Easy College Meals to Make in Your Dorm Room

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Last Updated on August 6, 2024 by Tracy

Discover easy College Meals to Make in Your Dorm Room! From scrambled eggs to microwave frittata, learn how to make delicious meals with minimal ingredients and tools. Perfect for avoiding fast food and eating well on a budget.

Living in a dorm room doesn’t have to mean living on cereal and pop tarts for breakfast. There are so many great dishes that can be prepared in a microwave with very few ingredients. All you need is a mini-fridge to store ingredients, some space on a small shelf or in a cupboard for dishes, and you can make homemade breakfast right in your dorm room. Cooking can be a difficult task for students to master, but starting with a couple of simple, inexpensive recipes is a great way to learn to cook.

Once you have mastered a few basic skills, cooking healthy and inexpensive meals right in your dorm room is easy. There are a number of healthy and cheap meals that any student can easily make. Maintaining a healthy diet in college is one of the best things any student can do for themselves. Not only can they help you avoid the dreaded “freshman fifteen” but you’ll have cooking skills that you can use for the rest of your life!

Before packing up your kitchen supplies for college make sure that you read the rules and are aware of what is allowed on campus. Nearly all colleges will allow you to have a microwave and dorm sized fridge. However, some do not allow toaster ovens or hot plates to be used in the dorms. If your college doesn’t allow hot plates, you can still make some great meals in a coffee pot!

My son is starting his 2nd year of college in a few weeks, he lived in the dorms last year and he opted to NOT have a meal plan. That means all those meals that I typically cooked he was now responsible for. I was nervous he wouldn’t eat….But he did 😉 Him and his roommates would shop together and share the cooking responsibilities. Two things they went through A LOT was eggs and rice….which you will see in most of the easy college meals to make in your dorm room listed below!

Cooking Tools for College Students

Every student needs a few basic cooking tools to make it through the year. Having cooking supplies on hand will make meal preparation and clean up easier and neater. Every student should have their own frying pan and pots for boiling water, a set of cooking knives, a cutting board, a grater, spatulas, and a strainer. A small fire extinguisher, like those used in a car or boat, is also not a bad idea, just in case.

An easy going-away gift for any college student is a cookbook with a gift card to a grocery store inside. This way they can experiment with cooking and have the money to purchase the food needed for various recipes. Learning to cook is an easy but essential life skill for any student.

Easy and Delicious Dorm Cooking Recipes

Baked Apple

This is one of the simplest recipes with the fewest ingredients. The apples can be easily stored in a hanging basket next to the microwave and pulled out one at a time for a quick breakfast or a yummy late night snack. For a healthier apple, leave the peel on and use local organic honey.

You only need three ingredients and about four minutes and you will soon be enjoying a delicious baked apple treat.

Eggs in a Mug Breakfast - easy college meals

Scrambled Eggs

Making scrambled eggs in your dorm room is incredibly easy, just use your microwave and a coffee mug! The eggs can be easily stored one-half dozen at a time in a mini-fridge. To make basic scrambled eggs all you need are eggs, a little butter, water, and salt and pepper. You can make your eggs a bit more elaborate with the addition of cheese, bacon bits, and even diced veggies. Mix your ingredients together and cook them for a minute and a half in the microwave.

Microwave Frittata

This is a great recipe to make up for yourself and your roomies on a Sunday morning. It’s scrambled eggs but fancier, and enough to feed a crowd. All you need are eggs, ham or bacon bits if you want them, and some diced veggies.

Chocolate Mug Cake

Remember how we mentioned that coffee mugs are good for more than just coffee? Well, here’s another great use for your coffee mug. When you are craving something sweet make yourself a single serving chocolate protein mug cake. You only need a handful of ingredients and a couple of minutes before you’ll be enjoying this sweet midnight snack!

Egg Fried Rice in a Mug

Here we go using that coffee mug again! There’s no need to call for takeout when you can make this simply delicious egg fried rice right in your dorm room. Rice, eggs, and a few veggies are all you need to make a quick, healthy meal that is sure to satisfy.

Egg Drop Ramen

Ramen noodles are a dorm room staple, but you are a college student now, it’s time jazz that plain Ramen right up! For this egg drop ramen all you need is Ramen noodles, an egg, chives, and soy sauce.

Cooking is an easy but important part of any college student’s day. Avoiding the expensive and unhealthy fast food present on a college campus can save students a great deal of money and ensure that they eat healthy balanced meals—simply pair recipes with other healthy food like salads, soups, and spaghetti.

Once you have some simple recipes like these under your belt, you will be surprised at how quickly you can expand your meal repertoire. What you can cook in a dorm room may have some limitations, but there’s no reason that you can’t eat healthy and delicious meals!