So what do students eat/cook?

[melodyangel]

Hopefully, all going well, DS1, my PFB, will be off to uni this September. We are currently writing up a list of bits and bobs he will need and I have been writting out all my recipes for him but I never went to Uni and Dh didn't stay long enough to get out of catered halls. So I have no idea how it works in self catered halls. Do they all cook for themselves or do they have a rota? What about shopping? Do they all have a tub of butter, loaf of bread, pint of milk each?

I've only ever cooked for a family so meals for one isn't exactly my strong point.

Advice would be very gratefully recieved.

DS is a student but he is 20 and does live alone in a house share so pretty much like student digs. He loves Classic 1000 Student Recipes and 4 Ingredients Student Cookbook. We got them before he moved out, flicked through them and made a shopping list, it was pretty easy to double up ingredients if he does cook for his house-mates or halve them if it's just him.

When I was a student it was jacket spuds/pasta/beans on toast/ with occasional stir-fry or fry up similar. Most people just cooked for themselves.

it depends on the group sharing the kitchen how they work things - DD's house all bought their own stuff, but asked to borrow if they ran out. But they all cooked and ate different things at different times, so it wouldn't have been possible to share cooking, although friends in different houses/halls did sometimes.

DD has several student cookbooks, plus you can quite often pick up "easy meals for one" type books in The Works if you have one nearby. Also DD often cooks a "family size" portion of something and freezes individual portions of it or eats the same thing every day for four days. One boy in her house turned up with a months worth of individually frozen meals his mum had made, and then the same again after Christmas. In between times he lived off frozen pizza I believe.

Pasta and pesto mainly I seem to recall, and bizarre home made pasta sauce concoctions involving tinned tomatoes and tinned tuna. Separate milk, butter etc is what we used to do - sharing just led to arguments over whose turn it was to buy more. There's lots of "student cookbooks" available for inspiration.

DS isn't, not is.

I know someone who lived off Fray Bentos pies and Pot Noodles...blergh.

Halls are set out differently - some are corridors with a kitchen at the end, others are more like flats with about 6 students each having a room in the 'flat'. I think that makes a difference, and then it makes a difference depending on the personalities, skills, lecture time or hobby times, finances, etc., of the individuals sharing. I'd assume he's cooking on his own, and let him take it from there.

Cereal. Lots and lots of cereal. Red bull, and pot noodles. Well, that's what I lived on. Dp lived on KFC and chicken rice.

IShallWearMidnight - DS may end up being the one with all the homecooked meals

How do they all fit it into one fridge?

Have planted extra at the allotment to keep him in baked potatoes.

I'm just finishing my 3rd year. In halls and in my house we've all had separate food, but not to the extent that someone couldn't nab a bit of someone else's milk for a cup of tea.

We've got a freezer and two fridges between 6 - enough for everyone to have their own shelf.

For me, lots of pasta. I quite like cooking, so do bolognese, chilli, shepherd's pie, enchiladas etc.

With the bolognese etc I'd cook about 4 portions, have it two days in a row and freeze two!

www.amazon.co.uk/Nosh-Students-Student-Cookbook-Previous/dp/0954317998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340213924&sr=8-1
My DD thinks this book is excellent and it includes a page entitled How Long can I keep this before it kills me?........
I have just bought a copy for my DS for September.

www.amazon.co.uk/Nosh-Students-Student-Cookbook-Previous/dp/0954317998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340213924&sr=8-1

My DD1 has just returned from her first year. She was not 'very kitchen aware' before she left but i gave her a couple of standard student cookbooks. I doesn't matter what they are - they won't use them! Everybody in typical self-catering student flat will have different cooking skills and they have just learnt from each other. Admittedly they all seem to get on very well.
There was 'borrowing' of milk. To be expected in digs. She also learnt never to leave prawns in the freezer over a holiday! Seething when they had gone.

DD2 has been living out this year and her house cooks on Sunday evening with the help of a mutual friend, an American who's a fabulous cook. This week for instance they had tarragon risotto with duck breast, lemony new potatoes with salmon and gooseberry tart with strawberries even including home-made pastry.

I've been quite staggered.

Wow Yellowtip that sounds amazing

goinggetstough DD2 has that book as well she says its useful for inspiration when you don't know what to cook.

