Here are my kitchen top tips from my student experience so far, do you have any others?
Basic store cupboard ingredients. Lots of other students and food bloggers have their own list of basic/essential store cupboard ingredients, but here are my top 10:
- Gluten free bread flour - I use doves farm white bread flour and I have just managed to get hold some of their GF brown bread flour, can't wait to try it out!
- Gluten free self-raising flour - Perfect for cakes, pancakes and general gluten free baking with the baking powder adding a little extra rise to make up for the absent gluten.
- Soya and/or chickpea flour. Both have amazing nutty, savoury flavours great to roll out dough or pastry in whilst also being high in protein so can replace gluten and eggs in most baked goods.
- Salt and pepper
- Herbs
- Cider vinegar or white wine vinegar - vinegar is needed in most gluten free bread recipes to help the texture but I also use it in savoury sauces to bring out flavours.
- Eggs
- Yeast
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Caster sugar
Befriend the freezer - you never know when you are going to get offered free food or end up eating at someone's house. Avoid fresh food going off, vegetables loosing nutrients and wasting your student finance by buying frozen vegetables which generally cheaper anyway but you can't freeze most vegetables in a conventional freezer because of the freezing process. Other essentials like cheese and meat you can freeze yourself but I recommend that you chop it up first. This is just a fraction of the contents of my freezer for ideas...
Get some cook books. As a student, it is very easy to get into the stereo typical cycle of always eating pasta. Get a few simple cook books to look through while watching TV to give you some inspiration for you meals. One of my favorites is Courtyard Kitchen, it has great for dinners full of flavour on the cheap.
Meal plan before you go shopping. Whatever day of the week suits you for doing your food shop, take the time to plan your meals for the next week or for a few days around your plans. And trust me, you will spend less and have more money to spend on clothes, in which you may actually end up spending more but oh well you have new clothes.
Cook for 2. Always cook for 2. Whether you end up putting a portion in the freezer for another day or giving it to a house mate who has had a tough day, or lets be honest, eating it all. Its always worth making more than you need.
Herbs. Get them fresh and in pots, give them a little water when you get you cup of tea in the morning, brighten up the kitchen but don't forget to move them out when there's a party. Leeds uni has a lovely farmers market every Monday that sells herb posts but most supermarkets also sell them cheaply. Even grow them from seeds if you are feeling super keen. Herbs are great to chuck into meals at the begining or end to add an extra bit of flavour, you cant really go wrong with them. I recommend having the basic basil, rosemary and coriander but parsley and mint are also good ones to have in. Another plus is that they get rid of that well known student house smell.
Student kitchens often very small for the number of people, if like me you are running out of space in your cupboards or you can't reach the things at the back, put a crate in each cupboard and use as a draw. I used these ones which I put all my clothes in to bring them up to uni. Forgive the mess, its been a busy week.If you are feeling a bit edgy, you could even buy wooden ones from Ikea!
Bakers gonna bake. Stock up on ingredients when they are on offer, particularly eggs, butter and chocolate. They last ages, even eggs can last weeks past their sell by date. This will mean you always have the ingredients in to bake a cake - no popping into the expensive local for top ups.
Coffee shop lovers. If you like your daily rants with friends or cant work in your room but student finance is running low, go to the same coffee shop every time. This may sound boring but as well as actually using those loyalty cards, you will get to know the employees and meet people that aren't students! Plus, you might get some free extras. but shhh.
Finally, gluten free students. If you are not on prescription, like me, life can be very expensive so I usually make my own bread. It doesn't take long as most GF recipes don't need kneading. I always aim to do work during the proving time too, although often that ends up being TV time. Each batch of bread usually lasts me a week or if you want to eat it fresher, freeze half the loaf sliced. Gluten free bread recipes are becoming a lot better and all you need is some basic ingredients all included in my basic shopping list above. I have a few recipes of my own on my blog and I am working on a gluten free baguette recipe as well as the 30 minute pizza base recipe. If you want a basic bread as good, if not better than the stuff in shops, use the doves farm bread recipe on the packet of their bread flour. Some recipes are a bit hit and miss but that one does not need any unusual ingredients.
I would love to hear some of your top tips, I hope you find these useful.
Hattie x
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