If you’re dorming, you’ll inevitably reach that phase where you are simply too lazy to walk the 5 or so minutes it takes to get to Davenport. Or it’s after midnight, you’re stuck doing an all-nighter, and need brain food NOW. The best solution would be to have your friend or roommate or significant other give you the food for free, but the world isn’t that perfect. So the second best solution is getting a mini fridge and stocking it with the essentials. Having food be readily available and cheaper than going out which is great for the general broke college student.
So here’s my suggestions on how to stock your mini fridge that’s easy to tailor to your own tastes and keep it somewhat healthy. Here we go!
1. Spreads
What I mean by spreads is anything that you need a knife to spread onto something else or you can dip something into. Some examples would be peanut butter, mayonnaise, jelly/jam, Nutella, and if you want to level up it would be things like guacamole and hummus.
Want to upgrade that cookie? Dip it in some peanut butter or nutella. Want your hair to be extra soft? Scoop some mayonnaise on that sucker. Want your veggies to be palatable? Slather some hummus on there.
You can really mix things up when it comes to anything in a jar. I would personally recommend mayonnaise since I love it on my turkey sandwiches, and peanut butter. Both of them can last for a really long time compared to things like guacamole and hummus that are best eaten fresh.
HINT: I didn’t include condiments such as mustard, ketchup, or barbecue because you can get packets of the stuff (as well as hot sauce) for free at various places. Save yourself a few bucks.
2. Grains
Again, “grains” is very broad. It ranges from white bread, wheat bread, 9-grain bread, tortillas, cereal, oatmeal, granola, pita bread, crackers, and naan. The tricky thing in figuring out what to buy is how well it fits in with your other items, how long it lasts until it expires/turns stale, and whether you’ll eat it that often. You can use those crackers for your spreads, use white bread for sandwiches, tortillas to make burritos or sandwiches, and cereal for…cereal.
In my fridge, I have tortillas and white bread. Tortillas for quesadillas and white bread for turkey sandwiches (though I’ll use a tortilla if I’m in a pinch). If I wanted to actually cook, I could cook some eggs with some cheese and have a breakfast burrito.
Word of caution: If you buy a certain type of grain or bread, and you realize more than half of it has expired/gone stale, think about choosing another option next time or just forgo it altogether. Don’t buy the entire thing if you’re only actually going to eat a little bit of it.
3. Cheese (this deserves its own category)
If you’re lactose intolerant, I’m sorry. If you’re a fellow cheese lover, welcome! Cheese is a great in the way that it can easily fill you up and there’s so many varieties to choose from! Provolone, cheddar, Kraft singles, parmesan, mozzarella, Monterey jack, etc etc etc… The list goes on. Depending on if you chose white/wheat bread, you can make yourself a grilled cheese in the microwave (or wrap it in aluminum foil and put an iron on it) or a quesadilla or upgrade your Cup o’ Noodles or melt it in a small bowl and dip veggies in there.
What’s another great thing about cheese? IT LASTS. Well, depending on the type and everything, but it’s still worth it considering most cheeses are less than or about $5.
4. Ice, ice baby
La Verne is located in Southern Cali.
And it gets HOT.
Fall has officially started but the weather is still usually in the 90’s.
So stock up on cold things. I’m talking about ice cream, popsicles, juice pops, and all other things refreshing. Juice pops (the plastic tubes filled with a brightly colored juice that you have to freeze) are wonderfully delicious on a hot day when the A/C feels like it’s barely working. When it isn’t hot and you’re stressing about midterms or finals or that one guy/girl, you can cry into a pint of ice cream.
This also includes frozen food like pizza, pizza rolls, uncrustables, pasta bowls, prepared meals, etc. I would advise against frozen foods like those simply because it is better to eat fresh in my opinion. BUT if you really just want to stock up on hot pockets, who am I to deny you?
5. Fruits and Veggies
I know, ew. Hear me out for a quick minute or two. I’m not saying to fill your fridge up to the brim with fruits and veggies galore as if you had raided every stall at the farmer’s market (unless you want to).
Just have a couple veggies and a couple fruits in there as healthy snacks. Having an apple, orange, or banana in your fridge (or on top of it) can be an easy thing to grab if you’re running late for class. You can get cucumbers, cut them up, squeeze a lemon or lime over it, add some chili, and then have a great snack. Got a mango? Throw some salt and spice at it, and you’ll have a healthy snack that feels like an indulgence. I highly recommend having a potato or two in there, they’re packed with nutrients. Throw those suckers in the microwave and enjoy with some cheese.
Buy things that are in season and I would recommend getting things before they’re ripe, just in case you don’t eat it right away.
6. Dairy
Again, if you’re lactose intolerant sorry. But I have alternatives!
Dairy can be milk, yogurt, greek yogurt, cream cheese (also considered a spread, isn’t it great how items cross categories? More variety!), and more. For my dairy-challenged folk, milk can be made of soy, almonds, or cashews. If anything, I prefer eating whole grain cereal with almond milk because it adds another layer of favor that’s more subtle than 2%.
What can I do with dairy products? You can mix yogurt with your cereal and freeze it to make cereal bars, throw in some peanut butter for extra flavor. Cream cheese sandwiches are also a possibility! The choices are endless!
Watch out for the expiration dates though!
7. Protein
This can be eggs (if you want to cook), deli meat like turkey or ham, tofu for my vegans and vegetarians, or anything else. This will usually be the foundation of your heartier meals. If I missed lunch or dinner, then I know I can make myself a deluxe turkey sandwich with all the trimmings and actually be satisfied. This can also tie in with spreads or cheese, since hummus has a large amount of protein. Beans can also be included if you want to cook them on a stove or reheat them in a fridge.
Always be mindful of the expiration dates!
8. Drinks
This is dependent on your lifestyle.
Are you an athlete/active? Buy some sports drink powder, save yourself a couple of bucks.
Pull all-nighters often? Stock up on iced coffee or just coffee mix, energy drinks like Red Bull may also fit in there.
Just tired of drinking plain water? Get some ice tea or lemonade (or both together) mix, it’s cheaper than buying it pre-made at the store.
9. Sweets
This should really constitute as less than 10% of all your food, maybe even less than 5%. Having too many sweets will just make you eat the sweets more often and as a result, have you neglect the rest of the food in your fridge.
I would suggest only eating sweets after you’ve finished work so you condition yourself to enjoy them after you’ve done something productive, which is what I do.
10. Instant Ramen
Need I say more?
~
If you get a mini fridge, try to stock it with balanced food and with food you know you’ll eat. Be mindful of expiration dates because you really don’t want to get sick because you ate cereal with milk that had expired four days ago.
My fridge has mayonnaise, peanut butter, turkey slices, white bread, tortillas, Monterey cheese, hibiscus and ice tea mix, mangoes, limes, hot sauce, hot dogs, and of course, instant ramen. Everything in my fridge costs less than $20-$30 which is great for so many items that are each quite versatile.
How many meals/combinations can you make from the contents of my fridge?
What do you have in your mini fridge?