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Recipes / more veg in diet

19 replies

MrKlaw · 28/10/2019 08:20

DS is in his 5th week, 4th of studies so we were catching up with him about budgeting etc (we're sending money over monthly so wanted to make sure he was ok).

He says money is fine, but he's worried about keeping healthy and struggling to get much veg in his diet (his mum was happy to hear him worried about that - she's brought him up well). Fruit is ok - he's having a banana or other fruit every day.

Any good recipe books for students generally, or that can help him easily get more veg in his diet. Or tips overall?

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MrKlaw · 28/10/2019 08:26

DW will be putting together some meal plan ideas/mini 'mums recipe book' - she has entire calendars of balanced menus - bit of meat, white fish, oily fish, veggie etc. Mainly set up for famliy of 4 so will need adapting for 1 and they have very little fridge/freezer space (about half a freezer drawer each and less than one fridge shelf) so batch cooking will be difficult

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summerflower2 · 28/10/2019 11:27

I normally count fruit and Veg together and ask DS to count at least 5 a day. DS normally buys lots of variety of fruits , and eat a few fruit every day. He doesn't have facilities to cook, so make sure eat veg with every meal he bought.

Just a simple suggestion, you can suggest your DS to eat a few variety of fruit every day. And also he can buy cucumber and tomato, these are 2 veg that you can just eat.

As for cooking, pepper and mushroom go well with any meat if shallow fry, and broccoli as well. Carrot is good to put into stew with any meat.

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242Mummy · 28/10/2019 13:28

What about a nutribullet for Christmas? Minimal cooking but could get all his fruit and veg for the day in a breakfast smoothie?

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Leeds2 · 28/10/2019 21:04

Omelettes might work, with added peppers/mushroom/onion/sweetcorn.

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Needmoresleep · 29/10/2019 11:49

DD eats a lot of veg, and not much meat. First because it is cheaper, and second because flat mates are less inclined to ‘borrow’ ingredients from the fridge. Staples are risotto rice and pasta, frozen peas and sweet corn, onions, mushrooms carrots, tinned tomatoes and cheese. She also makes a good veggie curry. Also things like ragu sauce including lots of veg, can be batch cooked and frozen.

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TheLovelyWoo · 29/10/2019 18:41

Slow cooker (very inexpensive) is a great way to use loads of healthy veg.

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Serin · 29/10/2019 19:06

Stir fry.
Chopped fruit on cereal at breakfast.
Carrots, apple juice and kale in smoothies.
Chopped veg with dip to snack on in the evening. Dip can be peanut butter!
Soups, dont need freezing and last a few days in the fridge (dont take up much room either).
Ready done salad boxes, economical enough if serving just one person, not ideal for 6.
Roasted Mediterranean veg with some feta sprinkled on. Then just stuff into a pitta.
Dhal.
Veg curry.
Carrot and cucumber with every sandwich!
Cherry tomatoes instead of crisps. (Break the bank though!).
Avocado on toast.

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yearinyearout · 29/10/2019 19:15

My DS has tray bake type meals quite often. Just chop mixed peppers, courgette, red onion into chunks, bake on tray in oven for about 15 mins, then put pesto covered chicken breast/fish on top, cook for another 20 mins or so. Can also add some mozzarella and cherry tomatoes for the last five min.
Stir fries are easy and the bags of stir fry veg for one are pretty cheap.
Can make tomato and veg sauce to go with pasta, just cook up some onion, garlic, peppers, mushrooms (anything goes really) in a saucepan with couple of tins of tomatoes, cook down for 30 mins then whizz in a blender. Don't need much freezer space if you put it in tiny pots holding one portion and so easy to chuck over some pasta or on a pizza base.

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Fozzleyplum · 29/10/2019 19:23

DS1 is at the same stage and we've had the same discussion. He can cook, but is not in the habit of cooking.

He has been buying bags of frozen mixed veg- each microwaveable bag has a generous single helping and has those with dinner. Unless money is a real issue, it's unlikely that a student will be inclined to buy a variety of vegetables and prepare them from scratch.

DS also buys stir fry veg and has that with Aldi microwave in the packet salmon.

He has the Social Bite cookbook, which has some good, easy and one pot recipes.

Finally, at Christmas he's planning to try some of the less twiddly recipes from my "roasting tin" cookbooks, as he can cook a batch and eat it over 2 days. I'll see if I can post links.

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MrKlaw · 29/10/2019 19:30

Smoothies with green stuff might work - he’d need a blender or something to help with that, could be an option. Roasted veg is dead easy too. He really needs to make the most out of the limited freezer space - if he can’t really batch cook then frozen mixed veg or peas/onion/garlic are good frozen.

Would a slow cooker be allowed?

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Fozzleyplum · 29/10/2019 19:30

Social Bite cookbook

roasting tin cookbooks (the top 3 are the ones we use).

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TheLovelyWoo · 29/10/2019 21:49

Can’t see why a slow cooker wouldn’t be allowed. I think they’re only meant to use as much electricity as a lightbulb (well, so it used to be alleged).

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Serin · 31/10/2019 08:00

Slow cookers are banned at my DS uni residence. As are George foreman's and pretty much any type of cooking appliance. They can only use those already supplied.
No problem with hair straighteners thoughConfused

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Lunde · 11/11/2019 18:39

DD saves a lot of money by making soups to eat at lunch - she usually makes a big batch (usually the day she does her washing and has to hang around the residence) and then freezes in microwave boxes. Soups such as

  • winter vegetable
  • carrot and coriander
  • dhal (curried lentil)
  • spicy parsnip
  • green pea and taragon
  • mushroom
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PocketDictionary · 14/11/2019 12:45
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hellsbells99 · 14/11/2019 14:35

for batch cooking, put portions into ziplock bags for the freezer. You can normally squeeze several bags into freezer space where you would struggle to fit in Tupperware containers.

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Dancingdreamer · 20/11/2019 23:00

Eat Well for Less on BBC recently featured 4 students (male) in Bristol and had some good tips and recipes on how to eat healthily and cheaply. Your DS may enjoy watching. It’s still available in iPlayer.

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MrKlaw · 21/11/2019 11:26

@Dancingdreamer oh yes I remember that was a good episode - willl send it to him, thanks!

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ShanghaiDiva · 23/11/2019 03:59

my ds has a blender and makes his own smoothies for breakfast -
soups are easy way to add veg and easy to make, the tinned ones ime contain too much sugar and salt
adding veg to pasta sauce is also easy - carrots, courgettes, onions and tinned tomatoes -
satsumas to snack on

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