Kitting out your Kitchen

So it’s nearly time to pack up the entirety of your room and fish out those rogue cooking utensils from the back of the attic, and we at Gourmet Student Grub are pretty damn excited!

Today's blog post is something a little bit different. We thought it might be useful for anyone going to uni for the first time to have a list of things we took for cooking and eating that we found useful/needed. It's always helpful to hear it from people who have actually been. 

Whether it’s your first time to enter the world of endless free time and alcohol or you’re now an old hat, we have decided to bestow our endless wisdom by giving our top tips for what to take to uni. In our first years, Kitty was self-catered and Claire was catered for so we hope to offer advice to those of you heading for both types of accommodation.

This is you; metaphorically dipping your toe into the scary waters of uni.

Obviously it varies from uni to uni (#Exeteristhebest), but this is a guideline from those of us who have first-hand experience and can be arsed enough to write it all down for you lovely people (feel free to send us chocolates as thanks).

Self-catered

Crockery: 

• 2 x dinner plates
• 2 x side plates (useful for sandwiches and cake..)
• 2 x cereal bowls
• 3 (or more) x mugs (for if you have people round and for when you have mugs of tea faster than you wash up.. always)
• 3 x water glasses (same reasons)
• 2 each of knives, forks, spoons, teaspoons and tablespoons. I also had 2 smaller knives.

The average uni kitchen

I dug all of these out of old stuff of my parents' except for the mugs which someone gave me, and the water glasses which were £1 each from a supermarket. One of my flatmates knew that she wasn't very good at washing up, so only took one of all her crockery so she had to do it - now there's an idea.

Equipment: (Things in italics are not really necessary - but made my life easier. It all depends on your budget and style of cooking)

• Large lidded casserole-style dish. Useful for those one-pot wonders, and also just for cooking vegetables and stuff. I had to spend a bit more money on this one unfortunately, but it's worth it for one that will last a long time! Mine was from Lakeland.
• Medium saucepan - preferably non-stick. Good for risottos and just frying onions and things. I got mine from Tesco.
• A small saucepan (10 - 15 cm) for cooking a little bit of pasta, boiling an egg (if that's your kinda thing), or some vegetables, also from Tesco I think.
• A baking/roasting tray with sides, as in - not just completely flat, but so that you can roast vegetables in it or make a traybake. This is an example.
• I also had a flat one for pizzas and stuff.

• Two chopping boards - one wooden and one plastic.
• Measuring jug - half a litre.
• Grater
• Lemon juicer. This isn't a necessity but I had one anyway because I like using fresh lemons in my cooking.
• Small glass bowl - these have many uses! Pyrex is a good brand that's not too expensive.
• Large glass bowl for mixing in. Not just baking, but also for stuffings, salads etc. Again, Pyrex is a good'un. 
• Glass roasting dish like this. It's brilliant, you can bake stuff in it, and keep things in the fridge in it with the lid on or freeze in it. 
• A sieve - this acts instead of a colander as well, so get a large one. It's all about multi-tasking.

 Utensils

• A good peeler - I prefer this kind of shape as I find them easier to use. I just picked a random example here.
• A paring knife - a small one with a flat blade for cutting up vegetables. 
• You could also get a larger one for cutting up bigger things like sweet potatoes or butternut squashes.
• A serrated knife for tomatoes and softer vegetables.
• Bread knife
• Kitchen scissors
• A wooden spoon kit (you can get them in packs of three often with a large one, a small one and a flat one)
• Rolling pin - useful for pizzas and things
• Plastic bag clips - Klippits this is a Lakeland example but obviously if you can find something cheaper or more convenient - get that.
• Ladle also not strictly necessary - if you want one, get it!
• Spatula, if you plan on baking and is just generally useful for scraping out any dish.
• Masher (although a fork will do in most cases if you don't want to get this)

Other things

• Foil and clingfilm
• Freezer/sandwich bags
• Plastic storage or freezer boxes for portions in the freezer and for taking lunch in.

Things to wait until you arrive to buy - A toaster - we didn't get provided with one, but several people brought one anyway, so see what your flatmates have brought and if they're willing to share. Also, some scales - I borrowed my flatmate's all the time. Cake tins for those all-important birthday cakes. 

A note on knives - It's so so worth getting some good ones. I bought some cheap ones from Tesco before I went, and they were rubbish. My mum got me one good one for Christmas and that ended up being the only one I used! A couple of good ones will last through uni and beyond. 

Some food things to stock up on before you go - pasta, rice, lentils, quinoa, cous cous, tinned tomatoes, salt, pepper, herbs, canned beans, baked beans (for emergencies), cereal/other breakfast food. If you can, make some meals before you go and freeze them so you don't have to worry about it during freshers' week!

Catered

At Exeter, catered means being provided with breakfast and dinner on weekdays and breakfast/brunch and dinner at the weekends. In this way, we were pretty fortunate as many universities completely sack off any form of catering at the weekend leaving ill-equipped students to fend for themselves.

