The Basic Essentials for Your College Cooking

This blog is all about how to cook while living on a college campus but, how are you supposed to cook unless you have the proper tools? At Drexel University, like most other colleges, the residential dorms are equipped with full kitchens that students have access to. This conveniently widens the range of foods a student can cook if he/she makes sure to have this list of kitchen necessities.

Cookware:

1. A medium sized pot with a lid.
2. A medium sized skillet with a lid.
3. A 13x9 in. baking dish
4. A baking sheet (at least one)

Basic ingredients:
These ingredients can be found in almost any recipe we will come across. While buying according to recipe to start off may be the smartest thing, by the time you are in the full swing of cooking on campus, your pantry (or food storage locker) will most likely have the following ingredients.

1. All- purpose flour 
2. White and Brown sugar
3. Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This one is the lightest option when cooking. Vegetable oil is good to have too for baking needs.
4. Baking powder
5. Baking soda
6. Butter or Margarine depending on what the recipe calls for.
7. Eggs
8. Spices and Seasonings. According to Article Base every cook should start with these spices in their kitchen: Basil, Bay Leaves, Chili, Cinnamon, Cloves, Cumin, Curry Powder, Nutmeg, Oregano, Rosemary, and Thyme. You may not actually need all of these spices but check the recipes and as your pantry grows, don't be surprised when they do become familiar for your cooking needs.

 Utensils:

1. A set of mixing bowls. Preferably plastic so incase they are dropped, they *hopefully* won't break!
2. A set of measuring cups.
3. A set of measuring spoons
4. A big wooden or plastic mixing spoon.
5. One good, sharp knife. (About six inches long and about an inch wide)
6. A can opener. (This one may not be completely necessary depending on if you can find cans with a pop-top)
7.  This isn't a utensil but having Pam Non-stick Spray® is always good to have around the kitchen for either baking or cooking on a pan.

Storage Products:

1. Storage containers that are small enough to fit into the fridge you are using.
2. Aluminum foil
3. Plastic Wrap
4. PAPER TOWELS! (Things can get messy in the kitchen. You may be able to take these from your hall bathroom but make sure you have plenty around while cooking)
5.  Sandwich bags. (You can generally make anything fit into these by cutting it down to size)

Eating Needs:

You have to have something to put the yummy food on after you make it.

• 2-4 plates
• 2-4 bowls
• 2 mugs
• 2 drinking cups
• 2 spoons, forks, knives

Target has some really good, reasonably prices options for these necessities that you can check out here.  I also have found a lot of my kitchen items at stores like Ross®, TJ Maxx®, and Marshalls®. At these stores, I have been able to find what I need for a low price. Even though they may not be the most glamourous kitchen tools ever seen they work great! If somehow they get broken or stolen, it's not the biggest deal in the world because they weren't too much of an investment anyway. 

Much of this list was modified to fit a college kitchen from this page.