Star needing equipment and meals regularly (5)
I believe the answer is:
rigel
'star' is the definition.
(Rigel is an example)
'equipment and meals regularly' is the wordplay.
'equipment' becomes 'rig' (rig is a kind of equipment**).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'regularly' means one should take alternating letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
The alternating letters of 'meals' are 'el'.
'rig'+'el'='RIGEL'
'needing' is the link.
(Other definitions for rigel that I've seen before include "shiner" , "Orion's brightest star" , "Brightest star in Orion" .)