Nicole Cormier - The $5 a Meal College Vegetarian Cookbook: Good, Cheap Vegetarian Recipes for When You Need to Eat

Yes, healthy, homemade vegetarian food is within your graspand within your cooking ability!but you cant cook if you dont have the supplies.

What do you need? Well, what you should stock up on depends on your specific circumstances. Do you live in a dorm with a communal kitchen that provides pots, pans, and other cooking essentials for students? Do you live in an off-campus apartment? No matter your situation, most of the essentials are inexpensive and can usually be found at discount storesand a few basic items will go a long way.

To start out, you want to make sure that you have the kitchen supplies that you need to actually make the vegetarian and vegan dishes that you love. Again, you can buy a lot of these supplies cheap, and its much better to just buy them all in advance, rather than running out late at night when you just have to have Mini Goat Cheese Pizzas (see ). So to avoid some sort of a food emergency, make sure you have the following on hand: Can opener Cleaver (knife) Grater Heatproof rubber spatula Measuring spoons and measuring cup Metal colander Plastic mixing bowls for mixing ingredients and serving dishes Vegetable peeler Wire whisk Wooden or bamboo cutting board Wooden or bamboo spoon Zester In addition, if theres room in your budgetand your dorm or student residence permits themthere are some basic electrical appliances that may come in handy: Coffeemaker Food processor Hot plate and/or rice cooker Microwave Toaster or toaster oven Once youve purchased the basic tools needed for cooking, you may want to purchase containers for portioning out individual meals. This way, one recipe will provide you with multiple meals.

A little time in the kitchen could feed you all week longand, with all the time youll spend cramming for exams and hanging out with your friends, anything that can save you time in the kitchen is a very good thing.

Youll need to read through each recipe before deciding what fresh ingredients you need to buy, but that doesnt mean that you cant stock your pantry with dry ingredients and some canned foods for quick meals. Try loading up on these vegetarian essentials: Baking Goods All-purpose flour Sugar (raw) Unsweetened cocoa powder Whole-wheat flour Beans (Canned or Dried) Adzuki Black Black-eyed peas Butter Cannellini Chickpeas Dried lentils Kidney Pinto Dried Herbs and Spices Basil Bay leaf Cayenne pepper Cinnamon Coriander Cumin Curry Fresh ground pepper Garlic powder Ginger Nutritional yeast Oregano Parsley Rosemary Sea salt Whole-wheat pasta Flavorings Apple cider vinegar Balsamic vinegar Dijon mustard Honey Lemon juice Rice vinegar Soy sauce or tamari Tomato sauce Grains Brown rice Buckwheat Quinoa Rolled oats Wheat berries Oils Coconut oil Olive oil Peanut oil Sesame seed oil Once you have the basics, youre ready to start cooking! So say goodbye to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pasta from the dining hall and hello to delicious vegetarian meals that fill you up without emptying your wallet! Enjoy!