14 Healthy Ideas For The Microwave and Mini-Fridge Diet

Student cookbooks designed for people trying to eat healthy are the greatest! I used lots of those (and still do, I just make more now). Also, I would cook meals at home and freeze them in order to nuke them later. Helped a ton!

Courtney

I try to avoid using a microwave as much as possible, but I guess sometimes it can't be avoided. Fig Foods makes an organic tomato soup that comes in a BPA-free carton. Vegetables and brown rice come in steamable bags. Fresh fruit and string cheese were 2 things I always had on hand. Canned tuna and deli meat for protein. You can even cook eggs in the microwave. If you can get a blender in there, you can make fruit and vegetable smoothies.

Cristina @ An Organic Wife

HEY! That's my alma mater (UMass)!! :)

Lauren S.

College students definitely need better meal options and plans than what's provided for them. I'd advise against the use of microwaves though. Don't trust them at all.

Did you see the study about watering plants with microwaved water? It died much faster than the plant using plain water. Scary.

Mike Lieberman

I remember smuggling a lot of fresh fruit from the dining halls, as well as filling up my own thermoses with milk and bringing them back to my dorm room to have milk with (low-sugar) cereal. I also kept certain frozen meals (low-sodium, balanced) on hand for nights when choices at the dining halls were particularly dismal.

Other essentials I kept on hand were peanut butter (so versatile - for sandwiches, as a veggie dip, for dessert... the possibilities are endless!), low-carb/high-fiber tortillas (a more versatile alternative to bread), hummus, tuna/salmon in packets, and oatmeal. With these essentials and a few other ingredients that can easily be smuggled from the dining hall or picked up at a grocery store (or even Wal-green's), it was easy to keep myself well-nourished and not depend on the dining halls.

Good luck, Hillary!

Stephanie

I agree with HIllary about sandwich fixings. The best thing I ever bought was a microwave rice cooker.

I could make a mahatma bag of red beans and rice and at 99 cents that was a cheap and easy dinner. Its also a great way to steam veggies and a microwaved baked potato with tuna and cheese was a favorite.

Leslie Haon

Microwaving is actually healthy for you--it preserves the nutrients in vegetables, for example above other cooking methods. Microwaving in plastic that can leach out chemicals is not--so find some ceramic stuff to use... I also recommend a microwave rice cooker http://www.amazon.com/Maxi-Aids-Microwave-Rice-Cooker/dp/B0… and I also recommend Trader Joe's brown jasmine or basmati rice--they don't create a mess when you cook them (the starches in shorter grain rices gum up the rice cooker when you cook them especially Japanese rice including brown... oh and if you live near a Japanese market that makes its own non-GMO soybean tofu, buy "okara" which is a paste left over from pressing the soy milk--it's mainly fiber with a protein and a small amount of fat (most of the carbs are fiber)and it's flavor neutral--if you buy that and heat it up with salsa or soy sauce as flavor, plus brown rice and veggies, you have a great source of protein (amino profile combines well with rice) and fiber and it's VERY CHEAP as a "waste product."

I wish I'd known all this back when I was your age... I gained 15 pounds in two years, not one, and it was complicated by having my leg in a cast the summer between freshman and sophomore years--less movement, more boredom eating.... That was the summer I hit "triple digits" on the scale and I cried (I'm short.)

Sue

I recommend the "Dorm Room Diet" by Daphne Oz - Dr. Oz's daughter. She discusses how to eat healthy with limited resources in that book and I found it on half.com for only about $3.00 and it might also be available in the public library. Just a thought! :)

Kristin

Thanks to everyone for all of the ridiculously helpful comments and the article! You guys definitely mentioned things I never would've even thought of! Thank goodness for everyone that believes in living a healthy lifestyle (you would be amazed at the comments I get from ignorant college students that think I'm crazy for wanting to eat healthy instead of ordering a pizza!)

Hillary

Perdue also has (PERDUE® SIMPLY SMART® Original Grilled Chicken Strips)you should look this up no need to cook just heat in the microwave

Lucy G

When I was in college (a million years ago), I got the book Tray Gourmet, which was all about taking the stuff available in the dining hall and turning it into something resembling a decent/healthy meal. I checked and it's still in print, although I guess I don't know if it applies to dining halls these days. ;) It's cute though and worth a look!

Marla

All I can say is if ya decide to go vegan in college, DON'T buy Peta's college cookbook. Those mainly consist of mock meat recipes and are EXPENSIVE.

Sure they can all be made in a microwave, but still. Its far too expensive! I'd recommend Vegan a go go. :)

Kale Blossom

Sue, is the Amazon rice cooker you mention plastic? BPA free? Thanks.

Kathleen

get a pan & a "hot plate" (electric burner) if possible.

Kay

I thought the Turkish breakfast was one of the best breakfast ideas I have heard in a while. I love these foods too but I would never have placed them in a breakfast combo. What a great way to start the day off right!

Cleopatra8

A Microwave Rice Cooker is essential! You can cook rice, yes, but also beans, quinoa, couscous and many other healthy grains. Don't cook in plastic bags or steamer bags as they can leach carcinogens into the food at high temperatures. I got BPA-free Microwave Rice Maker's for both of my college kids and they love the Microwave line from Tupperware with its Lifetime Warranty. (visit my site or that of my U.S. counterpart http://www.TWDeals.com if you'd like and order directly on-line for delivery to your dorm) I live in a cold climate and the ability to put healthy food in our tummies while using less energy in the microwave and preserving the nutrients in a quick easy to use format is mandatory.

Kim

Sorry...my site is: http://my.tupperware.ca/kimkelly for any Canadians reading the post I just made.

Kim

The amazon rice cooker that I mentioned has plastic OUTSIDES (outer container, lid, inner thing that lets the water overflow/steam out) but the actual INNER container that contacts the rice is ceramic. If you don't overfill it, it won't touch the plastic. The way it works is that if your rice and water combo start to boil over, they go through these vents and go in between the ceramic part and the plastic outer bowl... but that water still cooks and comes back as steam helping it cook so even if you lose some water that way it's not really lost and you don't have to adjust the water proportions at all.

(If you spray a little oil using a pump or nonstick spray on the inside of your cooker, the rice if you're using short grain comes out a lot easier and is easier to wash.)

Sue