11 Essential Items to Take To University

1. Duvet and Pillows

You may find that your university halls provide you with a duvet and some pillows, but take it from us, they’ve gone for the cheapest options they can get! Whilst you could probably get by with the duvet and pillow that they’ve included, you’ll be sleeping in this bed for the next year, so it’s worth the extra expense to get something that really keeps the hangovers at bay.

2. Bedding

If there’s one really easy way to personalise your bedroom at university it’s with an awesome set of bed sheets. Coloured or Patterned Bed linen can really lift a room and make it feel a whole lot more homely without a huge amount of decorating required.

3. Towels

There’s nothing worse than turning up to lectures soaking wet, so it’s well worth investing in some good quality towels.

4. Enough Plates to Share!

Whilst it won’t kill you if you turn up with just a bowl and a spoon on the first day, having more than one set of plates and cutlery is definitely going to make life a whole lot easier! Not having to worry about washing up your plate when you’re already late for your first class can be quite the lifesaver, not to mention if you’re entertaining a guest.

Bonus: It’s highly likely that you’ll be hosting your fair share of pre-drinks in your flat – make sure you’ve got enough glasses to go around, or everyone will be drinking out of that nice pyrex measuring jug aunt Maggie bought you.

5. Kitchen Linens

Undoubtedly, your kitchen is going to spend most of its time looking like a bomb went off in Kevin from room 3A’s leftover bolognese. The faster you can get your pots and pans out the way, the better.

6. Knives

There’s nothing worse than having to saw into an onion with a blunt knife. You can, of course, sharpen knives pretty easily but it’s still worthwhile getting knives that will maintain their sharpness for longer at the start.

7. Non-Stick Pans and Plastic Utensils

You’re going to massively save on dreaded washing-up time if you go for non-stick frying pans and saucepans; it really makes a huge difference. If you take our advice here, then it’s definitely worth matching this up with silicone or nylon cooking utensils as these will make it pretty much impossible to damage your pans.

Bonus: Additionally, if you’re a pasta fiend it’s also very much worthwhile investing in a colander. I can’t even recall all of the times I burnt my hand trying to precariously balance hot pasta water over the sink!

8. Tin Opener

Until the tin manufacturing lobby can agree to put an end to tins without opening handles this mighty kitchen sidekick remains an absolute must-have. It’s a little too much work to open a tin with anything else…

9. Pizza Cutter

Some people use a knife, others a pair of scissors but this sacred tool was invented for a reason! You’ll probably use this more than anything else over the next three years.

10. Corkscrew/Bottle Opener

There are a hundred different tricks you can find to open a beer or a bottle of wine but it’s still far, far easier to use a tool designed for the job. For the sake of a couple of quid, you can rest easy knowing that you’re not going to struggle getting your freshers’ five a day.

11. Tupperware

Keeping your costs down at university can be a challenge, but taking a packed lunch to lectures with you every day, or your leftovers from the night before, is an easy way of saving money. Having a few plastic lunch boxes on hand to store your food in the fridge overnight and to carry it around in, is a good place to start.