College dining halls offer the kind of institutional food usually reserved for guys wearing shackles and bright orange jumpsuits. While in prisons the swill usually sparks a riot, the halls of academia are no place to spill blood in the name of edible food. Therefore, many students opt to nuke grub in their rooms, much to the delight of the resident rodent population. Melanie, Jennifer and Ndelea, three interns (all of them students) decided to take the guesswork out of college cooking by testing several of the most popular staple college foods. The group also sampled several brands of pizza, another essential of dorm life. Organic food may be necessary for healthful living, but chemical engineering has really come along the last few years. Let the taste testing begin:
Hot Pockets, ham 'n' cheese flavor
Each package of Hot Pockets contains two servings. They retail for $2.
Melanie: 
Jennifer:
Ndelea: 
Comments
Overall, the pockets make a good snack or lunch. But choose another flavor. We suggest pizza Hot Pockets. Also, familiarize yourself with fire exits — that cheese can be hot as magma. A scorched tongue will ruin the remainder of your feast.
Top Ramen, noodles with chicken flavoring
The cheapest food tested, each package of noodles costs 25 cents and serves one person.
Melanie: 
Jennifer:
Ndelea:
Comments
For a quarter, how can you go wrong? These noodles are the perfect late-night snack, though not filling enough to replace a whole meal. Go easy with the flavoring packet unless you want your noodles to taste like they were soaked in the ocean. MSG-lovers' delight!
Chef Boyardee, beef ravioli
This pasta dish is packaged in a single-serving microwavable cup. It retails for $1.19.
Melanie:
Jennifer:
Ndelea:
Comments
The least popular option for hungry students. The meat tasted fake. The overall consistency was very liquid-like, disappointing because the package promised a rich tomato sauce, not soup, and the ravioli was soggioli.
Kraft Thick n' Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
This product took the most time to prepare and required two extra ingredients besides water — butter and milk. One box serves two to four people and costs $1.19.
Melanie:
Jennifer:
Ndelea:
Comments
This dish is hit or miss. Great taste lies in proper preparation. The ingredients must be fresh or the noodles will taste funny. The test batch was prepared using a microwave, but a stove is recommended. Still, Kraft macaroni and cheese was filling and tasted better than many items in dining halls.
Nutri Grain Cereal Bars, Strawberry
Great for the student on the go. These bars make a plausible breakfast or snack. One box contains eight bars and retails for $3.
Melanie:
Jennifer:
Ndelea:
Comments
These bars are passable, but tasted dry and artificial. Other flavors include mixed berries and apple cinnamon. Not exactly the start to a great day, but these cereal bars were better than no breakfast at all.
Pizza
We ordered cheese pizzas from three national chains and rated them on speed, price and taste.
Domino's
A medium pizza cost $10.74 and arrived in about 20 minutes.
Melanie:
Jennifer:
Ndelea:
Comments
One of us thought this pizza tasted more like the cardboard box it came in. The sauce didn't taste like real tomatoes, the cheese was decent, and the crust was just OK.
Pizza Hut
A small pizza cost $10.74, and took almost 40 minutes to arrive. However, to their credit, Pizza Hut did say it would take 40 minutes — so it was on time, even if starvation seemed an imminent possibility.
Melanie:
Jennifer:
Ndelea: 
Comments
This pizza was greasier than Pat Riley's hair, but was still popular. The crust was the real highlight — unlike the other pizzas, it was thick and crispy. The cheese and sauce tasted just like cheese and sauce.
Papa John's
A small pizza cost $6.44 and was the same size as the other medium pizzas we ordered. Papa John's doesn't offer a medium, but a large costs $10.74 — the same as a medium at other places. The pizza arrived in about 20 minutes.
Melanie:
Jennifer:
Ndelea:
Comments
This pizza was the overall winner. The crust was especially good and the sauce tasted like it was made from real tomatoes. An added bonus is the garlic dipping sauce-like substance that comes with each pizza, as well as hot peppers for those a little masochistic.
This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2001.
