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How to cook with very limited kitchen appliances?

I'm living in a dorm room and I cant have a microwave or any open flames. I can use an electric hot pot but I don't think I could get away with an electric frying pan because the smoke would set off the fire alarms. What are some good things I can cook with just a hot pot? I saw a documentary on prisoners and they were cooking meats by putting them in a plastic bag in boiling water. Can you cook any meat like this?

Public Comments

1. you can have hot pots with a hot pot =] chop up some veggies and meat and fill the hot pot with water put in hot pot sauce and cook the veggies and meat inside it tastes good =]
2. in the freezer section of your grocery store are lots of boiling bag varieties,,,check them out
3. lol ... I love that you compared yourself to a prisoner:) ... Maybe you could have a toaster oven there...then you might be able to do Hot Pockets, frozen pizza, etc. You could definitely cook hot dogs in boiling water, but check to see if other sausages are fully cooked before you try other sausages. ... You could get one of those little pots that instantly heats water and make Cup of Noodles, Easy Mac, instant oatmeal, and a bunch things that just require boiling water....
4. Is a hot pot something like a crock pot? If so, I would get some crock pot recipes and use those, but it may take a long time to prepare meals using the crock pot.
5. When I lived in the dorm we could only have coffee pots! So we had 3 of them. One for soup, one for coffee, and one for hot water to pour in other things. I give hotpots to hs grads headed for college. along with a few recipes to put in them. soup: bullion cubes, water, dehydrated veggies, dehydrated meats, simmer a couple of hours and instant soup! the small cooking bags work great for this. Also you could put a small piece of meat, a couple of servings of say, round steak in one, drop it in your hot pot of water, add a half package of onion soup mix, and a bit of water and have a lovely meat. Add some potato or something. couldn't you have a mini crock pot? those are so cool!! you can stack a small casserole in them and eat for 2 meals. 2 bricks and turn the iron upside down and you have a hot plate??
6. I would suggest a good Toaster Oven....I have a Euro-Pro I got from Lowes that has grill, bake, toast, and broil settings and thermostat. I've made all kinds of stuff in this and the crumb tray is removable so its very easy to clean. Its got a nice timer on it and a decent cooking tray that comes with it. I use this thing daily....You can also buy a sepcial cookie sheet for it thats sold separately but the black one that comes with it is very good for most things. In my area, they are cheaper in the store than they are on line
7. You can certainly cook in an electric frying pan without a lot of smoke. You need to think saute (little bit of oil, medium high heat) not pan searing (oil or steak, high heat). Here is a web site for college students...should have hints: http://busycooks.about.com/od/fallrecipesandmenus/a/dormroom.htm
8. I would see about getting a small crock pot too.