Remember not to confuse your washing machine with the oven

For those unfortunate no-food-weekenders food variation will be difficult, as it is very hard to budget when you’re only really cooking for 2 days a week and many tend to resort to a mixture of pasta or pizza.

Breakfast is easy; cereal keeps for ages and doesn’t need to be stored in the fridge, so make sure you stock up on plenty of your favourite before term begins. Obviously milk is also a key component to this, and only keeps for about a week if refrigerated, so keeping a good supply of this is mandatory. Work out how much milk you tend to use per week early on so you can buy the right sized bottle of milk (the amount of times milk stank out my fridge in the first year does not bear thinking about). Remember, wasted food is wasted money (and therefore wasted shots).

I started out the year eating the bare minimum for lunch and trying to hold in my hunger until supper started at 5.15pm. The other well-used tactic was removing a large amount of bread and sachets of Nutella from breakfast and having that toasted as a meal (delicious but not nutritious). When we started getting harder rowing training schedules, I was forced to start adding higher levels of protein and long-lasting energy to my diet.

Le nutella

With only a microwave at your disposal, there's a tendency to be lazy and buy ready meals from a supermarket. However, upon learning the technique of cooking pasta and quinoa in the microwave I realised the possibilities available to me.

Crockery

This is pretty similar to Kitty's list, and in fact I did take two of everything however 1 set is perfectly adequate for your needs. The key thing is to make sure all crockery is microwave-proof as this will be your main cooking utensil.

• 1x large plate
• 1x small plate
• 1x cereal bowl
• Couple of mugs (team tea sessions are great bonding so multiple mugs are important)
• Couple of glasses
• 1 set of full cutlery (knife, fork, cereal spoon, teaspoon)
• A teapot (not compulsory unless you are like me and like a proper cuppa)

Equipment

To make pasta in the microwave, put your pasta in a large microwaveable bowl (100g pp) and cover well with just boiled water. Cover the top of the bowl with clingfilm, and put in microwave on full heat for usual cooking time (as specified on packet). Drain in colander and add ingredients.

To make quinoa in the microwave, place quinoa and suggested quantity of boiled water (usually 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water) in the bowl. As with pasta, cover with clingfilm and cook in microwave for required time. This is only cooked once all water has all been absorbed.

Le quinoa

Therefore you will need:

• 1 large glass (or other microwavable) bowl
• Clingfilm
• 1x stirring spoon (spatula style ones are useful for efficient decanting)
• 1 colander
• 1x kettle (usually supplied in your kitchen but handy to have one in your room for ease, Tesco does some decent ones for less than £14) 
• Some plastic containers (I took 3 small ones) to refrigerate excess food for later reheating.
• A toastie maker (I took extra bread from breakfast and made tuna and sweetcorn toasties for lunch, or just cheese and tomato is I was feeling lazy!)

Complimentary tune: Walking with Elephants - Ten Walls, if a remix of this isn't played in freshers week then I'm an elephant.

Tip of the day: Listen to us, we know what we're talking about. Be over-prepared, your parents can always take stuff back with them, but it's a lot harder for them to send down more crockery or extra utensils.

Yes; a chainsaw is necessary.

Sausage Rolls

So two comfort food recipes in a row may seem a bit extreme, but we've both been in need of it at the moment!

Kitty's been working herself silly harvesting on her farm and I've been at death's door for the past week so homely yumminess was definitely in order (especially in this weather)!

In saying that, this recipe is 100% healthier than any sausage roll you can buy from supermarkets (each only uses a third of a sausage) and soooooo much better value for money.

This is my Mum's recipe (creds to Jennie B), and is traditionally something she'll give us on Christmas Day around lunchtime to keep us going until the big dinner much later. It's great for her as she can make them well in advance of the rest of the Christmas preparation and then get someone to bung them in the oven when needed.

I would advise serving with a side salad (coleslaw recipe to come #watchthisspace), and/or baked beans. No further carbs are needed because of the pastry and the sausage obviously provides some decent protein (although more can be added if needed through the baked beans).

The actual technique of making these is very easy, but if you choose to make the maximum amount it may take a while. In this way, I would suggest making these when you have an hour free, and then freeze a lot of them to eat another time. To freeze, cook until they are nearly ready and then put them in the freezer, this means they can be browned and crispy (rather than soggy) when you choose reheat them in the oven. Equally, if you don't eat all of the ones you cook fully, just put them in the fridge and microwave them when needed.

As I'm at home, I used my Mum's homemade chutney, but plan on using Sainsbury's plum chutney (£1.30 for 300g) when back at uni as a decent alternative. However, any fruit-based chutney is fine (or even just plain if you've already got some in the cupboard).

A jar of yumminess

Ingredients (makes 12 or 24)

200g puff pastry

12/24 large tsp chutney

1 egg (if not a tbsp or two of milk works fine)

8 sausages

A small quantity of flour (any type apart from self-raising)

Recipe

• First off set up all your ingredients, if you're making 12 sausage rolls divide the pastry into 4 and for 24 make it into 8 (24 is best for value and for general pastryness)

In case you can't count..

