Darina Allen: Starter recipes and must-have ingredients for college students on a budget

With a few basics, you could make a myriad of dishes in a very short time

If your parents cook, badger them into giving you a couple of lessons before you leave for college

This week a column for students heading off to college with a limited budget and even more limited batterie de cuisine or ‘kitchen kit’. 

First a list of basic essentials if you’re to rustle up anything at all in your kitchen. Hopefully you’ll have an oven but I’m not taking this for granted, but I am assuming that you’ll have some sort of hob or a couple of gas jets. I’m also assuming that you’ll have basic cutlery and crockery.