5 Essential Tips For Cooking In Hostel Kitchens

Whether you’re traveling long-term on a budget or you’re just looking for a cheap bed to spend the night in when you visit a new city, hostels—and hostel kitchens—can be special places: places that inspire connection, friendship and commensality. Although they may not provide top-quality appliances (or even a decent knife and matching set of glasses), hostel kitchens can offer budget-minded travelers a place to make their own meals while fostering a sense of community that seems rare elsewhere.

But if your hostel kitchen cooking experience is limited, it can feel intimidating to prepare a meal in one. After all, working in a kitchen that’s not your own is tricky enough, and navigating a shared, unfamiliar space can be an extra challenge. These tips will ensure you have a relatively mess-free experience (and might even help you make some friends in the process).

1. Find ingredients that have been left behind.

Before you head to the grocery store in the city you’re visiting, you may want to take a look in your hostel’s kitchen to see what other travelers have left behind. Often, you’ll find ingredients that are available for anyone to use, like olive oil, salt and pepper, pasta and even fresh vegetables. By taking what’s already there and waiting to be used, you can save some money at the grocery store—and save yourself a walk back to the hostel with heavy, loaded bags. 

2. Make pasta… but switch it up.

There is one food that you’re all but guaranteed to find in a hostel kitchen, and that’s pasta. This is probably because pasta is cheap, easy to cook and appeals to a wide range of palates. But that doesn’t mean you have to make the same old spaghetti and marinara sauce number every night. Use pasta as a base for your meal, then switch up the other ingredients so you can enjoy varied dishes. Try making a simple pasta salad one night, then whip up some cacio e pepe the next. And don’t be afraid to riff on your usual favorite recipes—cooking in a hostel kitchen is all about versatility and creativity.

3. Opt for vegetarian dishes when possible.

If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can try making a meat- or seafood-centric dish when you’re cooking in a hostel kitchen, but let’s be honest: Most hostels do not have the tools you’re going to need to be quite that ambitious. You’re better off sticking with vegetarian meals, which can often be easier to make and take less time to prepare. Stock up on beans, lentils, tofu or tempeh when you go to the grocery store, and save the steak dinner for when you’re back home.

4. Collaborate with other cooks.

One of the best parts of using a hostel kitchen is getting the opportunity to meet new people and enjoy meals with others. So why not collaborate when it comes to cooking? When a few people pitch in a few separate ingredients, you can make a big meal to share. Plus, cooking is easier and faster when everybody’s working together to put food on the table. It’s a great way to make new friends at a hostel, and the results can be delicious. Plus, you never know what you may learn about cooking from your fellow travelers.

5. If you can’t cook, buy beer to share.

Not everyone trusts themselves in the kitchen. If you’re the kind of person whose culinary talent begins and ends with pouring yourself a bowl of cereal, then you may want to skip the grocery run and head to the liquor store instead. Oftentimes at hostels, if you’re willing to share with others, they’ll be willing to share with you as well. Pass out a few beers, and a plate might just end up in front of you. Is this a foolproof solution? Maybe not—you may want to have a backup plan if you’re seriously hungry. But free beer is a powerful currency in hostel kitchens.

Samantha Maxwell is a food writer and editor based in Boston. Follow her on Twitter at @samseating.