• Whisk the egg in a mug and cut all the sausages into three lengthwise with scissors and set aside.
• With raw meat (and especially for this recipe), I would suggest running a large bowl of soapy washing up water before starting, so you can wash your hands after touching it and moving onto the next activity and so you can throw in the contaminated utensils straight away.
• Flour your surface and the rolling pin before rolling out the pastry, aim for a regular rectangle shape with proportions of about 35cm by 15cm (3 sausages should be able to fit easily along the longest side).
• Place the pastry landscape on your surface and line up the sausages comfortably along the side furthest from you (try not to let them touch).
• Add a decent tsp of the chutney slightly in front (but still touching) the middle of the sausage. It's important the chutney is central to minimise leakage (no-one likes a leaky sausage roll).
• Brush a line of your egg/milk along the edge closest to you and then start to roll the pastry.

An excellent layout

• Start the sausage side and carefully manipulate the pastry towards you, n.b. make sure the sausage and chutney are in the same 'roll' for optimum taste.
• Once rolled, divide pastry into three by making diagonal cuts with a knife between the sausages. If you feel like it, neaten off the ends with a similar slicing movements.
• Before placing on the oven tray add 3-4 diagonal slits on top of each individual roll and lightly brush some more of the milk/egg mixture across the top of them.
• Repeat for the rest of the pastry until you are ready to cook them (only put a maximum of 12 on each oven tray each time).

A non-bakers dozen

• Heat the oven to 200 degrees and wack in your sausage beauties, they should only take between 10 and 12 minutes to cook but it depends on your oven so keep checking them.
• Take them out when nicely browned across the tops and leave to cool for a bit before eating them as the chutney will be VERY hot.
• Serve warm and yumminess awaits you!

Jennie B herself

Complimentary tune: Sam Smith - Lay Me Down little bit in love with this song and this man's voice.

Tip of the day: The Great British Bake Off has started! An excellent way to keep you going through a long hard week is to watch this on a Wednesday! #Normanforthewin

---C

Easy Homemade Pizza

Anyone Italian will probably hate this recipe - it's not really a proper pizza, it's just a simple, healthy variation that's tasty and should satisfy any pizza craving you have! It's not as salty or greasy as frozen ,shop-bought, or takeaway ones sometimes are, and doesn't really take that long - as long as you'd wait for a takeaway!

Ingredients for the base (two servings roughly):

• 170g or 6 oz of self-raising flour (something to always have in the cupboard for cake)
• 15g or 1/2 oz butter
• Up to 140 ml or a 1/4 of a pint of milk (whole or semi, doesn't really matter)
• Seasoning and dried herbs.

Recipe:

• Rub the butter into the flour in a medium-large mixing bowl. If you're unsure how to do this, look at the scone recipe here.
• Add a shake of dried herbs, a pinch or two of salt, and some black pepper, and stir it all together.
• Now start adding the milk slowly and stir it until it makes the dough. If it's too sticky add more flour and if it's too dry keep adding milk. You might need to knead it as well. 
• Now flour a baking tray and roll out the dough so that it fits. It should be about 5-10mm thick.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, and start thinking about the top of the pizza.

This is more down to personal preference. I like to put a squeeze of tomato ketchup on the top and spread it out so that it doesn't quite reach the edges as my base. You could also use tomato purée here, but I find that a little strong. I do sometimes mix ketchup and purée though. 

For my toppings, I like to fry 1 rasher of bacon cut up into pieces, a red pepper, and 4 mushrooms in a little olive oil. Start by frying the bacon and pepper over a medium heat for about 4 minutes, then add the mushrooms and continue frying until the bacon is done, and the pepper fairly soft.

Slice raw tomato and lay them on the pizza base, scatter the fried things on top and add lumps of mozzarella and grated cheddar or parmesan on top. Add some fresh basil leaves and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes - until the cheese is molten and slightly browning on top. 

Pre-cooking

Serve with some green leaves and salad dressing. Last year, I ended up buying a bottle of balsamic vinegar (not very expensive) and mixing my own dressing because it was cheaper. I always had olive oil for cooking anyway, so balsamic and olive oil was a tasty (and healthier) alternative. 

The protein in this meal comes from the bacon and cheese, and carbs from the base. This probably goes under the comfort food category, but is still healthy! If you buy one bag of salad, and eat half the pizza each day, you don't have any waste. Add some carrot, celery and any other fresh salad you can buy seasonally and cheaply for a balanced meal.

Those colours though

Tune of the day: Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit - The Box

Tip of the day: Plan your meals for a week and make a shopping list based on that, at least for a while anyway until you get to grips with the sort of things you need, and what you like and what you use up. Also try and overlap ingredients - so if you make something which uses half a pepper, use another recipe which uses half a pepper later in the week, such as a risotto, or the Moroccan Cous Cous in half quantities. 

---K