Five Things You Need In Your Student Kitchen

This blog post is not about boring kitchen essentials like a baking tray, a saucepan and a wooden spoon. This is about things in your kitchen that will bring you joy and encourage you to cook because you want to use them (and will make great Instagram photos!!) If you're interested in being excited to use the things in your kitchen cupboards at uni instead of having 'cup a soup', this blog post is for you!! <3

1. A cute mug!
If you buy yourself a mug that with a cool design that you really love, you'll want to drink tea or coffee out of it all day. If you don't drink hot drinks then grab yourself an adorable mason jar glass that you can drink water, squash, juice or whatever you like out of. if you're like me, you'll buy both. I'm obsessed with buying things for my room and kitchen that make me happy. You'll never be too lazy to get a drink and you'll keep yourself super hydrated.

 Not on the High Street glass mason jar with straw £8

Urban Outfitters mug £6.30























2. Chopping board
A white chopping board is so boring! It's definitely not asking you to use it to chop up vegetables and make a delicious home cooked meal. If you get a chopping board that looks really nice you can leave it on the work surface in your kitchen when it's clean and it will look so good. You'll see it every time you go into the kitchen and you'll want to use it.


The Rustic Dish heart shaped chopping board £12.99

similar >>> Wilko heart shaped chopping board £4

Not on the High Street marble chopping board £28

















3. Soup bowl
I was gifted a soup bowl before I came to university. It encourages me to make my own soup but I also love to eat Heinz tomato soup out of it too. In the autumn and winter it's so lovely to have one of these, it's really warming. And because it's made for soup, you can fit a full soup portion in and you're not trying to fit it in a mug and spilling it everywhere and waiting for it to cool until you can just drink it.

Lakeland blue soup mug £6.99


















4. Salt and pepper shakers
I've found that not many people in university halls have salt and pepper shakers. They tend to just keep them in the packaging they came in but that's an absolute nightmare because you can't control how much comes out and they often end up with a very salty dinner. I have salt and pepper shakers that I keep on the side because I always need them when I'm cooking and they're so handy to reach and they look super cute on the side (next to my chopping board and olive oil) so I don't mind.

John Lewis watering can salt and pepper shaker set £30

Etsy mason jar salt and pepper shakers £5.27











5. Pop tarts!
I buy my pop tarts from an American candy shop because they're soooo much nicer than the ones in the supermarket. They have loads of different flavours like cookie dough, s'mores, birthday cake and plenty of others. All students need pop tarts in their cupboard because we all know that they don't get up early enough for a proper breakfast, they're so quick and delicious on your way to a lecture or the perfect snack to get you through to lunch when you've woken up late and a proper breakfast is going to be too much and through your eating off for the whole day.

The American Candy Store Kellogg's S'Mores Pop Tarts £3.30

Let's be productive

The first thing I like to do when I get out of bed in the morning is make my bed. You've only just woken up and you've already done something, it feels great! When I make my bed I feel so happy because my room looks so much cleaner. Once you've made your bed you won't get back in it and have a lazy day because you won't want to mess it up. It will instantly motivate you to have a productive day.

After that, I think it's necessary to tidy up. I can't focus and be productive in a messy room, I'll just be distracted for the whole day. It might take 10 or 15 minutes to tidy up but you'll be much more productive working in a clean environment.

When I need to be productive, I always shower before I go into the kitchen and make myself breakfast. If I don't shower first, I end up watching youtube videos whilst eating my breakfast and half my day is gone before I know it. If I've already showered, I'm ready to get on with the rest of my day and do some work.
Soap and Glory Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub £8

ALWAYS write a to-do list!!! I used to think that this was so unnecessary until I started doing it. Never write too much on your to-do list because you'll just feel overwhelmed and probably won't do any of it and then you'll feel really crappy about it. Just write down a few things that you would like to do today and can realistically get done before dinner time. You'll be motivated to do all of your tasks so that you can tick them off the list and you'll feel so good about it once you have.
Zoella Stationery Book £10

