Essential Kitchen Hacks For Eating At Uni

Heading off to uni is equal parts scary and exciting. While the fact that you’ll be living away from home is sure to be a major draw, it probably won’t be long until you’re missing home-cooked meals and someone to do your washing for you.

However, it’s important to remember that every other fresher is sure to be feeling the same way, so bonding over food is a very good idea. Although the chances are you can’t cook your favourite meal as well as your mum, there are a few simple kitchen tricks that you can use to help break the ice and keep you and your flatmates alive.

In fact, thanks to these tips you could even become the go-to chef of the house, although you may have to put your foot down when it comes to cooking for too many extra mouths.

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Not only are instant noodles a cheap and easy meal option – as well as being fantastic with cheese when you get home at 3am – they can easily be made into something truly amazing. You might think of instant noodles as being a little bit sad and the last resort when you’re down to the last tenner of your student loan, but you can use them as a basis for a number of dishes.

Add them to stir fries for a cheap noodle alternative that has more taste thanks the humble packet of powdered flavour, or create Japanese-inspired ramen by adding meat or fish with Oriental-style veggies. If you’re really desperate, you can even team them with a quick curry – we won’t judge.

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Unlike the Breakfast Club, this will actually involve food, which is always a big plus. Organising a weekly Sunday lunch club is a great way to fill the void left by your mum’s roast dinner, as well as get to know your flatmates a bit better.

You can take in turns to cook – or just have those who can actually cook take charge – and make sure everyone takes a turn washing up. As well as being a good way to ensure everyone gets a good meal at least once a week, the chances are your kitchen will also end up being cleaner as you’ll actually need dishes done in order to cook a roast.

While a greasy kebab or cheesy chips might be the meal of choice when you stumble out of the pub, they are far from the healthiest or cheapest option – especially if you indulge regularly. Instead, you need to embrace the humble toastie, which is sure to make you a midnight snack champion.

Toasties are cheap and cheerful, as well as being incredibly versatile. While you might not want to whip up a bacon, brie and cranberry version at stupid o’clock in the morning, this is definitely an option at a more reasonable time. Otherwise, some stringy cheese and tomato ketchup will still make you popular.

Get yourself a Snack Collection and get experimenting – plus it makes four toastie triangles at a time (not to mention waffles, doughnuts, pancakes, wafers and more), so you’ll be everyone’s favourite person.

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No matter what the situation, cake always breaks the ice and makes people happy. Whether you drank the last of someone’s milk or forgot that you left your cereal bowl in the sink when you went home for the week, a slice of cake will sort everyone out.

Learn how to make one cake recipe really well – or at least how to bake it without burning it – and you’ll be onto a winner. Failing that, cake tins make excellent emergency plates when the sink is overflowing with dirty dishes.

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Eating well at uni doesn’t need to cost a fortune. You also don’t need to be stuck with beans on toast for every meal. Bargain hunting and budgeting can help stock your fridge and freezer with plenty of delicious and nutritious foods that you can then share with desperate flatmates without worrying about breaking the bank.

Finding the best time to go to the supermarket to nab some yellow-stickered bargains is an art form. The feeling of bringing home tuna steak that was originally £4.50 and is now just £1 makes it taste even better too. Freeze or batch cook everything you can so you always have ingredients on hand and plenty of options for dinner.

It won’t take long for others to catch on though, so maybe don’t tell everyone your favourite time to head to the supermarket.