As summer creeps away and September slowly approaches, returning to school is on everyone’s mind. Incoming first-years may be wondering– what should I bring, what classes should I take, but most importantly, what will I eat? First-years are required to enroll in the 19-swipe-per-week meal plan, but what if you want a late night snack or a morning pick-me-up? Technically, you could probably eat dining hall food for the whole year (as long as you sneak some snacks home with tupperware) but what if you get sick of it? Here are a few things that your fellow Bwoggers felt really enhanced a first-year’s pantry:

The Basics

  • Fruits (stolen from the dining hall) like apples, oranges, and bananas
  • Emergen-C: chug that during flu season and finals.
  • Granola bars: specifically CLIF bars
    • “CLIF bars (the almond butter filled ones are SO GOOD and kept me full from my 10:10 till 1pm when i could get lunch)”– Bwog ex-first-year #1
    • “I dedicated a whole-ass drawer in freshman year to CLIF Bars. I ate them in the morning when I didn’t have time to get a proper John Jay breakfast, and I ate them late at night when I needed brain fuel. Can’t go wrong w/ Oatmeal Raisin Nut, Peanut Toffee Buzz, or White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. Unless you have a nut allergy. Then you can go wrong.” – Bwog ex-first-year #2
  • Tupperware: how else are you going to steal food from the dining halls? (Bwog does not condone stealing.)
  • A Brita filter: if you are okay with tap water, go you. But for those of us who aren’t used to drinking water straight from the tap, a Brita filter is a MUST, or else you will remain dehydrated for the rest of the year, as not every floor has a filtered water dispenser.

For an elevated pantry experience…

  • Chia seeds: it’s really easy to make chia seed pudding as a quick snack or breakfast, and chia seeds are great for digestion.
  • Apple sauce: sometimes you’re going to feel like a giant baby in this city (and school) that never sleeps, so what better than some mushy baby food?
  • A Keurig: that morning coffee when you don’t have enough points to stop at Liz’s or Peet’s.

What more Bwoggers loved: 

  • Kashi Autumn Wheat Cereal (Dry)
  • Unsalted Roasted Peanuts (Many)
  • Schneider’s Pretzel Nuggets (no flavoring but Salt)
  • Tortilla Chips (Salt Optional)
  • Always keep a couple of peet’s bottled coffees in my mini fridge in case i don’t have time to brew a fresh cup in the morning
  • Eggs and a frying pan are nice to have in case you’re hungry at 2am and want actual protein
  • Almond butter hands down. My addiction was bad. It goes with everything!!!
  • Dark chocolate almonds
  • Stockpile of 5 hour energy (edit: please don’t)
  • Peanut butter cracker packs from when you were a kid
  • Cereal (milk optional) (also to be stolen from dining halls)
  • Salted cashews

Make sure you bring these things if you’re a big snacker like Bwog is and let us know at tips@bwog.com if you have more pantry essentials!

CLIF bar craze via Flickr