All over the country, students and young professionals are setting up home for the first time. But can they cook? Can they change a plug? Can they use a plunger? Anna Carey offers a lesson in the basics of modern living
The first few days after you move out of your parental home are full of glorious realisations. It suddenly hits you that you can now come and go as you please. That you can have parties every week, if you want to. That you can put your favourite posters all over the house. That you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want.
And then, just as you're thinking of what you'd like for dinner, it dawns that you don't actually have a decent pot to cook in. Or a wooden spoon. Or a mixing bowl. Or indeed a recipe. In fact, you're going to have to live on toast. And then the toaster stops working properly and you realise that not only do you not know how to change its plug, you don't have a screwdriver to change it with. Forget taking your parents for granted - what you really took for granted was all the household equipment they'd been collecting for the past 25 years.
So, even if you've left the nest, you can end up relying on your parents for little things. When I left my family abode shortly after starting my first job, two of my friends and I moved into terraced house in Drumcondra. This frankly bizarre building (its previous occupier had built an extension at the back with a big, pyramid-shaped skylight, and the only bathroom had an interior window looking into the sitting room) was situated just a mile from my family's house, and around the corner from my aunt's place. This turned out to be pretty handy, as I was constantly borrowing everything from a screwdriver to a spatula. I'd brought 15 pairs of shoes, several bin bags full of clothes, and so many books I could have used them to build an extra room, but I hadn't brought a colander. Or a can opener. Or a hammer. So much for my supposed independence.
Many people are in the same boat when they first leave the nest. "I hadn't a clue what I needed," says 23-year-old Niamh Connolly, who jokes that she's still "in student mode". "I had towels and bed clothes all right. They were a priority. But cleaning utensils, or screwdrivers, never really came into it. I had no plan. I had been away from home quite a bit, but never lived away, which is obviously quite different. It was more of a learn-as-you-go, and you really get by with an absolute minimum."
But what is the comfortable minimum? What, in fact, are the basics necessary to living your own life? Forget luxuries such as juicers or DVD players. What you really need starting out in life away from the family home is a decent knife and a plunger.
And some kitchen advice. If someone's been living at home, they may not be expert in the kitchen. So what do beginners need to have in the kitchen? Food writer Tom Doorley says there are a few things you really can't live without. "Basically, you need a frying pan, and a saucepan with a heavy bottom," he says. "I think you do need a casserole - you can stick it in the oven or on a stove and do stewy things. You're on a tight budget, so what you want, in some ways, is to keep expenditure down as far as possible - if you cook stuff slowly, Irish stew with a neck of lamb costs virtually nothing."
Doorley recommends getting two decent knives, "one small, really sharp knife for chopping vegetables, and one bigger one. You need a chopping board, and a wooden spoon or spatula, a whisk, a can opener, and a corkscrew. If the budget will stretch to it, a blender is a great idea - you can make smoothies in it. And a grater is an absolute essential." And then there are the things that seem luxurious, but can make all the difference. "I find it very hard to live without a mortar and pestle - they're decorative, and you can use them to crush garlic as well as herbs," he says. "And people may not think of a bread bin as an essential, but it does keep bread nice and fresh, and bread is 75 per cent of your diet when you're in college. It's also worth getting one big bowl that can double as mixing and salad bowl. And if you get a plastic jug that measures quantities of flour and sugar as well as liquid, you can do without weighing scales."
So, you've got your kitchen equipment. But what do you do with it? Many home-leavers find themselves in the same boat as Niamh Connolly, who admits: "We had three basic dinners which we pretty much stuck with for the year." Her contemporary, Will Laverty, was in a similar situation. "It's only recently that I've started trying out new food," he says. "My flatmate and I spent the first few months eating pasta with mushy peas. Don't ask why. And we ate a lot of toast."
Novice chefs can benefit from a cookbook, but with so many trendy new culinary titles, it's hard to know where to begin. And an overly sophisticated cookbook filled with hard-to-find ingredients can easily put off beginners. "My mum gave me a copy of Nigella Lawson's How to Eat," says Laverty. "But I'd never even heard of some of the exotic ingredients. And lots of the recipes were for, like, eight people, and I was sharing a flat with one friend. I never made anything out of it."
