What to Have in Your Kitchen
The MSU Surplus Store is a great place to buy some kitchen amenities--they have old caf dishes and cooking supplies in case you don’t have everything you need. If they don’t have something, you can usually find it in another superstore. Some of the most crucial items to have in your kitchen are:
Silverware (forks, spoons, a sharp knife or two)
A colander
A knife sharpener
Plates and bowls
A spatula
A stainless steel pot
One large and one small pan (stainless steel is easy to clean and take care of, but teflon and ceramic are usually a little cheaper)
A bamboo cutting board (expensive but so worth it, make sure to keep it dry so it doesn’t warp)
Good tupperware (worth its weight in gold if you’re on campus for long periods of time)
A glass dish for making casseroles
A baking sheet
A good scrubber for the dishes
Now that you’ve got the supplies…
Every good meal starts with a solid skill set. Check out the tips below on cutting common fruits and vegetables, as well as collections of some basic cooking tips.
Cutting Techniques
No judgement- it’s harder than it looks! When you’re scraping your food off your cutting board, turn the knife upside-down so that it doesn’t get dull over time from the scraping.
Onions:
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Bell Peppers:
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Leafy Greens (kale, swiss chard, and similar)
7 Ways to Chop Potatoes (Video)
Pineapple:
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Cooking Tips
Some great essentials for starting cooking are beans and rice. Dry beans are time-consuming, so buy the pre-cooked version for a small markup. Dry rice also takes more time, but the cost of quick-cook or pre-cooked rice adds up to more than the saved time is worth.
Cooking on a budget doesn’t have to be flavorless. Adding onions and garlic to any dish is a guaranteed way to impress your guests (or just yourself). To cook onions, add a tablespoon of oil into a pan and let them cook on low heat over a period of about twenty minutes. The longer they cook, the softer and sweeter they’ll be.
Add diced garlic in while the heat is low. If you’re looking cooking on a higher temperature, leave the garlic out till later--it’ll burn.
Lean more on cheaper canola or vegetable oil for cooking, save olive oil for special dishes that require the extra flavor.
Steaming vegetables can almost always be done in the microwave instead of on the stovetop. Some frozen vegetables come in steamable bags- no bowls needed.
Meal prepping saves time and money, and guarantees you have enough to eat for the days ahead.
These kinds of vegetables don’t keep well: softer greens, like spinach, asparagus, and lettuce--make a dish with them immediately after buying them.
Rely on hearty grains, such as beans, rice, or pasta, and combine with vegetables or proteins. And remember, bacteria can form on even carefully stored food, so don’t meal prep for more than five days!
Throw your bacon grease and other leftover oils in the trash, do NOT put them down the drain! Your sink will clog and it will be a NIGHTMARE.
Other tips:
How to avoid (and put out!) a grease fire. You shouldn’t use water!
General hacks:
Don’t be afraid to get a little crazy with your meal prep! Throw some tuna or broccoli in your mac and cheese for protein and other nutrients, or cut up your fruits and put them in a salad! Or if you hate a cheap and healthy ingredient when it’s all by itself, don’t stop searching for a way to make it taste good.