Essential student kitchen staples

Balancing lectures, revision and your social life can often make cooking a nice meal seem impossible. With the right kitchen staples, however, cooking can be a lot easier, quicker, and affordable. This blog will detail some food staples that every student kitchen needs!

Pasta 

Pasta is one of the most affordable and long-lasting student staples that is great for making quick, tasty meals. From spaghetti bolognaise, to creamy garlic parmesan pasta, to a pasta salad, pasta works well with a range of ingredients and is great to have with ingredients that you need to use up!

Rice

Rice is another affordable and long-life student staple that can be used as the base for numerous dishes. From chicken curry, to egg fried rice, to burritos, it’s the perfect staple for a tasty, filling dish.

Frozen vegetables

Instead of buying fresh vegetables that quickly become out of date – especially if you are only cooking meals for one, buy some frozen vegetables that are equally as nutritious. Not only are they more long-lasting, but they can often work out cheaper (especially if you buy a bag of mixed veg!) and also come ready to use without chopping or peeling, making them easy and quick to cook. Frozen vegetables are perfect for quick stir-fries, pasta sauces, or as a side dish.
You could also switch from fresh fruit to frozen fruit, perfect for yoghurt bowls and smoothies to take with you on the go!

Eggs

Eggs are another fantastic student staple – cheap, easy to cook, and a great source of protein and healthy fats. You can scramble them for breakfast, boil them to make a sandwich for lunch, or add them to some fried rice or a stir fry for dinner! If you want to go one step further, you can also add them to a pancake mix for dessert – there’s plenty of great recipes on TikTok!

Tins

Adding tins to your cupboard such as tomatoes is a great idea as they are often affordable and have a long shelf life, making it a cheap and easy way to create flavourful dishes with minimal effort. You could also buy tinned fish such as tuna, salmon, and/or sardines for a quick, high-protein sandwich, salad, or pasta dish.

Bread 

Bread, baps, bagels – these are all key student staples! They can be the base for many meals: toast in the morning, a sandwich to eat on campus at lunch, and a burger for dinner! With many meal possibilities and the opportunity to freeze to avoid spoilage, you can’t go wrong!

Potatoes

Last but certainly not least, potatoes! Potatoes are a budget-friendly and filling ingredient that can be added to almost every meal. They are great for baking, boiling, frying, or mashing, and they are long-lasting. From tasty jacket potatoes to paprika-spiced fries to potato wedges or mashed potatoes, the possibilities with potatoes are endless!

The staples discussed above can help you prepare quick, affordable, and nutritious meals to keep you energised and focused during your time at university. With a bit of creativity and planning, these simple ingredients can form the basis of delicious meals all week long.

Want to learn more about how Wrexham University can support your student journey, both inside and outside of the classroom? Join us at our upcoming open day to explore our campus, state-of-the-art facilities, career-focused courses, and award-winning student support services.