Going to university but can't cook at all

Terrible at cooking in most cases. How should I start, knowing I will have less money?

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I'd recommend starting with something like a simple pasta. You can also look for cookbooks specifically for student meals.

Reply 2

dilllydilly

bro its just common sense + looking up recipes. don't overcomplicate it

Reply 3

ageshallnot

Original post by Anonymous

Terrible at cooking in most cases. How should I start, knowing I will have less money?

Learn how to cook pasta, rice and potatoes - three cheap carbs. Team those with simple sauces such as arrabiata, Bolognese, or chilli. That gives you 9 combinations. Add some salad or fruit to your diet, job's done.

Reply 4

Eli Naturinda

Cooking is a mentality. I just started following meal prep channels on Pinterest and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make good looking food.

If you’re looking to start, try chicken breasts. They are very easy to cook in stir fry dishes. You should also make paprika, chicken spice or curry, and rosemary your friends. If you’re confident enough after that, you can start experimenting with oregano, basil, thyme, coriander.

If you feel like you’re not ready to start cooking yet, there’s also catered options of accommodation at uni. That could help you slowly ease into cooking.

Reply 5

Anonymous #1

Would you recommend getting a room with a fridge included in that case? Has anyone brought their own from home?

Reply 6

WrexhamUniReps

Official Rep

Hi there! There are plenty of easy, budget-friendly university meals that you can make that don't require you to be a master chef! Recently, I have been enjoying taking meal inspiration from TikTok - users often provided prices and step-by-step guides, a great way to learn if you prefer to watch someone do something rather than read a recipe/instructions!

Enjoy experimenting new meals!

Lauren
WrexhamUniReps

Reply 7

Heriot-Watt Uni

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Terrible at cooking in most cases. How should I start, knowing I will have less money?

Hi!

Don't worry at all. Just try to get the basics down ie. cooking chicken so it's not pink, cooking rice and pasta; then I'd recommend learning some staple meals that you love. The rest just comes with practice and using recipes that have videos attached might help too 🙂

- Jessica
3rd year, Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence)

Reply 8

Popsiclez

Original post by Anonymous

Terrible at cooking in most cases. How should I start, knowing I will have less money?

The specifics may vary depending on the specific dish, but in general cooking is just cutting food, combining them, cooking them e.g. on the stove or in the oven, and saving extra servings as leftovers.

Use YouTube to learn cooking techniques; I'd start by learning knife skills and how to prepare common recipe ingredients such as onions, garlic, peppers, spring onions, carrots and etc. For seasoning, I would keep it simple and stick with salt, pepper, and "all-purpose" seasoning whilst you're still developing your intuition. Until you become more proficient at cooking, I'd use measuring spoons/cups to measure out your seasoning. You'll probably suck as a beginner, but as you gain more experience you'll notice patterns and pick up on implicit "rules" of cooking.

If you can't be asked to cook or if it's an emergency, you can buy ready made meals, instant noodles, canned meals and etc from a local supermarket.

For recipe ideas I'd get a student cookbook like "Nosh" or use BBC goodfood/youtube. Tailor your research, according to your needs e.g. budget meals.

Reply 9

CardiffUni Rep 2

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Terrible at cooking in most cases. How should I start, knowing I will have less money?

Hiya!

Just to add to the great suggestions already mentioned, there are some really cheap pasta packets that go as cheap as 50p. They're easy to cook, you only really need milk and butter as an extra, and I like to use these when feeling a bit too tired to cook properly.

You can easily also cook some vegetables, such as broccoli, by popping it in a microwave with a bit of water for a couple of minutes. When I'm feeling lazy, I pair it with some protein (eg. chicken) and carbs (eg., potatoes), shove those in the oven, and then you have a pretty balanced meal without putting too much effort into cooking.

Hope that helps!

~ Fatiha, Cardiff University Student Rep

Reply 10

University of Bradford

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Terrible at cooking in most cases. How should I start, knowing I will have less money?

Heyy 👋 I'd agree with the advice given, learn some simple staples like pasta, there's loads of student cookbooks around or copy things off TikTok or Youtube - I found following what someone else was doing a lot easier than figuring it out myself!

Also, if you're moving into halls as well, your new flatmates will probably be in the same situation so chip in together sometimes! We did some flat cook nights where a few of us would split ingredients between us and try something new or master a recipe. It gave us something different to do and we stuck to a budget to make sure it was money friendly too :smile:

I hope you enjoy your university experience! Have a great time 😃

Jennie

Reply 11

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Would you recommend getting a room with a fridge included in that case? Has anyone brought their own from home?

