Waitrose ‘essentials’ for students... rose harissa and organic vinegar!

LOOK in the kitchen cupboards of most students and there’ll be Pot Noodles, baked beans, and maybe a bottle of chilli sauce to liven things up.

You’d be much less likely to find a jar of rose harissa and a bottle of Organic Tamari Soya Sauce. And yet Waitrose is marketing both as part of a ‘starter kit for the fledgeling cook about to fly the nest’.

As well as the £4.35 harissa and £3.15 soya sauce, the ‘student store cupboard’ included Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder for £2, Aspall Organic Cyder Vinegar for £1.70 and Organic Italian Seasoning for £1.89.

Describing the Tamari Soya Sauce, Waitrose’s in-store magazine said: ‘This umami-packed, gluten-free sauce will also lend oomph to tomato sauce-based dishes and elevate your meals from bland to brilliant.’

It recommended students to mix the Belazu Rose Harissa with olive oil ‘for a speedy, spicy marinade for fish and meat’. The Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder is recommended as a base for ‘hearty soups and stews’.

The page from the magazine was posted on Twitter by Andrew Stronach, who wrote: ‘The Waitrose concept of essential cooking staples for new students!?!

‘I have none of those in my cupboard. Not one.’

Twitter user Jo Clarke posted: ‘My son has just gone off with three jars of coffee, four packs of super noodles, two pot noodles and a bottle of Nandos peri peri sauce.’

Another added: ‘ Mine went with baked beans, noodles and coco pops (supermarket value type ones, not the real thing) I’m not sure any of my lot would recognise harissa if it punched them in the face!’

Waitrose said: ‘All these ingredients go a long way and can be the basis of many simple, tasty and great value home-cooked meals.’

‘I have none of them’