Whether you’re a freshman or upperclassman, going back to school and moving in can be pretty stressful. You feel the need to pack every article of clothing you own (because you never know when you’ll need your old Catholic school uniform skirt) and bring ridiculous amounts of useless crap, just to be safe.

My favorite part of move-in time is seeing the food that students bring back. Whether it’s the sheer quantity or the obscurity of the ingredients, everyone seems to have a story about the weird sh*t their roommate brought back to school. And if you don’t have one, you’re probably that weird roommate.

I asked students from across the country what their most bizarre experience was with bringing food back to school, and here are some of the craziest responses.

"My freshman roommate had a drawer full of Truvia."

chocolate, sweet, coffee, candy
Phoebe Melnick
"Freshman year my roommate brought her own bacteria to make her own kefir yogurt."
pudding, dairy, coffee, dairy product, yogurt, chocolate, sweet, milk, cream
Audrey Mirabito

"I was the crazy freshman roommate who brought a box of like 30 mangoes into the room and ate them in less than 5 days."

sweet, mango
Gabby Quintana

"My freshman roommate basically moved in with a mini H Mart. She had every Asian condiment in our kitchenette, including five pounds of rice."

"My roommate brought home 16 cans of soup yesterday."

yogurt, jam, milk, sweet
Kelli Haugh

"I think I brought six jars of assorted gourmet mustards to school."

ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, juice
Bernard Wen

"My friend brought twenty-five pounds of corn kernels to school so he could make fresh popcorn whenever he wanted. It was often."

"My roommate must have thought our campus was in a food desert because she brought enough food to feed our entire floor. We still had unopened boxes of food at move-out time."

"I brought a lock box to hide my food because my roommate kept stealing it."

"Well, I started buying pistachios in ten-pound batches this year. Is that weird?"

"My friend brought a ton of kitchen tools - pots, pans, strainers - but we didn't have a kitchen." 

"I bought legit boxes of chocolates with meal points last year."

"I don't know how weird this is, but, during my freshman year, I was eating pounds upon pounds of cookie dough. Over spring break, I decided to be proactive and make a ton of oatmeal raisin cookie dough (healthy, right?). I pre-rolled it in clingy paper and hid it in my mini freezer. I ate all three rolls within two weeks."

peanut butter, butter, dough, cookie, chocolate
Msu Spoon

"I ordered a ton of shit online for my apartment: 100 ounces of Lifesavers, a 30-count variety of Miss Vickie's potato chips, and 72 Fruit Rollups." 

"I had a fully stocked pantry long before I had any furniture in my apartment #priorities."

"My roommate went on vacation to Alaska and planned to bring back ten pounds of salmon packed in dry ice. Sadly, it didn't work out."

My general feelings about all of these food stories can be summed up pretty simply.