My chief piece of advice to anyone embarking on higher education this year is to relax; you’ve done the hard bit. Cooking has nothing on all those exams you took to get here – in fact, feeding yourself is often a lot of fun, even the bits you get wrong, like attempting to boil pasta in a kettle (do not do this, I speak from experience).
The more you practise in the kitchen, the better you’ll get, so think of this as a lifelong project, with delicious perks. To this end, identify a clutch of relatively simple dishes you already enjoy before you leave home; just as you wouldn’t expect to be able to tackle the Ramayana after a couple of Sanskrit lessons, if you’re new to Thai cooking you’re best off starting with khao pad and working up to massaman curry (for example).
As well as fried rice in its infinite variety, I’d consider things like omelettes (or, for vegans, Korean yachaejeon pancakes), which are quick, cheap and versatile. If you can make an omelette you can make a frittata or a Spanish tortilla.
Minimal pasta dishes like spaghetti aglio e olio (with oil and garlic) can quickly be turned into e peperoncino (with chilli), or indeed alla puttanesca (with olives, tomatoes and anchovies) or even, thinking laterally, chow mein.
Fliss Freeborn, the award-winning writer behind the blog Student Cuisine for the Gloomy Teen, reminds me of the wise words of Mary Poppins: “find the fun, and snap! the job’s a game”, before strongly recommending YouTube for help figuring out how to recreate your favourite dishes with minimal fuss.
Practise them, or at least run through them once, in a familiar environment with help at hand if possible. Charlotte Pike, author of the excellent Hungry Student Cookbook series, which includes vegetarian and baking books, says that “having some idea of what to make and how to do it will save precious time and headspace when term begins”.
This initial repertoire should also help you decide what equipment might be useful – the list will differ depending on your tastes, but Pike suggests a chef’s knife (I’d add a sharpener and a blade guard if you’re transporting it from your room to a communal kitchen), chopping board, frying pan and baking tray. A saucepan is essential if you enjoy pasta, rice or soup and a microwaveable bowl always comes in handy. Freeborn (whose new book Do Yourself a Flavour, certainly ought to be on your packing list) advocates for a more communal approach, based on her own university experience, so you might want to wait until you’ve arrived before stocking up.
“This avoid[s] a lot of territory wars about dishes and whose they are – if everything is shared, then everyone has an interest in keeping things usable. A little bit of communism goes a long way in halls, and once you’ve figured out sharing equipment, you might as well split domestic costs like bin bags, washing-up liquid, toothpaste and salt too,” she says.
Freeborn also points out that food is more than just fuel for study and socialising: “Eat together when you can, be that with friends or flatmates. It’s essential for building friendships and maintaining good mental health.”
Last, once the dust has settled on freshers’ week, take a bit of time to explore your local shopping environment. The convenience store on campus is almost certainly not your cheapest option. Hunt down independent shops, markets and superstores – and work out when they start getting out the yellow discount stickers each evening so you can bag yourself a bargain. Good luck!
