Kit out your kitchen from a charity shop

If you’re moving from student accommodation into a shared house you’ll probably find you need a bit more equipment than you did in hall. You can obviously kit yourself out from somewhere like IKEA, Woolworths or your local supermarket but it’s more fun, easier on the budget and, arguably, more stylish to pick things up bit by bit from charity shops.

They’re particularly good for plates, glasses, cutlery and serving dishes, less good for equipment that gets heavy wear like saucepans and frying pans (though you do come across an occasional gem).

What the exercise needs is a slightly different mindset. You need to cast aside the notion that everything has to match perfectly or be colour co-ordinated or even that it has to be supremely tasteful. Some of the best bargains are kitsch.

To give you a few examples I visited half a dozen shops in Gloucester Road in Bristol (charity shop heaven). Here’s what I found:

• 4 pasta bowls for £1. My star buy, even though they were seconds. Good not only for pasta but for soups and stews

• 5 glass bowls for 20p each. Another terrific bargain. Great for weekend breakfasts (fruit, yoghurt and muesli or granola) or show-off puds

• A set of oil and vinegar pourers for £1.25. Not essential but quite cool

• 4 espresso coffee cups and saucers for £1. (You don’t have to have an espresso machine: just serve ordinary black coffee in them - or very rich chocolate mousse)

• A cupcake mug for £1.75. Comparatively expensive for a mug (I could have got three for that price) but still much cheaper than you would have paid for something like this in a smart kitchen shop

• 4 wine glasses for £1.99. Not bad though you could probably do as well in Woolies or a supermarket

• 2 plastic measuring jugs for 50p

• A chip'n'dip dish with chillies round the edge. A bit pricey at £3 but fabulously kitsch so I snapped it up. I’ll use it for tortilla chips and fresh tomato salsa or home made guacamole