Cooking

Cooking is generally avoided by most college students. Laziness, combined with a pre-paid meal plan both severely discourage any attempts at making one's own dinner. However, the dynamic sometimes changes when living off campus. Cooking at home is generally the cheapest form of subsistence for students that are off the meal plan. Cooking skills also come in handy if you are trying to impress someone, or are trying to avoid seeing someone at the dining hall. Other students with a kitchen just decide once a year to try and use it. Despite these stereotypes, there are also those culinary-inclined college students who can and like to cook, and do it often. This guide should provide useful advice to all of you. Even if you think Kraft invented macaroni and cheese.

Getting Started

When cooking, college students run into a number of unique problems. The two most common are lack of money and lack of equipment. Unlike Mom's house, college apartments do not come stocked with measuring cups, spatulas, pots, pans, and all the specialized utensils that make cooking easier, or even possible. In addition, the funds to buy this equipment have typically already been spent, as they should be, on beer. Here is a list of the bare minimum cooking equipment for certain dishes.

Basic Utensils

Stock Pot

Needed For: cooking pasta, ramen noodles, rice, soup, boiling vegetables.

If you expect to ever cook for more than 2 people, you will want a large pot of about 6 quarts. If you live alone or will only ever cook for yourself, a 2.5-3.5 quart pot will suffice. We recommended to err on the side of too big if you are purchasing one. A large pot can fit less, but a small pot cannot fit any more. These can be purchased for $10 at Walmart.

Frying Pan

Needed For: frying/scrambling eggs, stir fries, meats, grill cheese, quesadillas, rice, french toast, pancakes, bacon, toasting bread.

A frying pan is possibly your most basic and versatile piece of kitchenware. It will be used for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You really can not go to big when buying a frying pan. A 12" pan should suffice for all of your needs.

Spatula

Needed For: anything you do in your frying pan- eggs, stir fries, meat, grill cheese, quesadillas, french toast, pancakes, toast.

Either metal or plastic works well. Metal is much better for scraping off the pan, but these tend to be narrower, so plastic is better for big pancakes or quesadillas. Just make sure that it is not flimsy. A spatula is an absolute necessity if you intend to cook in a frying pan.

Measuring Cups/Spoons

Needed For: any baking, such as pancakes, cookies, cake, bread, etc; following exact recipes, measuring rice.

A 1-cup pyrex measuring cup and a set of measuring spoons is the bare minimum, and really should be all a novice chef needs to get by.

Large Cooking Spoon

Needed For: soups, mixing

A large metal spoon (non-slotted) is needed for serving and stirring soups.

Knives

Needed For: cutting bread, meat, vegetables, fruit, cheese, cake

Really, you can get away with a medium-sized, 6" knife to perform all these tasks. However, cutting and peeling fruits and vegetables is easier with a smaller, approximately 4" blade. Cutting bread is of course much easier with a serrated knife. But if you are trying to get by with the bare minimum, a 6 inch knife should pass muster.

Cutting Board

Needed For: any type of cutting!

While at first this appears to be an extra item that can be forewent to cut costs, you will soon realize that it is necessary for two reasons. First, a cutting board decreases your cooking and clean-up time. Food and messes are confined to the board and can be easily moved and cleaned. In addition, a good board will prevent your knife from the dulling caused by cutting on an improper surface. Make sure to get a medium-to-large size cutting board (approx. 9"x12"). The small ones will only cause added frustration. Trust us.

Can Opener

Needed For: canned soups, vegetables, broths, sauces

While it is possible to get by with only buying easy-open cans, a can opener will give you many more options in your grocery shopping. If in doubt, you can always buy a can opener at the store if and when you do decide to pick up some canned goods.

Estimated Cost (for bare minimum utensils): $65

Basic Ingredients

There are numerouse different dishes that you can make using the same basic ingredients. In general, it is best to make recipes with only a few simple ingredients. This method allows you to buy in bulk and re-use ingredients throughout the semester. Heed this guide and avoid purchasing tarragon for that baked-stuffed lobster.

