It can be hard to remember that some foods exist until you leave campus for break. Here’s a quick reminder of all the foods you need to have before you are stuck back at school:
1. Eggs that aren’t poured and scrambled out of a giant carton.
Omelet days are great, provided you don't watch the cooks pour the egg batter out of the carton.
2. Lettuce that isn’t wilted and doesn’t have ice crystals in the center rib.
I'm not sure how refrigeration can go so wrong that the lettuce leaves both wilt and freeze at the same time, but somehow that's what I tend to find at the salad bar.
3. Anything that isn’t 70% saturated with oil.
It's like oil is a new sauce that is poured on everything.
4. Anything that isn’t breaded and deep-fried.
Most of the time, the breading is the only thing you get, with very little of whatever type of food is supposed to be inside.
5. Cookies that don’t have the taste and consistency of cardboard and have not been re-served every day for a week.
M&C's is a great idea, until you keep forcing literally the same dry, tasteless cookies on use for days in a row.
6. Carrots that aren’t shredded.
I am guilty of eating bowls of shredded carrots because as far as veggies go, carrots are pretty hard to mess up, but the salad bar never has whole baby carrots or anything that isn't finely grated.
7. Spaghetti that doesn’t have dried up ends.
Pasta days are good in any dining hall, until you take a big bite and find yourself crunching down on dry pasta.
8. Peanut butter that only has peanuts listed as the ingredients.
A little salt is fine, but you can forget about the hydrogenated oils and sugar and the rest of that nonsense.
9. Bananas that aren’t either neon green or brown and split dry down the sides.
Bananas, or really any fruit, is hit or miss in the world of dining halls.
10. Bagels larger than the size of a computer mouse.
Not only have I noticed that school bagels tend to easily fit in the palm of my hand, but they also often have the somewhat oblong, rounded shape of a computer mouse.
11. English muffins softer than hockey pucks.
I gave up on English muffins during my first semester after picking one up and feeling how dense it was.
12. Any cooked vegetable that isn’t steamed.
It really can't be that hard to do a little sautee or add some spices or something that isn't literal flora with extra water???
So, while you're on break, treat yo self to all the deliciousness that campus may not be able to provide you with!
