Student food "staples" parcel - suggestions?

kboss2010

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Up-Hungry-recipes-students/dp/0091904897

Best student cookbook ever.

"Hard Up and Hungry" by Betsy Bell, this book got me through 4 years of living in student accommodation. Not only does it give fantastic, practical recipes but also heaps of advice on cooking and food storage when u only have half a fridge shelf and a baby belling hob/microwave!

The book also has a store cupboard ingredients list.

Now, practical stuff:

1) a decent non-stick wok and plastic utensils (ikea do them pretty cheaply and you can pretty much cook anything in it)
2) a medium-sized Pyrex bowl (a life-saver for cooking pasta and rice in the microwave)
3) cheap microwaveable Tupperware style boxes
4) food bag clips (multicoloured and usually come in bags of various sizes)

5) store cupboard stuff:
Mixed herbs
Chilli flakes
Soy sauce/Sweet chilli sauce (get the large bottles for £1.60 from Chinese supermarkets)
Salt and pepper
Ketchup
Tinned tomatoes
Large bags of pasta/rice
Kidney beans (make sure your student knows how to cook them properly so they don't poison themselves)
Noodles
Stock cubes
Coffee
Tea
Sugar
Flour

Uniscots97

It depends what the cooking facilities are like, if not great tins of soup/stews etc. If they are ok, lentils/split peas etc and hand written recipes give a personal touch.

[Deleted User]

When both the girls started uni we got them both a Costa Coffee Card, we put £25 on each card (and it could be topped up) so they could have a treat of a coffee out occasionally, which they both loved to do when life got tough as it does occasionally.

Molillie

There are some good ideas here, but I'd add that containers which are attractive enough to have out on the bookshelves are quite useful, as food left in communal areas does disappear magically when people return from an evening out.(whole pack of jaffa cakes - eaten in the two minutes left unattended while the owner had gone to the loo). The small slow-cooker idea is not one I had thought of, and that could also probably kept in the room, but might also not be so tempting to foragers. Small basic hand blenders are good, too, even if they are only used for hot chocolate.

Miss_Purple_Hat

Recent graduate here.

Some really great suggestions. Would just like to note that dried pasta, rice and cheap tins of tomatoes, etc. are a bit more affordable when low on money. The need for a quick sauce to make things taste a bit better (especially when facilities and time - when loads of coursework is due! - are limited) is the agonising part. For example, some cheap veg chucked together can be made infinitely better by a dash of hoisin or soy sauce, but forking out the initial cost for these is the problem. If I was stuck with just some value rice and value frozen veg, maybe with a little bit of chicken rescued from the bottom of the freezer drawer, a jar of korma or sweet and sour sauce used to make it a lot nicer. It was a good morale booster, too!

Not really an Old Style solution, but one that was good for me nonetheless.

Also, I concur on the holding out until later in the term!

laura_hoggle

When I moved to uni 8 years ago, I left a full time job to go. My colleagues did a collection for me, and gave me Argos vouchers, and spent the rest on a variety of booze to share with my new flatmates! They knew me well, and it was as if they had seen into the future and knew my new housemates too! It certainly helped to break the ice.

I agree with waiting until later in the term and sending a gift card for her nearest supermarket.

Also, 'Fresher's flu' is fairly inevitable in the first month or so, so things like vitamins, cold & flu medicine, posh tissues, a vapour rub and a couple of tins of soup might be good!

laura_hoggle

Just another quick thought, how about printing some of Jack Monroe's recipes and giving her the ingredients to make lovely, cheap meals?

http://agirlcalledjack.com/category/below-the-line-budget-recipes/

Chickpeas and kidney beans feature a lot, but the recipes are very cheap! I've cooked a few of these meals and they have been very tasty, and have really opened my eyes to the fact that I don't need to spend loads to have a yummy meal! Perfect for students!

Valli

another emergency food spot at Morries - tinned Princes pies, which you bake in the tin - down to £1 - cheaper than a Ginsters and it will store at ambient temperature!

VJsmum

Miss_Purple_Hat wrote: »

Recent graduate here.

Some really great suggestions. Would just like to note that dried pasta, rice and cheap tins of tomatoes, etc. are a bit more affordable when low on money. The need for a quick sauce to make things taste a bit better (especially when facilities and time - when loads of coursework is due! - are limited) is the agonising part. For example, some cheap veg chucked together can be made infinitely better by a dash of hoisin or soy sauce, but forking out the initial cost for these is the problem. If I was stuck with just some value rice and value frozen veg, maybe with a little bit of chicken rescued from the bottom of the freezer drawer, a jar of korma or sweet and sour sauce used to make it a lot nicer. It was a good morale booster, too!

Not really an Old Style solution, but one that was good for me nonetheless.

Also, I concur on the holding out until later in the term!

No, this was the sort of thing I was thinking. I imagine her parents will get the staples, I wanted to do some more unusual stuff that is more expensive. I will pass the other tips on to her mother.

Thanks so much all

lostinrates

ditsykitchen wrote: »

It depends if you enjoy cooking. I find time to cook every meal from scratch whilst being a full time student.

I mainly cooked from scratch as a student, as I do now. I was in the minority. We used to have big soup suppers, which were fun, but I remember every one suggesting this ( after pinching soup i made in normal saucepans) saying they'd all help with veg and everything...they never did:rotfl: the did do the washing up though:T

I still had some things that weren't cook from scratch. Like many students I've eaten those square blocks of noodles with a sachet of flavouring you put in a bowl and leave for a bit. I've added some veg if I have it, but close to exams or on really bad schedule days with lab time or what ever and work.....sometimes its useful to have a back up when your kitchen space is a shared fridge shelf.

The best thing I got when I went to uni was a basic cook book with no pictures called something like 1001 recipes. I still have few recipes in there I make in one person proportions because that's what I learnt them in. Like the sweet and sour chicken from that book, which is a sort of a dateless Friday or Saturday night in in winter meal ( doesn't get cooked often these days, but I could do it).