Dining halls at colleges across the United States supply 20 million students with food every day, but sometimes students don't take full advantage of their facilities. At College of the Holy Cross, Kimball Dining Hall has its ups and downs--but there are a few tricks to getting the best out of what they serve. Here are some Kimball Hacks for the food-loving college student.
1. Deviled Eggs
The hard boiled eggs leftover from breakfast usually get put in the salad bar. Cut the eggs in half, remove the yolk, and mix the yolk together with mayonnaise and a little bit of mustard, salt, and pepper. You can even add relish or bacon to the yolk if you so choose. Put it back into the egg, and enjoy! If you want to top it off with paprika, just ask the Kimball staff if they can get you some from the back!
2. Milkshakes and Soda Floats
Take advantage of the soft serve machine, and fill up a cup about 3/4 of the way. Take it to the soda fountain where you can add some root beer or orange soda. If you want a milkshake, add some milk to it as well as any mix-ins from the ice cream bar you want. You can make chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and even cookies and cream shakes.
3. Waffle Sundaes
The staff turns on the ice cream machines just before lunchtime to get them ready, and the waffle machines are always plugged in until the end of the night. Make a waffle, then add ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, or any of the fruits from the yogurt bar! You can get pretty creative here.
4. Burgers and Eggs
The breakfast sandwich choices are endless. Toast a bagel or an English muffin, then add an egg of your choosing from the grill and whatever else is out at the breakfast station or the omelet station. On Saturdays and Sundays, they open the grill for burgers and such before they close the egg station for brunch. This is the perfect time to order a burger and an egg.
5. Wrapped Salad
Tired of your regular salad? Grab a wrap from the deli line and put your salad into it. Still healthy, but a new way to eat your salad.
6. DIY Quesadilla
Get a wrap (or two) from the deli and fill it as you please. The deli has four different kinds of cheese and there is also shredded cheese in the salad bar. Add some chicken or steak on the grill or even mixed veggies from the salad bar or stir fry. Toss it in the microwave for a minute or two so everything will melt together. Sometimes they'll have salsa or leftover guacamole in the salad bar-enjoy!
7. Grilled Cheese (Or As You Like It)
When they have grilled cheese at the grill, they make it one way and it takes forever. Instead, have a grilled cheese any time of the day. Choose your own bread at the deli and you can even add ham or tomato or bacon to your grilled cheese. Leave it in the panini press for five minutes and you've got your own grilled cheese. If it is tomato soup night, this goes great with it.
8. Cereal and Yogurt
The yogurt bar has vanilla and strawberry yogurt, along with fruits and granola, but sometimes you want something a little more sugary. Go on over to the cereal and add some cocoa pebbles, frosted flakes, or even cheerios to add a different kind of crunch to your yogurt. You can even add sprinkles or chocolate cookies crumbles from the ice cream bar to have a yogurt more like the Yocrunch you got when you were a kid.
9. Cookies and Cream, Strawberry, and More
Make your own flavor of ice cream by adding in cookies, peanut butter, or fruit. Make it a sundae and add a brownie to it. Add a banana to make it a banana split. More sprinkles? Go for it. The ice cream opportunities are endless.
10. Sushi Swipes
If you go to Lower Kimball after 3 p.m., you can get sushi for a meal swipe instead of $6.95 to $8.95. It saves your dining dollars big time. You can have it as your afternoon snack or keep it in your fridge until dinner. It still good by dinner time!
11. Bread-less Burrito
Not hungry enough for a whole chalupa or burrito? Don't want the bread? Lower Kimball will let you get a salad bowl full of all the great stuff you would usually put in your burrito.
12. Taking Advantage of On-The-Go
Take advantage of Lower Kimball's cheap, on-the-go options. Just a swipe on the resident meal plan and $5 on the apartment plan, you can get lots from the grill, deli, pizza, or burrito stations. It's super convenient when you're running low on dining dollars and need to eat while you study.
Kimball isn't too bad, after all.
