Moving away from home for the first time means having to fend for yourself at meal times.
There will be no one to cook your dinner for you and you may not always have the spare cash for takeaways and restaurant meals. So it’s worth spending some time to learn how to cook for yourself, especially if you don’t want to rely on beans on toast or packet noodles every night! Whether it’s a pasta dish or toad in the hole, it’s worth getting the hang of a few basic meals. This will no doubt prove more cost-effective and healthier for you in the long-term.
Cooking can also be a good way to spend time with your flatmates and you could even start a rota so you share meals together to bring the cost down. Before you head off to university, ask your parents or grandparents to teach you some basic skills from how to boil an egg and cook rice to how make an omelette and a one-pot stew or chilli.
If you’re not sure what to cook then pick up a cookery book at the library–there are many aimed at students – or search for recipe ideas for free online.
Here are some tips from the National Union of Students (NUS) for eating well on a budget:
- Shop at local markets, particularly towards the end of the day when you can buy cheap fresh fruit and vegetables.
- Avoid jars of processed sauces – they’re high in salt and expensive. Instead, make your own pasta sauces using tomatoes, onions, and a few herbs–you can buy dried herbs or grow them yourself on a windowsill.
- Make a large pan of chilli or curry and freeze portions of leftovers for days when you haven’t got time to cook from scratch. Use plastic takeaway boxes as storage, after giving them a thorough wash first of course.
- Take advantage of buy one, get one free offers at the supermarket, especially for staples like pasta and rice–just remember that your storage space may be limited.
- Club together with your housemates to buy items of kitchen equipment. For example, you don’t all need your own tin openers, cheese graters and sandwich toasters.
- If you’re sharing a kitchen, don’t spend too much on fancy crockery or glasses. Accidents happen, and your food will taste just as good on a cheap plate anyway.
- A lot of food gets wasted through poor planning, so check sell-by dates and don’t buy more than you can use when it comes to foods with a limited shelf life.
- If you’re a vegetarian, make sure that you get enough protein in your diet. Beans, lentils and other pulses are cheap and healthy alternatives to meat products.
