What’s in Your Dorm Fridge?
Photos by Rampage student photographer Nathan LePere and Natalie Burgess.
Moving away from home and going to college is a big deal. It’s the first time most students are in a dorm on their own from under their parents’ housing. In addition, for most students it is the first time they have to go grocery shopping by themselves. When you are home, Mom and Dad make sure groceries are in the house or will at least assist with your grocery shopping, but now you’re completely on your own.
With this being the case, we at The Rampage wondered just what groceries are students buying. What food items are they purchasing to eat. The best way to answer these questions is to find out what items are in student refrigerators. So, we asked BU students: “What’s in your dorm fridge?” This is what they had to say.
“As college students we don’t have a lot of money, so the money we have we try to make it stretch,” Kemani Riley said. “Walmart and the dollar store are the main places I shop. Go to the dollar store first because almost everything’s a dollar. After that I go to Walmart and get whatever else that’s left that I need.”
Other students agreed, saying regardless of the specific items they have in their fridge, they have to shop smart. The main thing they look for when shopping are sales and deals.
“Everybody goes to places like McDonald’s and Burger King to get a cheeseburger, but as college students we don’t have money just to spend so we have to make it work,” Ahsani Ambo said.
Beyond sale items, the number one thing students have in their fridges is microwaveable foods, such as hot pockets, corn dogs, burgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, and even pancake sausage on a stick.
“I have a whole 48 count of hot pockets in my fridge,” Ja’Shir Kean said. “I eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I love the four cheese hot pockets.”
Another popular microwavable food mentioned often by students was burgers. There are so many different forms of burgers, which is why they were so high on the list. People said anything from a hamburger and cheeseburgers to double cheeseburgers and even bacon double cheeseburgers.
A lot of students also mentioned milk as a popular item in their fridge. Milk is a versatile liquid with many different uses. Some students said they keep milk on hand to drink as a beverage, while others use it for cereal or with other foods. Students mentioned different flavors of milk, including strawberry, chocolate, and even Oreo flavor milk as a beverage.
“I always have milk because I’m an athlete,” Ambo said, “and chocolate milk helps relieve muscle soreness.”
But most students said they keep milk in the fridge because they like to have it with cereal, and a lot of students love cereal because there are so many different kinds.
“All I eat is cereal,” Ambo said. “I eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fruit Loops, and Apple Jacks.”
All in all, milk is a big part of a college student’s diet because it has a lot of different uses and benefits. Lastly, another food that everyone seems to have, maybe even in their fridge to keep it fresh, is bread.
“I stay with bread because I can make a PB&J (peanut butter and jelly sandwich), or even a ham and cheese whenever I please,” said Kean. “Even things like chicken salad, tuna salad, and even toast aren’t possible without bread.”
Riley shared one of the weirdest things that students do with bread with his version of French toast.
“What I do is take some bread, warm it up so it’s soft, put sugar and syrup on it, let it soak in the bread, then warm it up again, and add more sugar,” Riley said. “It’s like homemade French toast. That’s how you make it with no stove and no eggs.”