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Essential support for under 25s
Essential support for under 25s
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As for other essential things at uni (assuming you're staying in halls):
TV and DVD player (although I did do film and TV so perhaps moreso for me): a big one (preferably with a games console) will allow you to invite people round to yours. Easy ice breaker to let everyone to have a quick game and get to know each other before you go out. Freeview makes you quite popular.
George Foreman Grill: make sure you clean it out often though, cos those little trays that catch the fat were the bane of my second year. It's quicker and easier to clean than a full grill and cooks all the same stuff. Go on, Grill with George. :thumb:
An Iron: plus a board is something you might want to invest in, since the ones in halls tend to be crap and always in use.
Clothes racks: Saves a lot of money on tumble drying, (plus some clothes can't go in) but make sure you're heating's on at the time, cause otherwise they don't dry and you get that horrible wet smell.
Those little plastic drawers from Argos (keep all your own cooking utensils in your room, or others will use them and not wash them, plus keep all you bank statements, uni letters etc separate from all your other stuff). Also those little plastic cutlery separators that you put in drawers, and those things that you use to drain them. Plus a washing up bowl (handy for taking everyone elses crap out of the sink, washing your own, then putting all their crap back - I never do other peoples washing up). Essentially, go to one of those shops that sells all that sort of plastic crap, and buy everything. It's all dirt cheap (about £1 each). But you'll get a better idea about this sort of stuff when you get there, since it may be there already.
Alarm clock: get you up in time for lectures.
A heater: if you've already paid for electricity in with you rent, go nuts (seriously, you've paid for it, keep it on permanantly). Convection heaters a good for a quick boost. Otherwise only use when you need to dry clothes etc. About £15+ depending on how powerful you want it.
Cutlery and crockery: Everyone seemed to have their own even though our halls provided them. It's just handier to have your own that only you are responsible for washing up etc. You can get both for about £10, so it's worth it.
Cooking Utensils: one big frying pan, one or two saucepans, two oven trays (seriously DO NOT let anyone else use your oven trays. You can gaurantee someone with scratch the shit out of them, and then all your food will stick to it), wooden spatula, metal spatula, thing to put over bowls in the microwave, to stop things exploding over everything, a set of knives, everything else (blender, steamer, wok etc) depends on what you might want to cook. All of this stuff is pretty cheap (under £5 each)
Plenty of cleaning stuff: Kitchen roll (everyone seems to forget this, but it's much easier to wipe up a spill straight away than wait a week 'til it dried on), those Mr. Muscle wipes (much better than spray, cos you don't have to put up with keeping skanky old sponges tht you've cleaned the toilet with - if you've got five people living with you, not everyone knows which is the sponge for the toilet, and which is the sponge for the kitchen surfaces - think about it), washing up sponges (one pack should do for the year, but you can be sure that people will always use the nice, new, clean sponge to remove their crusty burnt-on crap from the pan), rubber gloves - for cleaning the oven, bin bags (you'd be surprised how little clue some people have about basic things like putting a bin bag in the bin before you pour all of your leftovers into it).
TWO sets of bedsheets: that way you can throw up on one, and you can wait til the morning to sort it.
Laundry basket: absolutely essential if you want to avoid having clothes all over the place. Only bring clothes you're actually gonna wear, because by the end of uni, all I had in the bottom half of my basket was stuff which I'd worn once, and wasn't gonna waste my money washing again when I probably wouldn't wear it. I had a wooden frame one in my first year and it broke, so I got a metal frame one, which still exists (gave it to my friend).
A freezer: more for the second year and depending on whether you have enough space. If you have a few friends you can trust by then, buy one between you (£120 for a decent size one, which isn't much between 5 or 6 of you), then at the end of uni sell it and split the money. You'll soon find out that everyone buys frozen stuff, then wonders why the tiny little freezer compartment gets full when shared between 5 people.
Lot's of posters and pictures of friends because halls are so dull, so anything you can do to brighten it up basically. Our uni had a poster sale at the start of each year, for this very reason. Everyone also seemed to have fairly lights for some reason. Air freshner is also useful, the kind that continually releases smell, or scented candles.
I know you said your a mature student, but if you're parents are dropping you off, and offer to buy you your first lot of shopping, take this opportunity to stock up on stuff which doesn't go off, like rice, tins and cereal. And don't feel guilty about it.
Finally, for me at least, lots and lots of extension leads. You'll usually only get two or four sockets. I had 3 six-way extentions in my final year, and still couldn't plug everything in at once.
Just remember that your bedroom will often be your dining room and you living room too, so it important to be clean or you'll end up living in a shithole. So anything you can do to remove clutter (use a TV/DVD as a CD player, for example) will help.
God that's long.
Things I have that are a bit different from the above list
TV
Laptop + Printer
2 x desk lamps
Kettle for your room - totally worth it
Crockery wise - 2 x dinner plates, 2 x sandwich plates, 2 x bowls, somehow I have about 7 mugs, don't know why! Oven proof dish.
Cutlery wise - 2 forks, 2 knives, 1 butter knife (I had to steal one from home because it turned out mine were too pointy to spread stuff!), 2 spoons, 2 teaspoons, 1 sharp vegetable knife
Cooking stuff: 1 big frying pan/wok thing, small frying pan for eggs etc, 3 saucepans (S,M,L) all with lids, collander (but I generally drain stuff with a lid, although you can steam your veg in a collander over a pan of boiling water), baking tray (Agree with I'm with stupid - NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LET OTHER PEOPLE USE YOUR BAKING TRAY!)
And the utensils I got from Tesco value, and they were 38p each: 3x wooden spoons, 1x plastic ladle thing, 1x holey spoon, 1x wooden spatula spoon thing, 1x plastic holey lifting spatula thing, 1x potato masher.
A measuring jug is also useful. (I use mine for keeping my utensils in!)
Don't forget a chopping board.
As people have said before, this is really good.
are you in halls or a house? i've found that in most houses people are quite willing to share blenders, geroge forman, knives and forks, irons and even tellys if you can't afford one.
you're very sensible wanting to learn how to cook cos on you'r budget its alot cheaper to cook meals from scratch. check out tesco value!
oh and don't worry so much! it'll all come naturally once you get there
making lots of new friends
student nights out, cheap drinks
going out allll the time
independence
freedom
laziness
daytime tv
living with your mates
bad bits:
essays
exams
presentations
as for what you'll need:
tv, computer, music, photos of your family, pots and pans, toaster, kettle, camera and just your general day to day clothes and toiletries.
Its dead easy to learn half a dozen evening meals, that way you wont be stuck eating crap all the time and will ocasionally have something decent. Plus of course ability to cook something moderately decent is a good thing with the ladies (not that you should be getting involved at your young age).
Uni isn't so bad... It's actually quite fun being independent.