Undergraduate Blog / Defining Your Babson

Using ET&A While Abroad

One thing I miss about Babson is having a meal plan. Though Trim might not always have the best food in the world, it sure is convenient and easy. Whenever I am hungry at school I just walk down to Trim swipe my OneCard and there is just a buffet of options in front of me.10360966_10202661008636404_9108193075116311155_n (1) Now there is a dinning hall at school, but that involves money and sitting at a table with no friends since most of my friends make their own meals. Thus I’ve had to learn how to fend for myself in the kitchen.
Now don’t get me wrong. I do love to cook and know my way around  he kitchen, however the whole process of making food when you are hungry SUCKS. I just want to eat and I am tired and I have to put effort into making my meal. Now sometimes I cheat and get ready made meals that just need to be popped in the microwave or oven for a few minutes and poof my dinner is ready. However that is not the most economically friendly or healthy option so thus I cook.

Since I am only here for a semester I do not want to buy a bunch of cooking supplies that will either be distributed among the flat or tossed, therefore the only pan I have is a frying pan. My flatmates have given me a hard time about this, however I am a firm believer that pretty muchphoto anything can be cooked in a frying pan and everyday I find new meals that can be made. You can even make spaghetti in a frying pan! Besides getting creative in how I cook, I also need to be creative in what I cook sometimes. I don’t always have time to go to the grocery store or when I go shopping in the beginning of the week I don’t always know what I am going to want so I end up with a lot of random food. This has resulting in some interesting meals. For example the other day I did not have bread but I wanted a tuna melt so I put some tuna, cheddar cheese and spinach into a frying pan to get it all nice and warm. Then used it as a dip for crackers. May I say it was DELICIOUS! I will probably end up doing it again.

Moral of the story: when you don’t have a meal plan you have  to get creative and as I learned in FME, “work with the means at hand.” I have one pot and I have some food and from that I make a meal. Might be a strange meal but it feeds me none the less.  And my advice when studying abroad food wise? Invest in a frying pan.