Having been in halls of residence at uni for the past two years, I have got used to the luxury of having all my meals cooked for me. Waking up to a mouth-watering spread of pastries, cereals and cooked breakfasts every morning and zero thoughts spent on meal planning or doing the washing up (get in!). But after this familiar routine and pretty much memorising every meal on the 4-week rotation in halls, I was looking forward to putting on my chef hat and cooking up a storm in the kitchen. However, after not giving cooking at uni one thought throughout the summer, it slowly dawned on me, as the beginning of the semester approached, the amount of time, preparation and planning cooking takes. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy cooking meals for the family every now and then, but would having to do it every day amongst busy university life take the fun out of it?
I suddenly awoke one night, eyes springing open to a distressing realisation – how was I supposed to fend for myself? What was I supposed to cook? How much logistical planning and time would it take? And so, I found myself peering over my parent’s shoulders while they were cooking, meticulously note-taking and asking silly questions like how long does it take for a fish pie to defrost, is this safe to eat if it’s one day out of date? Until it was time for me to step up to the plate!
I was incredibly impressed and a little intimidated by my flatmate taking to the new cooking situation like a duck to water, churning out an incredible array of dishes: stir frys, homemade curries, and more for batch cooking, flooding the house with sensational aromas, while I was living off cheese and ham sandwiches for the whole of fresher’s week. My first attempt at cooking from scratch turned into a caramelised (burnt) lasagne. So, what is the best way to cook for one on a uni timetable?
Cooking for one can feel difficult, especially when you feel the pressure of having to eat up everything in your fridge before the expiration date. So why not share the cooking load and meals with flatmates? Make time for a weekly flatmate dinner where one person cooks for the others and you swap around each week. It gives everyone a break from cooking and it’s also a nice way to catch up!
If you have extra tupperware lying around, batch cooking can be an effective way of ensuring you have a substantial stock of meals in the fridge or freezer, ready to go for the week with minimal cooking, saving you time to pack in all the activities. Try doubling a recipe and saving the other half for another meal later on in the week.
Transform your leftovers or fruits and vegetables that are going off into soups, smoothies and casseroles. This is a fantastic way to reduce food waste due to the flexibility of ingredients these dishes allow you to use up, plus you get a bonus meal out of it.
It’s easy for food that is nearing its shelf-life to get pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about. An even better way to reduce food waste is to regularly reorganise your fridge so that items that are nearing their use-by date are at the front, to help you keep in mind what needs to be eaten up.
The freezer is your new best friend! If something is about to go off in the fridge but is too good to waste, chuck it in the freezer and defrost when you are ready to use.
I know it’s a uni cliche, but pasta, eggs, salads and sandwiches are a super quick and nutritious fast food that takes little time and effort. That’s why pasta is probably the most popular uni dish of choice!
Use your senses when checking if food has gone off before throwing it away and understand the different safety labels to reduce food waste. The date on the packaging is there to help prevent you from throwing away food that is still safe to eat. If the label on the packaging says ‘best before’ this is a guidance for food quality and when products taste their best. The food will still be safe to eat after this date but may have a slightly altered taste. ‘Use by’ indicates that the food must be eaten or frozen before this date. If food has passed this date, it should not be eaten, unless you have frozen it beforehand, in which case food can last for months!
Now, I can’t take all the credit for these tips and tricks, as most of them were from my parents. However, after a few weeks of cooking (and a few FaceTimes with my mum walking me through the steps to make a better lasagne), I can safety confirm that cooking has segued into my daily routine and I actually look forward to putting on some music and channeling my inner master chef. When preparing for the week ahead, cooking can sometimes seem like a mental overload or the last thing that you have time for, but trust me, these simple hacks will help you out and you will soon get into a rhythm of things, so don’t overthink it.