Make those high-quality, delicious Caf meals you’ve been longing for!

A home-cooked meal is irreplaceable; made with the best ingredients and family love, it’s truly the stuff commercials are made about. While there’s no denying that the organic produce and “healthy snack” options that our parents often buy is much better quarantine food than we would provide ourselves, it doesn’t always hit the spot. Because truth be told, speaking as a Xavier student, sometimes what many of us students have grown accustomed to is a classic caf meal. Thanks to the new Facebook page, Help a Muskie, we have some of the caf classics, such as the famous chocolate chip cookies (although the M&M ones are better). But I’m going to help fill in the blanks with a few more recipes. So, although there’s no match to the true spirit of the caf, here are a few at home tricks to get the caf food you crave.

Caf french-fry selection:

The best thing about the caf french-fry station is that there are an abundance of options. They’ve got your classic fries. They’ve got your tater tots. They’ve got your waffle fries. They’ve got your saratoga chips. The best option– and yes, I will fight you on this – are curly fries. 

For your curly fries, first you’re going to want to go to your local grocery store and get any brand of frozen curly fries, just make sure they are the seasoned ones. Next, and this is an important step, you’re going to want to cook the fries following the directions on the package. My personal recommendation is to use an air fryer, but a conventional oven will also do the trick. And voilà! You’ve mastered caf fries. 

Caf Pizza

Are you missing that late-night pizza ATM or Papa John’s just isn’t cutting it anymore? Whether you like cheese, pepperoni or a unique caf creation, the caf pizza is truly one of a kind. Fear no more, there’s an alternative to caf pizza easily available for you. 

To get the perfect caf pizza, you’re going to want to get a Chef Boyardee pizza kit and some extra cheese to match the caf’s standards. Again, you’re going to want to follow the standard directions on the package, but I personally recommend spicing it up a bit with some vegetables and pepperoni. If you don’t eat the whole pizza, you can always put it back in the fridge and eat it as a cold snack later; it’ll still taste like classic caf pizza. 

To try out one of these caf tricks, give your roommates, friends or anyone else you frequent the caf with a Zoom call, put on a 2010 top hits playlist and put one of these classic recipes to the test.