What does a university-bound student buy for his dorm? (e.g. tell me a nice blender to buy)

[Bignate603]

I made pasta quite a bit. It can be really simple or you can make it much more complicated depending on what you feel like. Also, it's really easy to make a bunch and eat it for a few days.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: Bignate603
I made pasta quite a bit. It can be really simple or you can make it much more complicated depending on what you feel like. Also, it's really easy to make a bunch and eat it for a few days.

^this.

Oh, and I don't know if your dorm is like mine about the chairs...

Dorm furniture tends to suck harder than a 20A vacuum... I went out and bought a $50 office chair today (clearance, mesh back) and it is easily 5x better than the crappy dorm desk chair... also bought a floor lamp, because once again the dorm lighting is far from adequate.

Oh, and I've used the same mini-fridge for three years. This year will be my fourth. Started rattling a bit when the compressor kicked in but I fixed that with judicious use of zip-ties.

I also ended up buying an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier for the scanner and color printing. We have unlimited free black and white printing on campus, but color costs 50c a page. If I print even 100 pages worth of color I come out ahead... and scanners are few and far between on campus.

Edit: I should note that lots of things are nice to have (I have a HT receiver + speakers) but are a pain when you have to move out/put stuff in storage. Since this is my senior year I'll probably end up listing a lot of stuff on Craigslist before the end of the academic year...

 

[Ichigo]

Thanks guys, keep it coming. Every bit of information can prove useful.

I make a decent fried rice, but I usually make it from whatever leftovers are available. Obviously, I need to make something fresh once in a while, which is why I'm curious what time-starved (punny) people eat. Chicken, I've made before. Pasta, as well. Pork chops... do you just fry it and season it while it's frying? How do you guys eat vegetables? I usually like them raw but the parents like cooking them a bit.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Whenever I want something cheap and easy to make it's either Tuna or Pasta. Neither spoil easily which is a big plus.

 

[nageov3t]

re: kitchen stuff, at a minimum, I'd probably want a decent pot (2-3 qt), a pan (stale bread = french toast), a cookie-sheet for cooking frozen stuff on, and a george foreman. (and cheap paring + utility knives)

in general, one thing that never really occurred to me during those last few weeks before starting freshman year was a good, comfortable pair of headphones. you'll inevitably pull some all/late-nighters, and your roommates will appreciate not having to hear your music or IM 'dings' when they're trying to sleep.

edit: and a mattress pad. srsly. also, can opener.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Your dorm room has its own kitchen? Daaaaaamn. I'm gonna have to eat dorm food and just go to the gym regularly.

 

[Ichigo]

I've got my trusty HD280 Pro's.

A mattress pad is something I'd forgotten but remember thinking I would need one because of how damn thin the mattresses were. How much should I pay for one? They're damn expensive.

I'm sure there's a manual can opener somewhere at home that my parents aren't using. Same with the kitchenware. Baking is cool but I doubt I'll ever get any use from a George Foreman.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Dorm furniture tends to suck harder than a 20A vacuum... I went out and bought a $50 office chair today (clearance, mesh back) and it is easily 5x better than the crappy dorm desk chair... also bought a floor lamp, because once again the dorm lighting is far from adequate.

:thumbsup:

I used some crap wooden chair all of my first year. Second year, I upgraded to a $50 office chair from Staples. It's so much better - a little rattley now going into it's 2nd year of service, but it isn't falling apart by any stretch of the imagination. A lamp is also nice to have - my dorm had used this ugly florescent light on the ceiling - certainly bright enough, but having a lamp to focus light on where I was working was nice. Also gave the room a different cast which was nice.

Had a minifridge as well, but I dumped that at the end of 2nd year as I moved into an apartment. I guess I could have kept it for some of my food, but the main fridge is fine (for now - roommates are not back yet, but 2 have minifridges in their rooms). I don't see it getting too filled up that I would need to go back to relying on one.

 

[tomt4535]

will it blend?