It's a common trope in movies and TV—broke college students surviving on ramen and Kraft dinner, their fridge stocked with nothing but ketchup and beer. While sometimes exaggerated on the big screen, food insecurity among students is very real.
Like many of you, I grew up poor, living off cases of ramen, Vienna sausages, and evaporated milk. Eating out at a restaurant meant we visited an all-youcan- eat buffet, where at least one of us had to lie about our age for the cheaper price. So when I entered Southwest Texas State University in the fall of 1996, I swore I wouldn’t be a ramen person. Instead, I proudly elevated my poverty cuisine to include SpaghettiOs with meatballs washed down with Sunny Delight.
Luckily, my studies required six nutrition courses, including kitchen labs where I learned about food science and how to cook on a budget. Later, in gradgrowing
Dear Readers, uate school, I helped with community health programs that taught food-insecure families how to shop and prepare affordable, healthy meals.
Now, as a student again — this time pursuing a terminal degree — I’ve found myself experiencing an all-too-familiar level of financial constraint. But this time around, I’m far better equipped. Whew! I’ve learned how to transform a packet of ramen into something quite restaurant-worthy, and I now have mad skills in curating medleys of toasts and dahls. Thank goodness I discovered just how much I love beans, something I avoided through much of my childhood.
It’s quite a phenomenon how having limited resources can spark so much creativity, and I’ve patted myself on the back after crafting some of my best dishes using the last lonely items hiding in the back of my fridge and pantry. It probably also helps that I’ve trained my social media algorithm to show me nothing but cooking videos, so I’m flooded with new ideas each time I scroll.
One of my favorite influencers, Justine Doiron, has been running a series where she develops recipes using only the remaining contents of her kitchen. It’s wildly relatable — though, to be fair, her half-used ingredients tend to be a bit fancier than whatever I have lingering on my shelves. Still, I’ve found inspiration in her concoctions and presentation.
Watching Justine turn leftover mustard into a fivestar vinaigrette or grilling radishes with brown butter and lemon reminds me that our resourcefulness is an underrated skill. In the kitchen or in life, sometimes our best work comes from making the most of what we’ve got and being downright scrappy. So if you’re feeling similar economic pressures, staring into your almost-empty pantries, don’t panic! Grab your kitchen towel. You might just be on the verge of hitching a ride to your next culinary masterpiece. It could be out of this world, and you don’t even need a babel fish. And if all else fails, well, there’s always still just plain ol’ ramen. But if you’ve got some peanut butter or coconut milk in the pantry too, you might just turn a struggle meal into a viral reel!
XOXO,
Kelly Stone is an educator, comedian, mother, and author who loves the heck outta the river. She welcomes e-letters at kellystone.org or kellystonecomedy@gmail.com and adores handwritten notes and postcards via good ol’ snail mail: R das Combatentes da Grande Guerra 47, FRAC R, Aveiro, Portugal 3810-087.
