I never did the typical college thing _ while my friends went off to live in dorms their freshman year, I hit the mean streets of not-yet-creepy Craigslist to find off-campus roommates. Dorm life was over-budget, and besides, the luxury of more space appealed to me.
From the outside looking in, my friends had it made with their meal plans and busy social lives. Meanwhile, I had to fend for myself when it came to food. The plus side was it ignited my love of cooking and playing with recipes. Though I had the luxury of cooking in my teensy kitchen, I was far from the food-obsessed gastronaut I am today. Like most busy-yet-lazy college kids, my personal cooking plan consisted of burritos, grilled cheese, plain spaghetti with butter and that staple of college life everywhere, ramen noodles.
Simple to make, inexpensive and readily available, it's no wonder that humble little packet with its too-salty seasoning is a go-to meal for college students. But it can be too easy to fall into the trap of cooking it according to package instructions _ you, college student, deserve more than a bowl of salty water and limpid noodles. There's more to ramen packets than meets the eye, and a little creativity will unlock ramen's infinite potential to transform. Ramen burgers, ramen salad, cold, spicy sesame noodles, to name a few.
But why stop at ramen? There are aisles and aisles in the grocery store dedicated to quick-and-easy meals targeting unimaginative, left-to-their-own-devices college kids. Items like Spam, that gelatinous meatstuff that no one quite knows what to do with, or Tater Tots, God's gift to snacking.
Is it possible to fashion creative meals out of these quotidian ingredients? The answer, my college-bound friends, is a resounding "yes."
