You are about to become sick of canned fish, I predict.

Eggs. Yeah, microwaved eggs aren't always as good as cooking on the stovetop but you can buy various microwave egg cookers that allow you to make poached or boiled eggs in the microwave.

Tinned fish

Sweet potatoes (and regular if you eat those, since they're cheap) steamed in the microwave. Obviously you can steam any veggies in there.

Those three things are what helped me the most during my first year when I was living in the dorms. And if you shop at the right stores (at least over here, I don't know where you are) none of them are expensive at all.

I lived in grad student housing my first two years of paleo with absolutely no cooking facilities. So much for encouraging students to be healthy...you can microwave pretty much anything. I can't guarantee it will taste good, but it will work. Microwaved sweet potatoes with kerrygold were a staple. Fish microwaves well. I also microwaved sausage and eggs, it was not very appetizing...but edible.I also bought a blender to make smoothies with and never got in trouble for it. You can make some great filling smoothies with things like raw eggs, frozen fruit, and nut milk.

Not sure you'd be able to get a crock pot but would be a big help to be able to toss in a hunk of meat or whole chicken with veggies.

Potatoes and bacon microwave well.

If you buy nut you can chop them up and make your own nola ( nut granola) to mix with fruit and Greek yogurt

Do you go home often? You could ask mom to ( or do yourself at a friends home) batches of individual broth portions, apple sauce, a healthy version of a Lara bar or protein bar, precooked meatballs, patties, bags of cooked ground beef...etc all pre portion to stick in the freezer.

If you can get away with one burner and a pot you have even more options. Is there a dorm common kitchen? Or bbq? Again bulk cooking

How about a foreman grill? Then you could just prep burgers and freeze uncooked and cook as needed.

A small toaster oven is also an option....I use one when I'm just doing small things and don't want to heat a ful oven. Stuffed baked tomatoes, grilled veggies, potatoes

I tbsp butter into the microwave until melted (20 - 30 seconds), add eggs and stir well. Microwave until set. Not quite scrambled, not quite omelette but tasty and filling.

Are you allowed to have a 2-burner stove? That's all I have and I do fine. an oven would be nice, but I'm new to the whole meat thing anyway.

I would highly recommend getting a $20-30 electric hot plate (basically a standalone burner) http://www.iofbonehealth.org/patients-public/about-osteoporosis/prevention/nutrition/calcium-rich-foods.html. It's the only way I was able to make my espresso in the hotels my b/f and I stayed at when we were on vacation!

I would avoid propane ones, as the gas & open flame might pose a safety issue in your dorm room. When you're not using it, you can tuck it away in a cabinet or drawer so it's out of the way.

Also, a good convection oven. Smaller than a microwave, cooks faster and more evenly than a regular-sized oven and uses a lot less electricity.

I suspect you don't have a lot of space so minimal equipment is best for you. I think an induction burner would be the way to go. Prices range from low to high so it would just be whatever your budget would allow. The one I used in the test kitchen was big bucks, but Cooks Illustrated reviewed several and one of their top picks was the Max Burton 1800w and it's $125. Actually just looked on Amazon and it's "on sale" for $65.

Other than that all you would need is one or two cutting boards, maybe one for proteins/the other for fruit/veg, 8" chef knife, one paring knife, one fry pan, one pot with a lid. If you size things somewhat close you could use the same lid for the pot/pan. Very little space taken up, you could even do a little rack on the wall to hang your cooking supplies so they're out of the way.

There's nothing you can't do with this setup + the microwave, so have fun! Your little kitchen is going to be awesome :)

The link below is for a makeshift sous vide cooker. I haven't tried this out yet, but I'd be really surprised if your college disallowed it. You'd have to get an electric kettle, though.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/cook-your-meat-in-a-beer-cooler-the-worlds-best-sous-vide-hack.html

Make everything in your crockpot like I do! :-) It works so well for plopping things in for dinner and wandering off to class all day.

www.mypaleocrockpot.blogspot.com

Happy crockpotting!

--Sarah

Go to garage sales, if convenient, look for for cheap little cooker thingamabobs. I just recent found a Sears Jiffy Burger cooker from the 1970's. $2.00. greatest purchase I've made all year. Kinda messy, with all the drippings (it appears designed to stay clean in theory, but not in practice), but a tinfoil tray under it is enough to compensate. I've done burgers, sausage patties, eggs, liver & onions - and guess what? I just popped a rice cake in it, to sop up those drippings, and it worked pretty good! Delicious rice cake dessert!

One meal you can do Whey and Coconut milk and (on the side) some veggies and butter.

You can always find a burger joint that will sell you two patties and real cheddar cheese without a bun.

Butter is your friend. Also veggies in the micro. Potatoes in the micro (sweet or even white).

I would try hard to avoid bread....

It would be along the lines of intermittant fasting if you were to mainly 'feed' at your lunchtime dining hall session and sometimes use the microwave to supplement with 'as paleo as possible' choices. I'd avoid wheat like the plague no matter what. Beware the eggs in the microwave- hard to clean up!

If a cooking device was allowed in your dorm room I'd vote for an American Harvest jet stream oven. They cook foods amazingly fast using convection/hot air and they actually brown meats. Potato pieces cook in 10 minutes.

Are you allowed to have a dehydrator? You could stock yourself up pretty decent with homemade jerky. I have this one and I got it on sale for about $30, so it can be done at a decent price.

Electric skillet and crockpot. There is a microwave egg cooker that makes hard boiled eggs in 9 minutes. I use it at work sometimes. I got mine at Walmart.

Avocados, eggs, raw meat and canned fish. Those could already help you out quite well.

these people have clearly never lived in a dorm room ..

Sounds like a good opportunity for 1-meal a day intermittent fasting?

I can't believe I survived college. I think most of what I ate was double cheeseburgers, milkshakes, and pizza.