Photo Courtesy / Eliyas Jeffay

If you looked into a res student’s fridge, you might be surprised to find that it does not look so different from an average household’s. Yet the university student stereotype dictates us to be perpetually studying and always strapped for cash (well that is universal). So in this regard, a res student should only have enough money for the basics, right?

Wrong, apparently. What was shocking when I examined a few fridges of students on UTSC res was the variety of ingredients students have, the sophistication of appliances and the dedication that lead some students to even have cookbooks.

Every residence apartment comes outfitted for food success with basic appliances like a kettle, toaster oven, rice steamer, coffee brewer, etc. Now the question is: are the students living there make use of them? Or do they simply buy food for convenience’s sake?

Cortney Cook and Erin Danliw, two roommates in Joan Folley Hall, are some of the more experimental ones when it comes to cooking.

“I don’t buy from campus unless I am rushed or in between classes,” Cook said. “But I did make a roast the other day, I cooked it perfectly. Erin is usually the chef so I felt pretty good.”

Danliw, like Cook, said she never eats out, rather they just buy their groceries from Food Basics and make all their meals because it’s cheaper.

Andrew Loughlin, a third-year neuroscience student and Danliw’s boyfriend said, “I eat better here than I do at home.”

Loughlin also mentioned that he only has the ability to make Kraft Dinner and boil pasta.

Danliw and Cook are such foodies that they even have a Magic Bullet, a Bosch Tassimo Suprema Hot Beverage system, a Betty Crocker cookbook and Jaime’s Food Revolution by Jaime Oliver in their apartment.

Another Folley Hall student, Teona Baetu, explained how because of ethnicity and taste, her and her roommates all buy their own groceries.

“We are all too different, we would never all agree to eat the same thing,” Baetu said.

While Baetu said she makes herself food the majority of the time, her favourite place to eat on campus is Subway.

The individual grocery method seems to be the one favoured by most students. Each have their own money, own food and they cook it for themselves on their own time.

Loughlin and Danliw laughed as they recalled a friend of theirs who always bought pizza or Chinese food every day because he could not cook.

“He couldn’t even cook a bag of popcorn,” Danliw said. “He put it on for thirty seconds and as soon as it started popping he took it out.”

It seems that there are two types of residence students: those who cook (the money conscious cooker), and those who buy because they can’t cook (the for convenience’s sake buyer).

Cook said that being on her own has enabled her to eat healthier because she controls what is brought into the house and the money.

“I don’t buy junk food here,” Cook said. “At home my mom has such a sweet tooth, she buys junk and then I end up eating it.”

After asking several students the extent of their cooking abilities it is safe to say that the responses varied. Things like : pasta, rice, steak, stew and even chili were mentioned. But the one thing that popped up the most was the egg. Simple, easy and fast – a university student’s miracle dish.

Places for students to pick-up their groceries are limited around campus. There is a Food Basics not too far of a walk, but Danliw denoted it as a place that has “bad produce.” But on the upside it is cheap. Walmart is a 25-minute walk and No Frills is 10 minutes further than Walmart. So truly options for UTSC students are thin, which makes the temptation to buy at campus even greater. And if not careful, you could end up gaining more than just the fifteen.

In the case of the UTSC res student, you truly are what you eat.