By Megan Dausch, CSP Mentor
Whether you’ve grown up cooking or you’ve never even used a microwave, college can be a time to get your feet wet. Cooking can not only potentially save you money, but also save you from having to eat that dreaded cafeteria food…again.
While you may not be able to make a gourmet meal in your dorm room, depending upon what your college allows you to have, you may be able to make some pretty interesting dishes. Often, your college will have a shared kitchen in a dorm for student use, so that could give you a great opportunity to try out new dishes, broaden your cooking horizons, and potentially meet new friends. You might also be able to live in a shared suite which contains a smaller shared kitchen. Whether you’re living in a dorm room or an apartment, here are just a few tips to wet your appetite.
Don’t underestimate the power of the microwave.
The microwave is not just for reheating leftovers or frozen meals. You can make an amazing array of dishes in the microwave, from chocolate fudge to chicken dishes. There are books of microwave recipes, as well as websites dedicated to the subject. Just type something like “microwave chicken” into Google, and you’ll be surprised at what actually comes up. If you’ve never cooked, but always wanted to, starting with the microwave can be a less intimidating way to ease into cooking. You don’t have to worry about preheating an oven, or reaching inside it, or fiddling with knobs on a stove. Everything stays pretty contained, and many colleges will allow you to have one in your dorm room or will have one commonly available.
An introduction to the kitchen is a game-changer.
If you have a shared kitchen, whether a dorm or an apartment-type living situation, see if you can get an introduction to the kitchen. Find out where the key appliances are. Make some labels for things you think you’ll use. Sometimes, working in a shared kitchen can be challenging, since others may not know what those little bumps on the stove are for, but this can be a way to meet new people and educate others.
Use shortcuts.
If you want to try cooking for the first time, you might consider making it easier on yourself by purchasing some of your items pre-prepared. For example, you can get fresh vegetables pre-chopped; this may make it just a little quicker to prepare your meals.
Don’t be afraid to make a mistake.
Every cook, blind, low vision, or sighted, messes up sometimes. No matter how long you’ve been cooking, you can read a recipe incorrectly, accidentally heat the oven to the wrong temperature, or just make something that doesn’t taste right. Just throw it out, start again, or go to your school’s cafeteria, as long as you promise yourself you will try again soon.
Once, I was trying to make simple shortbread cookies; just butter, flour and sugar. The recipe called for a cup of butter, and I only put one stick in. When I took the dessert out of the oven, all of my cookies had turned into a thin, flat crispy disk that broke apart when I attempted to lift it from the tray. So, I experimented; I heated some cream, and added some chocolate chips to it until it felt creamy. I added in my broken almost-cookies, and formed small chocolate balls with pieces of crunchy cookie in the middle. No one minded my mistake.
Start with simple equipment.
There are many wonderful cooking gadgets on the market, but the two tools that personally gave me the most confidence were a food thermometer and a set of oven gloves. The protective gloves gave me the reassurance that getting severely burned while placing food into the oven or removing it was less likely.
Use all of your other blindness skills.
When I first began to cook, I was often frustrated by recipes that said cook until browned, or until juices run clear. This is when I started to use my sense of touch when cooking. You’ll quickly realize that meat and vegetables change texture as they’re cooking. “Browned” really has a texture. The sound of food will also change as it cooks. If you’re unsure, you can also check in with AIRA, Facetime a friend, or Be My Eyes to see if they can provide you some visual input on how your food looks. I also found a food thermometer to be an excellent tool to know that my chicken was cooked through.
Explore beyond the oven.
There are plenty of other interesting appliance to investigate if you can’t have or don’t want to use an oven. You can make whole meals with a rice cooker, air fryer, crock pot or Instant Pot.
Whatever you do, have fun. Ask questions, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes–sometimes they turn out better than the intended recipe.
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Envision’s College Success Program (CSP) is committed to serving college and transitioning high school students who are blind or low vision. The CSP is a virtual program that provides a holistic support system and engages students through online resources, events, mentorship, and more, all at no cost to them. Contact the CSP at csp@envisionus.com.