By Andrea Schmidt
Hi! My name is Andrea and I am a current senior at Johns Hopkins allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts, most tree nuts, shellfish, kiwi, cumin, and some seeds (sesame, chia, and poppy). I have loved baking since I was young and have learned to cook in college. Over the years I have learned a lot about cooking for yourself away from home with food allergies when you have limited money, space, and equipment, so I am excited to share my experiences and tips for you all! Of course everyone will get food in college and as a young adult in different ways, and my experience is just one example.
Planning and Cooking Meals
In high school, I mostly ate cereal for breakfast and my mom went grocery shopping, packed my lunch for school, and planned and cooked dinner. It can be very weird to suddenly do all of this for yourself! In freshman year, I got on a sophomore meal plan with help from student disability services and dining, which meant I only went to the dining hall for dinner and used dining dollars for everything else. Although dining dollars could be used at a couple of places around campus, the only place that was safe for me was a little market that actually had some allergy-friendly options. While at first I just bought whatever I needed, after a couple of my friends were close to running out of dining dollars halfway through the semester I figured I should budget out the rest of my dining dollars. I made a weekly budget and it turned out to be enough! I ended up eating the same food a lot, but it was nice to have some go-to items I could count on.
Moving off campus, it was sometimes difficult to know how much food I needed to buy per week, how quickly foods would go bad, etc. This all gets easier with time! In junior year none of my friends had a car and the nearest grocery store was a 15 minute walk away. At my school you can also request a shuttle to the store. Because of the walk or shuttle, my roommates and I went grocery shopping about once every two weeks. Now in senior year, my roommate has a car and we go every week. I find it helpful to keep some basics stocked, plan out my breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the week, and make a grocery list. To keep planning more manageable, I plan options to eat throughout the week but I don't schedule each individual day. Since I pay for my own groceries, it has been frustrating at times to have to buy more expensive brands when they are the only option available to me because of allergies. I try to plan meals with items I can eat the usual versions of instead of having to buy a more expensive replacement, but sometimes I splurge on something like a Daiya cheesecake :)
For planning meals, I have a couple of recipe books and a spreadsheet of online recipes that I use often. I try to find new recipes too! I typically stick to recipes with ingredients I know I can use in multiple ways so I am not spending money on anything extra that I won't use later. This has been pretty easy for me to do since I am used to changing recipes to accommodate my allergies anyways. Typical meals and snacks for me include stir fry, wraps, avocado toast, pasta, smoothies, and hummus with pita chips or vegetables.
Cooking Equipment
In college, there is limited space to store your cooking equipment especially if your other roommates cook (mine do). This list may seem obvious, but I didn't realize I was missing some of the smaller items until I suddenly needed them. I was lucky to have a mini kitchen in my suite-style dorm in my freshman and sophomore years (which is a normal option at my school). It had very little cabinet space, a tiny sink, and a stove. Since I didn't have access to an oven unless I used the kitchen shared by the entire dorm, I used:
A blender - I mainly use this for smoothies
A pot and pan with a spoon and a spatula
A microwave
Measuring cups and measuring spoons
Tupperware - this is essential for storing leftovers. I also used it to carry food around campus if I didn't have time to go back to my dorm for lunch or snacks.
The usual - mugs, plates, bowls, forks, knives, spoons. I liked to use my mugs for microwave mug cakes!
Although my suite had a shared mini-fridge as a part of the mini kitchen, I knew I would need more space for my food. I was able to bring my own mini-fridge and my roommates shared the other one.
My roommate also brought this weird toaster oven/coffee maker combination. It was really helpful to have the toaster oven instead of a regular toaster, since I could share it with my other roommates and just use tinfoil under my food to prevent cross-contamination.
Junior year, I moved into an apartment with a real kitchen. Then, I was able to add more equipment:
Sheet pans - I like to use a smaller sheet pan to make storage and cleaning easy and because I am only cooking for myself.
An oven mitt
A mini food processor - this is the most underrated piece of equipment I own. Food processors are useful for so many recipes. I always use mine for hummus, since I am allergic to sesame and have never found safe hummus at the store.
A small cutting board
Larger bowls
Somehow I didn't get a can opener until junior year. I definitely recommend getting one sooner.
I also have a few extra things for fun that are definitely not necessary… like a citrus juicer and a garlic press.
I hope this helps with planning how you will cook in college or as a young adult with food allergies! It has been really fun for me to experiment with cooking and try new recipes in college.