Halls of Residence

Cooking and food safety

Cooking safely

Halls food icon Please follow the guidelines below to ensure that you do not injure yourself or others when you are cooking:

  • Do not become distracted when cooking.
  • Do not cook if you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Cooker and oven

  • If you leave your cooker (even for just a minute to answer the door/phone), take pans/pots off the heat and turn off the cooker.
  • Turn saucepan handles in so they do not stick out but make sure they are not over another cooking ring.
  • Keep the oven door shut.
  • Always clean the grill pan after using it (save effort: use kitchen foil to cover grill rack and when the foil is dirty, throw away).
  • Do not put other things than cooking appliances on top of the cooker (for example, tea towels, oven gloves, and so on)
  • Do not trail electrical leads over the top of the cooker.

Electrical appliances

  • Deep fat fryers and chip pans are not permitted in Halls of Residence. If one is found it will be removed by Halls staff. You will be able to collect it when you move out of Halls of Residence.
  • Keep all electrical leads away from water.
  • Do not overload sockets: use only one appliance per socket.
  • Do not use your microwave to dry clothes.

Food safety

Avoid contracting food poisoning by simply following these guidelines:

Buying food

  • Do not buy broken packaged food or dented tins.
  • Do not buy more fresh food than you cannot safely store in your fridge.
  • Follow ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates in packaging.

Preparing food

  • Maintain good personal hygiene: wash your hands before preparing food.
  • Ensure open wounds are covered before preparing food.
  • Wash utensils and chopping boards in between and after preparing raw and cooked food.
  • Make sure hot food is thoroughly cooked: read cooking instructions on packaging.
  • Avoid reheating food.

Storing food

  • Do not overload the fridge, it will stop operating properly.
  • Defrost food in the fridge and ensure you use sealed containers.
  • Refrigerate high risk food (high in protein/moisture and/or food that you will eat without cooking, for example meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, ready to eat food, and sandwiches).
  • Store raw and cooked food separately, cooked food should be stored above raw food.

Cleaning your kitchen

  • To avoid pests, please keep the kitchen clean and tidy. Pests are attracted to leftovers so- keep food covered. If you do encounter any pests report them immediately to your Hall reception.
  • Wash cutlery, crockery and other equipment after use.
  • Use disposable cleaning cloths: bacteria is not allowed to build up and spread around the kitchen.

Recipes

You can find some video recipes created by students for students at Student Cooking TV.