It's my third year living on Carleton residence and third consecutive year surviving on dining hall food. I haven’t gotten tired of it yet.

My time living on residence has turned me into an expert on cafeteria hacks. I know all of the secret food combinations that will satisfy your cravings, remind you of home-cooked meals, and spark your creativity. You are very lucky because I am about to share my wisdom with you. 

The Golden Rule Of Dining Hall Hacking:

Stop seeing boarders between food stations. The stations are never mutually exclusive. By combining items from different stations, you renew the menu for yourself and produce innovation.

Alright. It's time to channel your inner Leslie Knope and apply my advice to the most important meal of the day.

1. Breakfast Sandwich

meat, toast, cheese, grilled cheese sandwich, bacon, bread, sandwich
Ben Sharer

Toast an English muffin, get the chef to fry up an over-easy egg for you, grab either bacon or sausage, and ask for cheese from the omelette station. Get wonderful drippy egg liquid-sunshine in every bite. 

2. Waffle Taco

sausage, cheese, beef, pork, meat, bacon
Ben Sharer

Make a waffle and fold it into a taco. Pack in scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes — I used corn beef hash instead. Cover the whole thing in maple syrup.

#SpoonTip: Use as hangover food.

3. Banana Muesli Oatmeal

walnut, banana
Ben Sharer

Sweeten your oatmeal with a sugar packet and then make some smoothie bowl art with chopped banana and muesli (granola). 

4. PB & J Oatmeal

meat, porridge, rice, soup, vegetable
Ben Sharer

Mix in a spoonful of peanut butter—or Wowbutter— and a spoonful of jam. Then smile while your breakfast smiles back at you.

5. Breakfast Banana Split

chocolate, ice, cream, ice cream
Ben Sharer

Recreate the iconic dessert with yogurt and a sliced banana. Use your favourite cereal as sprinkles.

6. Cereal in Cups

ice, yogurt, sweet, cream, milk
Ben Sharer

I’m not sure if this actually counts as a hack, but you truly cannot say you’ve lived on residence until you have eaten cereal out of a cup in the Carleton dining hall

Ben Sharer

I hope you take the time to experiment and get creative with your breakfast.

If you try out any of these breakfast hacks, or want to suggest a dining hall hack of your own, Carleton Dining Services and I would love to hear about it. Tweet us a photo of your creation at @spoon_carleton and @CarletonDining