It goes without saying that
students have a bad reputation when it comes to cooking and their diets. Stereo-typically
the University diet consists of mostly 11p Asda instant noodles, cheese
toasties and maybe some tuna pasta if you’re feeling particularly fancy. I have
to admit, as a first year student, I did spend the majority of first term too
lazy to rustle up anything more exciting than a bit of plain cous cous, but
soon realised that having the freedom to cook what I wanted was in fact a
blessing.
The first thing living away from
home taught me was (besides learning how expensive cheese actually is?!) eating
a balanced diet is key. Although it’s very easy for students who are both time
and money poor to feast on packet foods, it does eventually take its toll.
Going out and drinking, getting very little sleep and having a lack of
nutrition in my diet meant that I spent the majority of first term visiting the
doctors with variations of fresher’s flu.
I have always loved cooking, but
found cooking at university a bit of a chore. Everything I wanted to eat
required something I didn’t have in the cupboard. Whether it was paprika or
fish sauce, the ingredients I needed to cook something ‘proper’ were either too
expensive and would just sit at the back of the cupboard never used. Choosing
to cook alongside someone else was one of the best things I learnt from being
at uni.
My housemate and I have been
cooking and eating dinners together for around a year now and find that besides
sharing costs, cooking responsibilities and washing up, we actually also really
enjoy it. If you want to learn how you too stretch your student loan and widen
your recipe portfolio at the same time, here are my 10 tips for becoming a
university chef;
1. Meal share – cooking with someone else makes
cooking cheaper, easier and less time consuming. You can also learn a lot from
your friends!
2. Plan what you will eat – yes planning is a
difficult concept for students to get their heads round, but if you decide what
meals you will eat in the week, then you don’t waste money buying ingredients
you won’t use.
3.Check expiry dates – If you aren’t going to use
meat or fish immediately, put it in the freezer. Meat lasts a lot longer when
it is frozen so you don’t have to worry about throwing away out of date food.
4. Make the most of leftovers – if you find you
have a lot of vegetables, making soup is a brilliant way to use them up. Roast
them all in the oven with a bit of olive oil and garlic, then blend with
chicken stock for a cheap warming lunch.
5. Tupperware – not the most glamorous of things I
know, but very useful for storing those leftovers.
6. Prioritise – if that fancy pasta dish you saw
Nigella cook requires fennel seeds and a glass of red wine, ask yourself will I
use those fennel seeds again? And will that wine really be used for cooking
purposes? Save your money and by something you will use again.
7. Substitute – If a recipe requires something you
don’t have, take to google and find a substitute. Often to substitute wine you
can use a mixture of vinegar and stock. Chances are you can use something in
your cupboard instead.
8. Use cook books – no I don’t mean a really fancy one,
any book with easy cheap dishes is brilliant. If you’re anything like me, you
were given a variety of student cookbooks when you started University. Steer
clear of the books that only have 10 different variations of jacket potato
recipes and find one with proper meals inside – I recommend 'The Hungry Student Cookbook'
9. Don’t neglect fruit and veg – they are fresh,
nutritious and can also be tasty believe it or not! Vegetables roasted, in a curry, or
blended into a soup, are delicious and nutritionally beneficial.
10. Try something new – don’t be afraid to
experiment! You may find you discover a new favourite dish.
