Store Cupboard Essentials

Okay hi.
So I’m officially back in Leicester. I finally finished unpacking this morning, and we’ve just had our internet connection installed a few hours ago, so Leicester is starting to feel like home again. I didn’t realise how much I missed it here until I got back. Although term doesn’t start until the start of next week, I wanted to have my whole first week back to be free so that I could settle in to my new house, and just generally get used to being back in a city. Only one of my housemates is back at the moment though (and another dropped his stuff off before leaving again), which means it’s pretty quiet around here. Having said that, I keep finding things that I have to do. And by that, I mean that I keep remembering different bills that we have to pay. Anyway, that’s a quick update on my life.

After the initial catching up with friends for a few days (which basically meant going out for dinner a lot), I’ve finally had to do some food shopping for myself. I lived in catered accommodation last year, so I haven’t really had to cook for myself full-time until this year. It’s actually much harder than it sounds.

I like to think that I’m not a bad chef. I spent my summer working in a kitchen where they taught me quite a lot, and I generally cook pretty often anyway. It’s one of my favourite things to do, and I’m so excited about having my own kitchen this year. But at the same time, it’s actually really difficult to think of things to cook. So in that vein, and considering that I’ve only been here for a week, here is my list of useful food to have in your house:

pasta – quick and easy to make, and just generally the most wonderful food like ever

pesto – pesto from a jar has a long shelf life and is a great burst of inspiration

tinned tomatoes – can be used to make a sauce for meat, veg, pasta, and most other things as well

frozen food eg pizza – don’t rely on this stuff to much, but is sometimes good for when you get in after long day of lectures and can’t bothered to go to the supermarket

dried noodles – healthy, quick, straightforward… stir fries are great student food

a selection of veg – at the start of my first year we were told to make sure that we ate healthily and took care of ourselves. I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to not just eat loads of junk food/instant noodles/takeaways. I started last year like that and felt all the worse because of it.

This is by no means a complete list (and is pretty much just a list of things I found in my own kitchen that have already come in useful), but hopefully it’ll give some ideas. Over the year, I’m going to try and do like a ‘students guide to cooking’ series with some recipes and tips, so keep an eye out for that. I know loads of student cookbooks already exist but some of them seem to be a little patronising (e.g. ‘how to cook pasta; step one boil water’ etc). Hopefully my version will be a little more useful. As always, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment or question, even if it’s just about how your day is going.

Loveyoubye