Student food

[simsfreq]

Anyone know any good recipes suitable for University students with little cooking experience and a tight budget?!

[ineedahobby]

You know I think there are actually cookbooks out there for student food.

A good one is tin of tuna, tin of sweetcorn, tin of tomatoes, cooked pasta, bit of garlic and seasoning all chucked in a bowl, cover with cheese and bake for 20 mins

[simsfreq]

Sounds nice... apart from the cheese lol, I'm difficult as I'm actually allergic to it!

[Shire]

Even if you don't eat cheese, pasta will take you a long way!  Mix it with tinned tomatoes and any other veg you've got.  You could also put bacon/ham in!  You can also do this with rice instead of pasta for a change.

Baking potatoes are usually cheap as well, and again you can have lots of cheap and easy fillings such as beans, leftover curry (yes, you will have this in your house at some point), butter (my favourite), tuna etc.

There are also a few good cookery books for budget eating, usually aimed at students with little cooking experience.  Your local bookshop will have these, or if you have one of those shops that sells pans and other cookery equipment, they will probably sell them as well.

[Lily_b]

There is a book out called 'The Student Cookbook' in bookshops.

I still use my old 'Grub on a Grant' book 10 years down the line. LOL

[Lily_b]

Oh sorry, you wanted some ideas...

Cook 1 cod/fish portion with herb sauce & peas, put in a small ovendish & break up flakes of fish & add peas, cover with mashed potato (instant or made), if you want, grill until brown.

1 portion chicken & in ovendish, cover with tomato/sweet&sour/mushroom cook-in sauce (add veg if you want). Cover and cook at 180degrees stirring occasionally until done.  Serve with rice/noodles/pasta.

I agree with Shire, get pasta, rice & noodles & then add different combinations of meat, veg, sauces, herbs etc.  Experiment!

You've also got the old favourites of omlettes, soup, baked beans on toast. :-)

[Eels]

See the soup thread down below ...!

I survived on pasta for first year ... by second year most of us graduated towards rice (you can only eat so much pasta ...!).  The tuna and sweetcorn bake one is excellent, fairly universal I think!  Homemade fried rice is brill too, dead good way to use up bits and bobs - just chop an onion, add chopped ham/frozen peas/chopped carrots/sweetcorn/beans/bacon/chicken etc etc and some rice, and fry with an egg.  Lush.

For a posh one, try frying some strips of bacon with a chopped onion and a bit of garlic, a few mushrooms, and then mix with hot pasta and a large dollop of Philadelphia ... makes a really yummy carbonara-type thing which everyone will think took you ages.

I also suggest you practise your bolognese (no recipes here because the best one is the one you come up with yourself).  Bolognese can so easily be varied to become chilli con carne, lasagne, or bol toasties if you're desperate ... :-)

[Eels]

Philadelphia ... but you're allergic to cheese ... d'oh!

Would creme fraiche or plain cream be ok?  Cos either of those would work too!

[chazza]

We always used to eat stir fries.  a chicken breast, a pepper, a carrot, an onion and some mushrooms,  fry it up and add a sauce if you want.

[Tritan]

what saved me when i was at uni was the great invention of "Chicken in a Bag".

I think all the major supermarkets now have these? basically they have a pre-seasoned or flavoured chicken in a special oven proof bag. You stick it in the oven for 1h20mins and hey presto - a whole cooked (very tastey!!) chicken with loads of gravey. All you need to add is rice and boil some veggies :-) this was enough i found for at least 2 lunches and a dinner...

[gpb]

Try www.studentrecipes.com