Are veggies the key to campus kashrut?

Keeping kashrut at university will mean investing in milky and meaty sets of pans, chopping boards and utensils plus paying premium prices for the kosher meat itself.

To halve that initial outlay, you could eat vegan or vegetarian while living away from home. Plus, you’ll save on space — an important consideration when you need to store your entire culinary kit in a small box in a corner of your bedroom. You may also find your food costs are considerably lower, as the proteins can bump up those bills.

Katie Beskow, author of 15 Minute Vegan on a budget, advises shopping at fruit and vegetable markets for good prices on seasonal produce. “Markets are often useful for buying products in bulk to batch-cook” she says. But don’t ignore supermarkets as they can provide some substantial savings, if you know where to look. “In large supermarkets, store-cupboard essentials like chickpeas, green lentils, coconut milk, tahini, soy sauce, rice, and egg-free noodles are often remarkably cheaper in the world food aisle.”

Cookery teacher, food writer (and mother of three graduates) Denise Phillips agrees: “Buy from budget stores like Lidl, Aldi and Asda where you can, and if you can find a friend to share costs with, bulk buy cheap staples like pasta and rice from supermarkets.” Beskow also recommends choosing supermarket own brands over branded products. “The ‘value’ ranges are another great switch, particularly for dried pasta and spaghetti, as these basic items are less likely to contain eggs in order to keep costs low.”

When creating your menus, it’s a good idea to plan each week in advance, making vegetables your main focus, and Beskow advises picking seasonal veg. “They’ll be cheaper, and they’ll taste better too.” She also recommends what she calls ‘versatile vegetables’ — those that can be cooked in several ways — like spinach, which works in a curry or as a salad leaf; or broccoli which can eaten stir-fried, quick-roasted, or as a crudité. Plan a few dishes with each vegetable so you can finish them up avoid waste and save money.

Lara Balsam of the Jewish Vegetarian Society recommends batch cooking. “I would also buy a collection of Tupperware boxes, to store leftovers in and eating on the go.” She also suggests investing in a few spices. “They can transform what may seem boring veg. My go-to essentials are cinnamon, chilli powder, za’atar and paprika.”

You may think the reverse, but Beskow suggests some ready prepared veggies can save you money. “Vacuum-packed, cooked beetroot is convenient and saves a long cooking time; chopped and frozen  butternut squash, sweet potato, fruit, and herbs are great buys to reduce prep and cooking time, plus you can defrost as much as you need, so no food waste!”

Judi Rose, who, as a student, co-wrote The First Time Cookbook with mother Evelyn Rose, and whose son is currently a student, agrees that a vegan diet can help reduce the stress of student kosher catering. However, she has a word of caution: “If you cut out meat, fish, eggs and cheese, without eating a balance of other proteins, you run the risk of being deficient in a number of essential vitamins, like Omega 3; Vitamin K2 B12; Iron and Calcium.” She suggest going vegetarian or pescatarian. “Including salmon or a tin of tuna plus some cheese and milk, will give you a more balanced diet.”

Balsam also recommends proceeding with caution. “No one should make drastic changes overnight. Look at the JVS or Veganuary websites for information on nutrition. Vegans can lack B12 and you’ll find there information on how you can get enough. Plant milks fortified with B12 and nutritional yeasts are helpful.”

Balsam suggests getting in some practice before you go. “You won’t have the kitchen to yourself for a long time, so have a few recipes that you’re confident of — a good soup, lasagne or maybe vegan challah. If you’re the only vegan (and kosher) you’ll be of interest and may feel self-conscious. And don’t worry about buying expensive cookbooks. There are plenty of recipes online. You can print off a few to make your own reference book. If they get lost or spoilt it won’t matter.”

You’ll also need some basic kosher know-how, especially if you’re sharing a kitchen. Look out for the new Kosher Student Survival Guide — a handy pamphlet created by the University Jewish Chaplaincy, Tribe and KLBD that will be handed out to 1500 students in the ‘schlepp bags’ given to Jewish students during Fresher’s Week.

It contains lots of helpful pointers, including how to kosher every part of your new kitchen plus how to maintain kashrut if you’re living in halls with (non-kosher) shared kitchens. Top tips: it’s fine to eat food cooked in a non-kosher oven if you double wrap your food with foil or with clingfilm in the microwave. Buy your own cutlery, crockery and washing up bowls in funky colours so you know they’re yours — and go with equally brightly coloured boxes to store your food in the shared fridges and freezers to set them apart from your friends’ storage containers.

If you really cannot face life without a Friday night chicken, look out for the free Shabbat meals at various universities. The local J-Soc, Chabad or Aish, or the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) should be able to point you in the right direction, with information about weekly or occasional Friday night events near you.

The University Jewish Chaplaincy’s chaplains host weekly Friday night dinners at the 12 main universities — which include London, Manchester, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge and Nottingham.

Denise Phillips will be running a Preparing for Uni cookery class on September 18 in Northwood, £65. To book call: 01923 836 456 or visit her website here.

More from Katy Beskow can be found here. Jewish university groups can be found here: Jewish Chaplaincy; Jewish Vegetarian Society; Union of Jewish Students.

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