Cooking in the new dorms on campus has proven to be problematic. At the start of the year the fire alarms were going off very frequently and students have rightfully found it inconvenient. The necessary vents were installed in the kitchens but here’s some cooking tips to prevent fire alarm incidents.  

Never leave stove unattended 

• Sometimes it can be easy to walk away and grab something or kill time until your food is ready. Cooking can be tedious and it takes time. However, it only takes a few seconds for something to go very wrong. Food can burn, boil over and over cook very easily.  

Don’t forget to follow instructions on microwaved food.  

• Burning or blowing up food in the microwave is easier than it looks and following the instructions is a great way to remind yourself to not skip a step. Forgetting to add water to mac and cheese or putting food in for too much time are a few things to avoid. 

Never leave metal in the microwaves.

•  This one sounds obvious but it happens nonetheless. Forks and other metal utensils seem obvious but some foods have aluminum lids or have metal in the packaging. 

Be mindful of appropriate temperatures for cooking different foods.  

• Everything has an appropriate temperature and when you don’t know how to cook something it increases the likelihood that it burns or ends up undercooked which presents a health risk.  

Cooking can be tricky but make sure to be safe and attentive to the task at hand and it becomes a lot less stressful. Following all of these tips can help reduce fire alarm incidents, reduce stress over cooking and save you major inconveniences.