Rice

Rice is a classic staple item. It can be bought in bulk, and can be mixed with any combination of meat or vegetables. It is cheap and a great filler because it will take on whatever flavor that you are cooking. If you are planning on cooking regularly, I would advise buying a 5 lbs. bag of rice. You will need about 1/3 - 1/2 cup of uncooked rice for each person. Rice doubles in size during cooking, so one uncooked cup of rice will be two cooked cups of rice.

Cooking: You will need twice the amount of water for a given amount of rice. For example, one cup of uncooked rice will need two cups of water. Measure out the water and bring to a boil on the stove. Turn down the heat and pour in the rice. Cover and simmer until all the water is absorbed (approximately 30 min.).

Pasta

Another good filler item that can be mixed with meat or vegetables. An advantage over rice is that it has more flavor, and therefore can be eaten plain, or with only cheese or tomato sauce. Quantities vary widely per person depending on appetites. PracticalU suggests that the smallest eaters will need just under 1/4 pound of uncooked pasta, and the largest eaters will handle 1 pound all by themselves. Feel free to experiment on your own.

Cooking: You will need enough water to cover all of your pasta. Fill your pot, salt the water, cover, and bring to a boil. Uncover and throw in the pasta. Cooking times vary with shape (look on the box), but will average about 8 minutes. Test a piece for doneness. If it is satisfactory, drain out the water and serve!

Onions

Onions are cheap and they mix well with just about everything (except for dessert). They go with eggs, grill cheeses, deli sandwiches, stir fries, pasta dishes, and hamburgers. Onions can add a lot of flavor to a meal if you are low on spices. Yellow onions are best for cooking, while red onions are best raw in sandwiches or on burgers

Cooking: To sautee an onion, dice it into small pieces, removing the dry outside layers. Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and heat it on medium to high heat. When oil begins to pop, throw the onions on and reduce heat to medium. Cook the onions to the desired tenderness. Remember that onions will cook down, so you will be left with less than when you started.

Bell Pepper

Peppers are great for the same reasons as onions. They can be worked into any meal, they add flavor, and they are cheap. Cook a pepper in the same manner as you would cook an onion.

Lemon

Lemon juice can be used as a flavoring with different dishes. It goes particularly well with chicken and fish. Once again, it is a cheap and versatile flavor, and as an added bonus, leftover lemon juice is great for lemon drop shots!

Quick Tip: To get out all of the lemon juice, slice the lemon in half and twist and squeeze the lemon around a fork.

Salt

Obviously. Belongs in most dishes, just do not add to much.

Pepper

Our favorite spice here at PracticalU. Goes with salt. Use it wisely and often.

Garlic Powder

Garlic is one of the strongest of spices. Make sure to use it when making a stir fry. Can also go well with pasta, burgers, or quesadillas. It also tastes great on your morning eggs (maybe?).

Onion Powder

Onion powder should be applied in a lot of the same places as garlic powder. Two distinct spices, but they pair beautifully with many similar flavors. You generally cannot go wrong by adding onion powder (unless you are putting it on Frosted Flakes).

Other Spices

Depends on personal tastes and family traditions. Onion powder and garlic powder are really just PracticalU favorites. Oregano, curry, cumin, basil, chili powder, and dill are some examples of spices that can be regularly used to season dinners. We recommend asking your parents and experimenting to determine which spices are best.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is to homemade college dinners as long quotations are to college history papers. You feel instantly more sophisticated your first time using it and the end result is always improved. Then in the future, when in doubt, it should always be added. Olive oil is a must for stir fries or cooking chicken. Adding olive oil to the pan when grilling grill cheese will bump your toasted sandwich abilities up from "solid" to "maybe gourmet."

Quick Tips

• Cook extra! Double recipes, cook for two if you are by yourself. Save the leftovers, and you can eat home-cooked food later in the week without having to cook again. Put the food in the fridge and it can be heated up in a microwave, on a stovetop, or in the oven.
• Save those soup cans- if you do not have any measuring cups, an old can is an adequate substitute. An 8 ounce can is equal to one cup. Remove the lid, make sure that there are no sharp edges, and clean out the inside. From here you have one cup, and can estimate half and one-third of a cup.

Try these basic recipes!

Sort out kitchen arguments and wars with the Kitchen Rules section.

Dig It?