Adventures in Cooking for the Townhouse

This year, as a senior at Saint Michael's College, I've discovered the joys and pains of townhouse living- specifically, in the kitchen. Most seniors have a limited meal plan, meaning we have to get out and go grocery shopping and start fending for ourselves. All part of a good plan to ready students for the future.

This summer, I got used to shopping for myself and labeling every piece of food in the Gateway staff kitchen, and doing a little cooking- mostly salads, pancakes, and the occasional soup or microwave meal. Now I live with 3 other people and we have a tiny kitchen, and have to do a lot more planning.

The biggest challenge for me is in the grocery store. There are so many options in each aisle, and you think about what you want for yourself and then how you'll be having group and individual dinners during the week, and it's pretty easy to go crazy and buy almost nothing, like I did the first time I went on my own. Then I realized not only did I not have much to eat during the week, but also that my housemates were planning group dinners and I had nothing to contribute. And let's not forget that we go through a gallon of milk and a carton of eggs a day.

Going home for a night last week gave me some ideas to remember in the grocery store: the basics. You can make a meal with meat, veggies, and bread, and that's a good place to start if you aren't ready for the complicated sauces and addendums that other people might have under control. Make a list with your roommates beforehand, and if you all go together you can split up the group stuff at the register (and that makes your personal purchases a little easier!) You can also have one person go and everyone else pay them back afterward, if they're comfortable with that. Laying out how things will work and communicating with your house is always helpful.

We've found so far that frozen stir-fry mixes work really well, as does stocking up on canned food and pancake mix and pasta for the rushed meals or when we don't feel like making other things. Becky and Molly are pretty good at making chicken and veggies or other meals more from scratch. Some of the other things we use a lot of are tea, hot chocolate, bread, any juice or drinkables, butter and cooking spray.

 A final note on cooking at SMC: the 200's and 300's townhouses probably have the smallest kitchens out of all of the options. The 100's and 400's have large kitchens, the suite buildings have a decent kitchen per floor, and there's a kitchen in the International Commons space as well. All good things for underclassmen to keep in mind for the future!