If your main food supply is a college cafeteria, it's easy to find yourself eating the same foods every day with no hope of ever exciting your tastebuds. We college students are always looking for new ways to spice up our cafeteria meals, as well as ways to save money. Luckily, this list has 12 ways to help you navigate your tummy through another semester of exams, papers, and projects.
1. DIY Quinoa -Quinoa day in the cafeteria? Best day ever! But don't get too excited yet: the quinoa is bland, as usual. Don't worry, I have two solutions coming your way.
A. The first is a DIY quinoa salad. Get a container and stuff it with as much quinoa as possible. Then, head on over to the salad bar and get fixings! I recommend red peppers, craisins, roasted veggies, maybe even some hearts of palm if you're feeling bold. A little dressing will take your quinoa to the next level.
B. A second option is to stuff your container with quinoa and ladle a little soup over it. The best are the puréed soups like squash or lentil. You can even get a sweet potato and cut it up for on top!
2. Baked Potato -Running out of caf-money but still want something good to eat? Grab yourself a baked potato, a packet of butter, and string cheese. Put it all together for a minute in the microwave and boom. Next level potato right there.
3. Sushi Salad Enhancement -This might seem obvious to some, but a lot of people aren't aware that you can ask for purple rice when getting a sushi salad! It's healthier than white rice and tastier than brown rice. Highly recommend. And if you already knew that one, try this on for size: ask them for seaweed. They will happily give you several pieces of seaweed that you can either use to roll your own sushi or break up and mix into your salad.
4. Paninis -Bagels and bread are cheap in the cafeteria. Grab yourself some bread, cheese from the salad bar, and maybe some vegetables that tickle your fancy. Personally, I'd go with an avocado. Get some tinfoil and put a one of a kind creation in the Panini press. Yum.
5. Extra Iced Coffee -It sounds simple, but you get so much more coffee if you just get one cup filled to the brim of coffee, and one cup just for ice. When you're sitting at your table or in class you can pour the coffee onto the ice.
6. Lemonade -Thirsty for something other than water? Sick of all the drinks in the cafeteria or just running low on caf-money? Free lemonade for all! In 245, get a cup of water and ice, then take the lemon juice packets or the lemon juice from the salad bar and add as much lemon as you want. Personally, I add just enough that it's colored. Then add two or three Splenda packets and there you go! Free lemonade.
7. Pasta in a Soup Cup -You might not know this, but you can get pasta in a soup cup for three dollars less than pasta in the container. It's not that much less pasta in the end anyway. Just remember to tell them its pasta and not soup.
8. Dairy for dinner -In 245 if you want dairy at dinner, just ask them and say you're not eating it in the cafeteria. They will unlock the fridge and let you buy it.
9. No Avocado? No problem -Need an avocado but find there are none left? Get avocado at the sushi bar. They even cut it up for you.
10. Yogurt Bar -If you're like me, you LOVE the yogurt bar. Unfortunately, it can add up with all that heavy yogurt and toppings. Get a cup just with the toppings you want and then get a delegate yogurt. It's cheaper and you can get any flavor you want.
11. Free Food -If you're in 245 when lunch is closing or when 215 closes for the day, they sometimes offer you free food that they can't save.
12. Stay in for Shabbos - One of the easiest hacks is to stay in for Shabbos. At the end of the meal, there is so much food left over the waitresses are thrilled when you want to save some for later in the week! You have awesome food, less goes to waste, and you don't have to pay for it.