Hi,

Most student accommodation has a shared fridge in the kitchen. This means you will most likely have a shelf to yourself in the fridge, in addition to a drawer in the freezer. I've found that this is more than enough room to store food. In studio flats, there is normally a fridge in the kitchenette.

Beth (Lancaster Student Ambassador)

Reply 12

Muttley79

Original post by Anonymous

Would you recommend getting a room with a fridge included in that case? Has anyone brought their own from home?

Many unis don't allow this.

You have the summer to experiment :smile:

Reply 13

Ghostlady

Oh my daughter in first year, it was the basics. Some of the photos she sent. Hotdogs in a bowl with tomato sauce. Two potato waffles and half the plate was mushy peas. Over time she got a bit better. Fajitas, thats a lovely one to make, and relatively easy. Pasta with pasta and serve sauce. She can make things like potato and leek pie now, and chicken korma but this came over time and watching her flat mates do it whilst socialising. Not many uni will let you have a fridge in your room unless for a medical reason, but you usually get one shelf in fridge and one in freezer. She kept pasta/crisps/buscuits in a collapsible box in her room. she had cupboard space but not quite enough as they mainly contained utensils and plates bowls cups etc so she stored some food items there.

Reply 14

University of Bath

Official Rep

Hello Anon #1,

You're definitely not alone in this. I was two months away from uni a few years ago and didn't have a clue! Agree with all the other uni reps who have posted here, its definitely good to start with easy things over the summer and build yourself up. My favourite recipes at uni were jacket sweet potato and baked beans, hummus and chickpea toasties and green pesto pasta with broccoli and peas. For lunch I ate a lot of couscous - you just measure however much you want, stick boiling water on it and leave it. Its even easier than pasta! There's loads more inspo here on the student recipes page from Save the Student - I love the article about making your own pizza on a budget!

Hope that helps, best of luck starting uni!

Holly
Uni of Bath

Reply 15

Richmond Hiba

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Terrible at cooking in most cases. How should I start, knowing I will have less money?

Hey! My first advice would be to get the basics first, such as rice, pasta, beans, canned tomatoes, and spices. These staples are versatile and form the foundation for many dishes. Shop smart by looking for discounts and buying in bulk when possible. Also, planning your meals for the week can help you save money and reduce food waste. And start with easy recipes like pasta with tomato sauce, stir-fry with vegetables and tofu or chicken, or simple omelettes with whatever ingredients you have on hand. Once you start cooking regularly, you'll get used to it and become more comfortable trying different recipes. Good luck!

Hiba
RAUL Student Ambassador

Reply 16

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Terrible at cooking in most cases. How should I start, knowing I will have less money?

Hi there,

Lots of people can't cook before they go to uni so I am sure you will not be alone in this. You will also likely be living with a group of people so I am sure there will be people you can ask if you need a little bit of help knowing how to do something.

This being said, it is a good idea to get to uni with a few staple meal ideas that you know you can cook as sometimes after Uni you will not want to start making a meal you have no idea how to do so I would recommend having a list and practicing these over the summer to help you when you start!

Pasta is always a good meal to cook so I would recommend knowing a couple of different pasta dishes that you can do easily - I like pesto pasta, tomato pasta or some form of creamy/cheesy pasta sauce so these kinds of things are good to know as they are easy and you can always cook some chicken to go in or put some vegetables in too. As others have said, you can also get some cheap pasta packets if you want something really quick and easy which can be good too.

I also like jacket potatoes, or things like sausage and mash and stir fry are really good and easy too. You could also get a cookbook or look up tutorials on YouTube as this makes it really easy to follow!

I would also recommend making some meals that you can freeze as this makes it really easy and if you are cooking enough for one, sit doesn't take much extra effort to cook 3 or 4 portions so you can have some for another day. Good meals to freeze are things like chilli, bolognaise, pasta dishes, curry so look into how to make these.

It's tricky when you have less money to make good meals on a budget, but if you have an Aldi or a lidl near you these will be a lot cheaper and will be helpful when you are on a budget and need to get a food shop. Also not buying branded item will also help and try and have some cheaper meals you can do too if you need to - jacket potatoes, pesto pasta, soup etc.

I hope some of this helps :smile:

Lucy -SHU student ambassador.

Reply 17

Anonymous #2

Original post by ageshallnot

Job done? Where's the protein!

Reply 18

De Montfort University

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Terrible at cooking in most cases. How should I start, knowing I will have less money?

Hey there,

I recommend starting with some basic fried chicken and pasta. Then I would advice just haveng a look at the products at the shop that catch your eye. All of them have cooking instructions at the back. Just experiment with them and see what you like most. Also cooking frozen food in oven is very straightforward and cheap.

Take care,
Ilya

Reply 19

ageshallnot