be used when you need sustenance quickly.
Tupperware for leftovers, my magic bullet for smoothies and other blended items, and a reusable water bottle to stay hydrated.
These are just a few of the scenes in my small dorm. It’s cozy, but it has everything I need. A good-quality mini fridge keeps all my produce fresh, and storage boxes hold all my extra cooking utensils, tools, and pantry items.
The dorm food is not great, and it is hard to find gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free menu items. For this reason, I like to stock up on food to eat in my dorm. Currently, there are a few sweet potatoes baking in a small crockpot, and I can’t wait to dig into those with a dash of cinnamon!
After a few weeks of getting used to the school, I plan to compile a few tips on eating healthy in college. Until then, expect a few dorm-friendly recipes coming your way! (Which are tasty enough that you don’t need a dorm to eat them).
Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:
Any tips you’d like to share with me and others about eating healthy in college?
I can’t think of a good tip for you, because you seem to have it all covered!!! Very impressive. I wish I had been that organize and health-conscious when I was in school. Good luck to an amazing school year!
Wow! What an awesome pantry! Mine’s pretty bare, but it still has the necessities.
Wow! That looks great! I always wanted to eat my own food so in the end, my meal plan kind of went to waste… it was sad. What state are you in now?
Thanks, Krystle!
I am in the great Midwest now: Illinois!
Dear Sugar Free Alex,
You will inspire your dormies to eat healthy I am sure. Please avoid what we had for birthdays in school……….doughnut cakes……..yes, an icing coated deep fried mess of calories, felt like a lead brick in the stomach…. Why couldn’t we resist?! I really don’t know! Happy, happy Freshman year to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zelda,
Thanks so much for the kind note! And yes, will avoid the lead brick donut cake 😀
My must-haves are canned pumpkin, bananas, plain brown rice protein powder, and baking powder. Microwave cakes!!!
Canned pumpkin=yes! I just bought some today 😀
wow we would make great room mates haha
Monica,
I am sure we would!!
Congratulations on the move! Your dorm room looks great. I found it impossible to eat at my dining hall gluten-free, egg-free & dairy-free. I always have lots of peanut butter, gf oats & beans! Best of luck. I can’t wait to read your tips.
Alaine,
Yes, it is hard to eat in the dorms, but they always have fresh fruit out that I can get!
I don’t know if you eat a lot of oats, but quick oats became my lifesaver for overnight oats while in college. I rarely remembered the night before, but if I threw it together in the AM and brought it to campus I would have breakfast in an hour or so when I got hungry.
I also always kept jerky, dried fruit, nuts, home-made granola, or rice cakes in my bag. The hardest thing to find on campus usually for me was a decent form of protein, since a lot of mine wasn’t very portable.
If you have a tiny freezer, I also would keep bags of frozen veggies in there, and when packing a salad, would dump some on top. They thaw in about 3-4 hours and act as a cooling agent for the salad so it wasn’t warm and mushy by afternoon when I was eating.
Otherwise you basically have everything I had.
Celeste,
Thanks for the awesome comment! I love the frozen veggie idea…I have a pretty good-sized freezer with some frozen berries for smoothies. I am obsessed with oats now! They are cheap and I throw them in everything.
YAY for nut butter and hummus! Those are definitely some of my favorite goodies! 😀 I’m so glad you’re adjusting to college life and such. I know I’ll have fun when I start my classes soon. I’m sure you will too! 🙂