5 Basic Pantry Ingredients For Easy Uni Meals

You don’t need a huge budget to make good food. I promise.

I’m going to run through my top 5 bits and bobs that I think every student needs in their cupboard for easy uni meals. If you have these ingredients in the house, you can make something delicious.

Let’s dive into my 5 basic ingredients for student cooking:

What Do You Need For Easy Uni Meals?

Salt and pepper

Sound obvious? You’d be surprised. You’ve got plenty of time to build up a weaponry of herbs and spices, but to start with you can bring out a lot of flavour from your food with simple salt and pepper.

Oil(s)

Buy a variety of oils if your budget stretches that far – one for cooking, one for drizzling, and one that is flavoured (garlic oil and chilli oil are delicious and an easy way to add a pop of flavour to any dish). If you just want the basics? Buy vegetable oil in as large a container as you can manage. It’s cost-effective and easy to cook with. It has a high smoking point making it great for roasting and frying.

A Spice Mix

Any spice mix will do, but the key thing is to buy what you like. If you love spicy food, buy a full-bodied chilli or curry powder. If you prefer Middle Eastern flavours, buy a harissa or ras el hanout blend. This gives you a simple, quick way to season eggs, beans, pasta sauce, etc.

Flour

You don’t need an entire pantry of flour, but it’s very handy for lots of dishes so it helps to keep a little bit in the cupboards. To start with, just buy a small bag of plain flour. Then, you have something to add to sauces to thicken them up, coat slices of meat for frying, or make yourself a mug cake.

Carbs (Of Your Choice)

If you always have a carb in the cupboard, you always have a meal. Make sure you never run out of your favourite, whether it’s rice, pasta, lentils, noodles or potatoes. All you need is a handful of veggies or a simple sauce, and you’re good to go.

Other ingredients that aren’t essential but will probably come in handy at some point are:

Milk: Cow or plant-based, milk is great for hot drinks, baking and even some soups and stews.

Butter: A necessity for the toast-lovers, but also helpful for simple pasta dishes, grilled cheese sandwiches, or frying veg.

Eggs: Breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner, eggs are great at any time of day. They’re also quick to cook and a good source of protein.

Bread: It never hurts to have bread to hand! For toast, a sandwich, or to make homemade soup (yep, you can use bread to thicken it up)

Sauces/Condiments: Being mindful again to buy what you like, it’s always good to keep a few saucy items in your cupboards – whether it’s mayonnaise or soy sauce.

So that rounds up my thoughts on the five basic ingredients you need to keep stocked up to create easy uni meals!

If you need any help with using your ingredients in your student cooking, or have questions about finding your way around the kitchen for the first time – pop me a message, I’m always happy to help.

Happy Cooking X