Most students live off easy-cook stuff like pasta and baked potatoes. Culinary skills vary from student to student but (gender sterotype alert) the boys can usually be relied upon to provide a few and and lots of . Most students do their own thing but DD's boyfriend's flat had a nice tradition of all eating together once a week, taking it in turns to cook.
Don't send the home-made meals OP - half the point of going away is learning how to fend for themselves.
They may club together for communal things like milk but it depends very much on who is in the flat - eg it only needs one who will only drink soya milk or another who is always away for weekends to mess up arrangements.

Will they be able to contact other flat mates before they go up? (The uni may arrange for contact details to be shared). If they can arrange for only one person to bring a toaster, another to bring a toasted-sandwich maker etc it will prevent a lot of duplication.

I know webwiz. I'm trying to lure the cook in question up to share our holiday in Scotland in a few weeks time :)

But actually it's been great for the cohesiveness of the house. So often students can fall out over unwashed pots/ the extended soak. This shared cooking for the novices under the tutelage of a naturally talented and cook has made them all muck in together, eat together and act in a much more family like way. They only do it once a week in that grand a manner I think, but that's still very good.

Nothing ot add but I'm lurking because my PFB DD is off to Uni in Sept too. Thanks for the book suggestions. So far I've only bought her an oven glove probably because I'm finding it hard to face up to her leaving home.

I made batches of spag bol, curry and sweet & sour chicken which I made on a sunday night and portioned into freezer bags to put in the freezer - lasted me weeks!

Pasta and sauce was another fave

Frozen pizza

Fry up

Stir Fry

Problem is, one shelf in a fridge doesn't give you much space for lots of veg and salad, so I used to keep ham and cheese (for toasted sandwiches) and whatever I had taken out of the freezer

I found my flatmates pretty selfish - I cooked a big roast dinner for us all in freshers week, they lapped it up then never once returned the favour.

Pot luck really who you end up with.

If DS needs a cook book, this is fab - it covers all the basics - how to cook jacket potatoes - through to more complex meals.

You may find that he does more cooking in his 2nd year, once he's moved out of halls, as there'll be fewer people around to nick his ingredients from the fridge but so long as he has some confidence i.e not timing a pan of 3-minute dehydrated noodles to the last second with his watch, being able to cook pasta, he'll be fine. the big thing is actually making sure he has everything he needs - I was in halls with a lad who brought forks but no spoons. Even more his blasted mother drove up the motorway the following weekend to buy him some! Oh, and make sure he can use a laundrette's washer and drier without looking baffled.

Most dishes, they can just muck in with together. Once he knows more people they can start to split costs or buy in bulk together (and store dry ingedients in a number of different wardrobes).

when I was a student I was in catered halls for my first year - just kept bread, beans etc for quick lunches or snacks. In second and third year lived in a shared house - we all took it in turns to cook for teh whole household, puting the same amount each week into a kitty to buy all food, loo rolls etc. I think we were an exception however. My Ps used to go to the local cash and carry and stock up on tinned tomatoes, beans, pasta etc., another family would bring a whole sack of potatoes, so we had some of the basics ready in.

Well DD2 only ate bread and Pizza and fruit. After that she started cooking things like chicken sir fry or pasta,she never ate cheap tinned food like some of her friends as she doesn't like it. They all usually cooked thier own things although would sometimes share, She did this in the shared house aswell as Halls. She has now finished uni and is about to move into another house with a couple of friends and she'll cary on doing the same. She used to buy a lot of crisps but has stopped doing that now. Wehn DD1 was at uni I bought her a student recipe book which she found useful but DD2 didn't want it.

Students vary in how 'adventurous' they are. I've seen everything from homemade curries (from scratch!) and sushi to a diet of never-ending potato waffles. Pasta is invariably seen as a major food group, to be consumed every day without fail.

Try to teach your DC the basics before they leave - you get the odd one who isn't sure how to cook pasta , which is never good!

I've found the Beyond Baked Beans series of cookbooks to be very good - they start from the complete basics, and go onto some much more complicated recipes, whilst bearing in mind that the reader lacks time, money and equipment.

Mostly people tend to cook for themselves - people will be in / hungry at different times, want to eat different things etc. although sometimes people will club together and do a big meal (e.g. roast dinner at Christmas) together. Trying to share anything more substantial than a few herbs and spices only leads to arguments IME.

DD's Staple was pasta+pesto+own brand Philadelphia cheese with a ton of veg chucked in (whatever was in Aldi Super 7 range).

Sausage casserole was a good one to share.

By 3rd year they had got adventurous and put on dinner parties for each other!