Original post by Kacper957
Hi everyone, I have a question. Do you know any quick methods how can I learn how to cook on my own? I am so bad at it and I would like to receive some advice from you.
Hi @Kacper957 ,
I think the best way of learning to cook is just by practicing! I found cooking really difficult at first, but once you practice the same meals a few times it does get easier. Getting a cookbook helps too and you can often find some which are for students which is good as they are usually fairly cheap meals and quite easy.
There are also apps that you can use which help you to think of meals to make. Apps such as 'no waste' help you to keep track of the food that you have so you don't waste food an there are also apps too where you can input the ingredients that you have in the house and it helps you to come up with meal ideas based on these which are helpful too.
You Tube videos showing how to cook certain things are very helpful too as you can see what they are making which is good. Or, if your flat mates are good at cooking, you could always ask them to help you and this might help you with your cooking.
Some good things to cook at uni are things that you can freeze. Some things that I like to make are:
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Spaghetti bolognese
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Chilli
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Pasta dishes such as pesto pasta
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Jacket potatoes
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Stir fry
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Sausage and mash
•
Chicken/salmon and rice bowls
I hope some of this helps!
Lucy -SHU student ambassador
Original post by Kacper957
Hi everyone, I have a question. Do you know any quick methods how can I learn how to cook on my own? I am so bad at it and I would like to receive some advice from you.
Hiya there,
Some lovely advice from Hallam uni already! Like you I was inexperienced at cooking when I first came to university. My approach was to start with easy things, such as...
•
Jacket sweet potato and spiced veggies (which I made and then froze in portions)
•
Omelette
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Egg fried rice
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Pesto and chicken pasta
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Chicken curry in a hurry (again freezable)
... And when I was more confident with the basic things, trying to build up and experiment more with different ingredients. For example, I started to learn how to make my own tuna fishcakes and vegetarian lasagna.
Something I also found useful for cooking inspo was looking on save the student's recipe page, and also BBC good food's student dinners collection.
I also found it helpful to learn from my flatmates. One of my flatmates in first year was a very good cook and taught me how to prepare a fresh fajita mix which we cooked together a number of times.
Very best of luck, and hope this was helpful 🙂
Holly
University of Bath
(edited 3 months ago)
Original post by Kacper957
Hi everyone, I have a question. Do you know any quick methods how can I learn how to cook on my own? I am so bad at it and I would like to receive some advice from you.
Hi there,
You've had some brilliant responses already, but I just thought I'd add my own thoughts! I definitely struggled to cook for myself when I first moved to university, and I didn't have a lot of experience before, so it was an interesting process for me.
Starting small and simple was the key. Learning to boil pasta, cook rice, and cook chicken are great places to start, and you can find some great guides online. Mastering the basics helps to set the foundation for becoming more creative, so I'd recommend that you start with that, and then you can move on to experimenting with different ingredients.
Some meals that I like to make that are easy and very adaptable include:
•
Pasta - tuna mayo, chopped vegetables, oven-cooked chicken, fish, or other protein, pesto and cheese, or something more elaborate (e.g., carbonara, bolognese, etc)!
•
Sandwiches - these are super adaptable, as you can switch up the bread (pita bread, sliced loaf, wraps, etc), and the fillings are endless! I've seen lots of recipes for caesar salad wraps that I can't wait to try!
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Sausages, mash, and vegetables - a homely staple, especially for those colder nights.
•
I also refer back to just making sure I'm having protein, a carb, and vegetables on my plate for dinner. I switch between oven cook fish and chicken; rice, pasta, or potatoes; and a frozen vegetable mix.
It does take practice, and I am no master yet myself! I love to browse the endless amount of guides, recipe websites, and YouTube videos out there when I need inspiration.
I hope this helps, and happy cooking! 🙂
Isabella
Fourth-Year Geography with a Year Abroad Student
Original post by Kacper957
Hi everyone, I have a question. Do you know any quick methods how can I learn how to cook on my own? I am so bad at it and I would like to receive some advice from you.