It's time to go back to basics. "When I went to college, I got a copy of Cooking in a Bedsit by Catherine Whitehorn," says Tom Doorley. "There was a section on serving wine which advised you to have 'red with lino and white with carpet.' " Wise words, but these days Doorley recommends presenting homeleavers with a copy of Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food (Penguin, £8.99) in which the Observer writer describes, in typically evocative prose, how to make a huge array of simple meals.
"You need something that will not only tell them how to do it, but will also make them hungry while reading it, which is the key thing," he says. "If cooking seems like a big hassle, you have to really want to go to the trouble of doing it. Nigel Slater is one of the few cookery writers who can make me hungry. And he's accessible. If you're missing home-cooked food, you can go through Nigel and think, 'I can do that'." As someone who would probably still be living on sausages and supernoodles if if weren't for Nigel's books, I have to agree.
But there's more to moving out than feeding yourself properly. Suddenly you've got a house (or a flat) to look after, and that means getting some basic tools in case you have to put up a shelf, or even a picture. But don't go mad in the DIY shop. Architect Duncan Stewart, of RTÉ's About The House, recommends getting your own basic tools. "You're not going to be doing that many jobs, so there's no point picking out selective tools," he says. "But you need a range of screwdrivers in all sizes, both Philips and ordinary types. Get a claw-hammer - it's multipurpose. You can use it to take up nails or put up a picture. A wrench is useful, and so is a plunger, especially if you're moving into an older building. It's not worth spending a lot of money on power tools that will only be used once. Only buy them if you're going to be doing a lot of work."
Stewart warns the newly-independent not to take risks. "Leave anything to do with the electrics to a professional. And always ask for advice before trying something. Most people like to help and give advice. You'll find that people will respond very well. It's better than plunging straight in and then regretting what you did. Say you want to put up shelves - you need someone to show you how not to drill into the electrics." Will Lavery found this out the hard way. "We thought we were great, putting up shelves in the kitchen. And then we hit a pipe . . ."
Of course, it's not all about DIY - you've got to make your new house or flat into a home. Easier said than done if you're in a grimy bedsit. Stewart recommends investing in a few lamps to transform small rooms. "You can get plain lamps very cheaply, and they can make a big difference," he says. "Artificial light can transform a room - use low lighting to make a room look bigger and less dingy. And remember to use energy-efficient bulbs - they last for years." A cheerful throw (also available cheaply these days) can transform a manky old couch. Pictures can make a big difference too, although it's wise to check with a landlord if you can put them up.
You've also got to do the everyday housekeeping chores. Which means you'll need a decent dustpan and brush (preferably ones with long handles, so you can use them standing up), and that most useful of beasts, the clothes-horse. Most flats won't have either a washing line or a tumble dryer (the latter is expensive to run anyway) so unless you want to dry your clothes on radiators, a decent-sized clothes horse can make a big difference.
These things don't come automatically with a house. Unless you get them yourself, you won't have them. Niamh Connolly remembers this responsibility as one of the most striking elements of moving out. "The biggest change was having to think about whether there would be bread and milk at home when you got there," she says. "If a light bulb goes, or something like that, if you don't change it, it doesn't get changed." And if you don't cook, you don't eat, and if you don't clean the loo, or wash your clothes, they'll stay dirty. But, armed with these household essentials, you should be able to handle these and all the other challenges of newly-independent living. And that means you'll have more time for all those parties.
THE CHECKLIST don't leave home without it
ESSENTIALS:
Plunger
Screwdriver
Can opener
Chopping board
Corkscrew
Saucepan
Frying pan
Sharp knives
Bread bin
Wooden spoon
Claw hammer
Sweeping brush
Multi-purpose bowl
EXTRAS
Pestle and mortar
Blender
Nigel Slater cookbook
Clotheshorse
A throw
Lamps