Setting Up Your Kitchen: Cooking Essentials for Students

Cooking at home is the best way to eat well and save money as a student. A home-cooked meal costs $3-5 on average, compared to $12-20 eating out. Here's how to set up your kitchen from scratch.

Essential cookware and tools

• Rice cooker — your most important appliance. Zojirushi or Instant Pot are great; budget options work fine too ($20-30 at Walmart).
• One good non-stick pan (10-12 inch) — for stir-frying, eggs, and everything else.
• One medium pot with lid — for soups, boiling noodles, and cooking vegetables.
• Cutting board and a chef's knife — don't buy a knife set; one good 8-inch knife does 95% of the work.
• Basic utensils: spatula, ladle, tongs, can opener, measuring cups.
• A wok (if you have a gas stove) — carbon steel woks are $20-30 at Asian grocery stores. Electric stoves don't get hot enough for proper wok cooking.

Where to buy affordable kitchen supplies

Pantry staples to always have

Stock these basics and you can always make a meal:

• Rice (jasmine or medium-grain) — buy the big bag, it's much cheaper per pound
• Cooking oil (vegetable or canola)
• Soy sauce (生抽), dark soy sauce (老抽), oyster sauce
• Lao Gan Ma chili crisp (老干妈) — available at Asian stores and Amazon
• Salt, black pepper, garlic, ginger
• Eggs — versatile, cheap protein
• Dried noodles or instant noodles for quick meals
• Frozen dumplings — stock up from Asian grocery stores

Easy starter recipes

If you're new to cooking, start with these simple dishes:

• Egg fried rice (蛋炒饭) — leftover rice + eggs + soy sauce + any vegetables
• Tomato and egg stir-fry (番茄炒蛋) — 3 ingredients, 10 minutes, tastes like home
• Instant noodle upgrade — add an egg, frozen vegetables, and a splash of sesame oil
• One-pot pasta — pasta + canned tomato sauce + whatever vegetables you have
• Sheet pan chicken and vegetables — toss everything on a pan, bake at 400°F for 25 minutes