Hey 👋
Some great advice already with meal ideas, I'd definitely say basics like pasta, stirfry and things like toasties are great options to start off with! I used YouTube to follow recipes or there's lots on TikTok and Instagram which has the step by step instructions - I'm much more a visual learner so that helped me massively than following written instructions (I did buy a student cookbook too which was useful to look at as well).You might find as well that lots of others are in the same situation, so can share advice and tips too.
In my flat as well we did 'come dine with me' style nights, where we'd come together to cook for everyone. It was chaotic fun, also helped us stretch our money further by splitting ingredients between us and meant we could learn together. Plus share out the cleaning after!
Hopefully you'll ace some meals and enjoy the cooking along the way 🙂 all the best!
Jennie
Original post by Kacper957
Hi everyone, I have a question. Do you know any quick methods how can I learn how to cook on my own? I am so bad at it and I would like to receive some advice from you.
Hi,
Cooking at Uni can be really fun or really boring depends which type of person you are.
See our blogs here. Here it will provide you with further information on quick and easy cooking recipes.
I hope this helps,
Matt
Wrexham Uni Reps
Original post by Kacper957
Hi everyone, I have a question. Do you know any quick methods how can I learn how to cook on my own? I am so bad at it and I would like to receive some advice from you.
Hi!
Learning to cook for yourself takes time and practice, but everyone needs to learn at some point! I recommend starting with the basics, pasta and a sauce (blend some veg and a can of chopped tomatoes), jacket potatoes (add whatever topping you like), or a curry (just rice, sauce and some chicken if you like). Pasta and curry are great because you can make a big portion of sauce and freeze some of it, then it just needs defrosting (in microwave or by leaving it out of the freezer for a couple of hours) and then its ready to cook.
Hope this helps! Faye 🙂
Original post by Kacper957
Hi everyone, I have a question. Do you know any quick methods how can I learn how to cook on my own? I am so bad at it and I would like to receive some advice from you.
Everyone has been giving brilliant advice!
I would also add, if you're not too picky about what you eat, you don't need to know a crazy amount of recipes - just 3 main ones and then cycling that through your week is more than enough!
Some of my suggestions are:
•
any variation of pasta is good! As others on this thread have said, pesto is amazing since you don't have to do any prep - just mix it with your cooked pasta!
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Go for meals you can easily oven bake without much prep! For example, chicken, frozen veggies, potatoes etc
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I like to have at least one lazy/less-healthy day in my week. Maybe its a day where you shove a pizza in your oven and call it a night, or make yourself a quick dinner of instant noodles
•
There are lots of veggies you can eat with less prep! I'm a personal fan of lettuce and cucumber since you just need to wash then you're good to go. I love broccoli as well - you just grab a few pieces and put it in a bowl, add a tiny bit of water and microwave for a few mins - and boom - you have steamed broccoli ready to eat 
(edited 2 months ago)
Original post by Kacper957
Hi everyone, I have a question. Do you know any quick methods how can I learn how to cook on my own? I am so bad at it and I would like to receive some advice from you.
Hi @Kacper957,
That's a great question, many people struggle to cook when living alone for the first time. I'd love to offer some advice!
I recommend creating a meal plan of easy to cook foods for you to do each week. To get inspiration try researching recipes, a great website for this is the BBC Good Food. With the meals you choose, I recommend making enough so you can meal prep a couple more portions. If these can be frozen then even better!
Here are some very easy, cheap, meal recommendations.
Breakfast
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Cereal
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Toast and egg
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Sausage sandwiches
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Wraps
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Pasta
•
Curry
•
Bolognese
•
Burgers
•
Pasta Bake
•
Chilli
I hope this helps, please feel free to ask me and questions and good luck with cooking,
-Sophia (Business and Management)
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