Kitchen stuff for self catering students

[MandyMiceDavies]

DS has an accommodation offer in a flat of 12. He needs to take all his kitchen stuff with him- plates, cutlery, cooking stuff etc.

He likes to cook so will probably actually use the things rather than living on pot noodle. Does anyone have a list of suggested things to take? In particular he’s not sure how many of each item eg plates- presumably students still cook for friends etc?

(Side point but what a daft system for 12 students sharing a kitchen all having to bring a separate colander, frying pan etc.)

Don't buy much now, buy when he's met the flatmates and seen what everyone is bringing.

He might not cook as much as he thinks, he might cook more, they might share cooking.

I would send two plates, two bowls, two cups, two glasses, two sets of cutlery. Two pans, a mixing bowl, cheese grater, peeler, knife, chopping board, strainer and weighing scales.

There's a list on the UCAS site which might be helpful?

https://www.ucas.com/money-and-student-life/student-life/starting-university-or-college/list-absolutely-everything-you-need-take-university-or-college

Don’t get anything expensive and tell him to be prepared for everything to be borrowed and/or lost.

@bergamotorange‘s list looks about right.

I’d start getting him to cook regularly at home (if he doesn’t already) so he can learn how to make meals that actually taste good.

We had this last year when DD went into a flat of 10. Does he know what cupboard space he'll have? There are usually pix online of accommodation. This was the main issue for DD even in modern, purpose built accommodation, not enough cupboard space between 10 and she ended up keeping all of her crockery, tins and packets in her room. Things we bought which didn't get used were chopping boards, can opener (everything she bought had a pull), potato peeler, set of plastic mixing bowls. She was not cooking for friends, only her. Didn't seem to be a "thing" to cook for each other so you don't need a 6 place dinner set.

One good piece of advice was to get plates/bowls which are coloured or have a bit of a pattern as his will get mixed with everyone else's if he chooses plain white. We got a 12 piece set somewhere like Dunelm or the Range, wasn't expensive. Couple of mugs. Cutlery (again, coloured handles if poss). Kitchen knife or two, some plastic tupperware boxes for the fridge, one saucepan, one frying pan and that was about it. Anything he's forgotten he can easily buy cheaply. One thing I would really recommend which we got was a cheap air fryer - it was used a LOT by DD and her flatmates, someone else had one so they had 2 between 10 of them. Get paper liners though as cleaning ..... yuk.

Pyrex jug (for measuring,mixing,microwaving so no mixing bowl needed).
And a bread knife for slicing bagels etc.
Frying pan with a lid is the most useful pan.

You can buy a set of 4 dinner plates, 4 tea plates, 4 cereal bowls get one of these and send him with 2 of each. Keep the other 2 of everything at home. A cheese grater, a couple of wooden spoons and 2 saucepans and a small frying pan, pyrex jug, tin opener, potato peeler, bottle opener, some containers he can freeze meals, old takeaway containers are good.

Do remember that they will have shops in the university town/city. Better not to take everything you might possibly need just in case, and buy when you realise you do need it. Think of it as glorified camping. Storage space and fridge space will be limited.

A collapsible washing up bowl is a good idea as a holding area for his kitchen stuff if the sink is full.
Also for washing smalls and (sorry) as a sick bowl.
A nice big personalized mug from home.
DS had the JosephJoseph nesting bowls and lemon squeezer set. The colander and huge bowl for crisps got most use.

As PP have said plus Tea towels, glasses (these seemed to be the items the went missing most frequently), oven gloves, kitchen scissors, resealable/freezer bags (split packs of eg sausages and freeze), ikea clips to close packets, baking sheet.

He will only have a small cabinet for his stuff, so only a couple of plates, cups and pans. Nearly half of my DDs stuff was nicked by other kitchen users, all her glasses disappeared so charity shop stuff is ideal. Whatever you do - don't spend alot.

DD likes to bake and is packing a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter. Not sure that counts as an essential 🤣. I think a cake tin, muffin tray and everything she needs to make cinnamon rolls from scratch are also on the list. Hopefully her flat mates will enjoy the results enough to leave her stuff alone! Probably helps that she is in a 4 person flat.

My kids’ experience of students in halls is this - everyone starts off very communally minded and decides to share crockery, cutlery, pots, cooking implements etc. Then one lazy fucker keeps using everyone else’s stuff and not cleaning it “because it’s not theirs “. They just pile it up in the sink until no one else can use it.

Cue a series of notes attached to the piles of dirty dishes, which the lazy fucker ignores. Sometimes they reply with notes like “ Chill out guys and get a life “.

Everyone else becomes more angry as they come in from the library at midnight and can’t even have a cup of tea as all the mugs are dirty.

Eventually someone caves and does the huge pile of dishes and then everyone repatriates their own dishes etc to a large plastic box under their bed. And lazy fucker is forced to survive on take aways.

I suspect the end of this story is that Lazy Fucker marries some poor woman on Mumsnet , who thought that he would change once they moved in together / got married / had that baby he was so keen on.

I’m not quite sure what this story has to do with what to buy for halls, Ive lost track. I think it was this - don’t take a lot because you will end up storing it all under your bed.

Buy a large plastic box for under their bed.

Don't forget your local car boot sales. There are always people selling off old kitchen equipment, most of it perfectly usable.

Especially good for the "not quite sure if they'll need it" items.

Yes, to the plastic box for under the bed. And not just for kitchen stuff!

Mine took 2 of everything in terms of plates, bowls, mugs, glasses and cutlery.

In terms of kitchen basics, yes they had there own seives, grater etc so that they knew it would be clean and available when the needed it (as PP mentioned, in a box under their bed!).

If he likes to cook he will need basic pots and pans, and kitchen utensils. I would add a small wok, a baking tray and a small casserole dish.

Don’t forget to ram raid the spice section of tesco. Those bits all add up and make the difference in cooking

My DD used a slow cooker, and a wok the most. There was a communal microwave and she often had a jacket potato. My niece is going in September and she's taking an air fryer and lots of greaseproof sheets for it and a toastie maker. A girl after my own ❤️.

Aldi have under bed storage boxes in from 25/8.
@S0CKPUPPET that made me laugh and sounds very likely.

DDs halls didn't allow air fryers or any electrical gadgets over a certain wattage so best to check before buying anything like that.

She took 2 of most things, and a couple of extra mugs.

Marking place!

We did an IKEA shop yesterday and got most of DD’s kitchen stuff. They are selling a student starter box for £45 which has crockery, cutlery, saucepan, frying pan and various other kitchen bits all packed in a lidded plastic box. We didn’t get it as DD already had some bits and wanted to pick her own stuff, but it would certainly make getting kitchen basics easy. I see Argos also have a kitchen essentials set for £30 which doesn’t have crockery but has a wok, baking sheet and baking tin as well as saucepan, frying pan, knives, tools and cutlery. Maybe a good option for DC who like to cook.

Something that has lasted and gets used every day was from Lidl.
A stainless steel 20cm pan/steamer where the steamer can do as a colander. Metal lid, not glass.

Cheap frying pans are a waste of money. They warp and are unstable. After second year he had two identical heavy frying pans that could make a pizza oven when one was used as a lid.

Most uni halls have induction hobs so make sure saucepans are compatible

DS managed with 2.of everything crockery and cutlery wise. He sometimes goes to friends in a different accommodation for dinner and just takes his plate and cutlery with him.

Recommend picking up colourful plates etc from charity shop so they are easily identified - so many people fall into the trap of buying those boxes with everything in it because they seem like a good deal but they are all the same!