Lastly, I think it's important to plan your meals for the week every Sunday. If you do this, you'll get much more work done during the day because you won't be thinking about what you can eat for tea because you haven't prepared for it. When I don't plan my meals, I don't eat anything healthy because I'm too hungry to start defrosting something at dinner time so I just have a ready meal or super noodles. It's so much better to have a meal plan and get everything ready the night before.
Paperchase Raindrops Magnetic Meal Planner £8

Decorating your uni room on a budget

When I knew that I was going to uni, I couldn't wait to move into my student accommodation and start personalising my room. But when I got here and looked into an empty white room apart from basic plain furniture and an ugly black pin board, this room needed a pick me up. But we all know that students are poor and can't afford to splash out on the home decor (or would rather spend their money on alcohol). So here's a few ideas on decorating your uni room on a budget!

1. Pictures
Let's start with the pin board. Print off some of your favourite photos, grab some board pins and voilà! I like to use the app FreePrints because you get 45 free prints a month, you just have to pay for them to be delivered. You can also get your photos printed instantly in somewhere like Boots and it'll cost you about 75p per print. I've also got a scratch map on my pin board. I bought this almost a year ago from Amazon for about £8 but you can buy them from so many different places. They vary in price so it depends how much you're willing to spend and the
design that you like. Don't forget that you can
get student discount in so many shops with
Unidays or an NUS card!
Amazon scratch map (£7.40)
Urban Outfitters scratch map (£25)

2. Cushions and a throw
Everything on my bed is from Primark!!! I don't think that you can ever go wrong with white bed sheets, they look so crisp and clean and you can still make your bed your style by adding a few cushions and a throw that you love. You can swap cushions over if decide that you want a different vibe or rearrange them and it'll be much more cost effective than a new set of patterned bedding which you might find doesn't go with the rest of your room. White goes with everything! Primark have a range of cushions, throws and bedding to choose from and they're so cheap! I also love cushions from Next and, T K Maxx do some great quality ones cheap than you would get them elsewhere. A throw is also a great idea because it can double up as a blanket!

3. Cacti
Having some sort of plant in your room is so uplifting, I think it's having that bit of green, it looks so vibrant. I have cacti because they're so easy to keep alive, I haven't touched them at all and they're looking great! You can buy a small cactus from any garden centre for a just few pounds so it's definitely worth it. My boyfriend also loves having a cactus in his room so I think they're something that everyone can love.

4. A jewellery dish
I love the jewellery dish I have on the shelf in my room. It's great to see my choice of rings and earrings in front of me but it doesn't look messy, it has a more shabby chic kind of look. Jewellery dishes are so inexpensive too, this particular one was from Next last year but the two linked below are quite similar.
Asos jewellery dish (£6.50)
Lisa Angel jewellery dish (£5)

5. Tealight holders
I'm not allowed to burn candles in my halls at uni so these don't actually have tealight candles in. I had a big space on my shelf and I needed something to put there, these are so pretty and they look really nice just as decor in a set of 3. This set was from New Look but is no longer available but I've linked some similar ones.
Dunelm tealight holders (£5.50)
Very tealight holders (£9.99)
Matalan tealight holders (£8)

 6. Fairy lights
How could I write this without mentioning fairy lights? I don't know what I would do without my fairy lights, they give the perfect lighting for when I'm just chilling in bed watching Friends before I go to sleep. They make my room so cosy and it feels so homely and warm. But they're pretty to put on in the day time too and take cute Instagram photos with them in the background, I just love them! They're so inexpensive, mine are from Primark and I have a big light up letter 'S' from Primark too. You can buy warm or cool toned lights, whichever you prefer and battery powered or plug in lights, go crazy!
Not On The High Street letter light (£12.75)
Matalan letter light (£15)
Lights4fun fairy lights (£4.99)
Lights4fun fairy lights (£7.99)