Pasta, beans and cheese

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

Catching up with some old uni mates at the weekend, we started reminiscing about some of our staple culinary creations. Pasta with baked beans and cheese (plenty off Lee and Perkins and black pepper) being one of my frequent contributions. I remember I had a friend at school who regularly had this, but my mum refused to cook it for me. So clearly I ran with my new found independence and gave it a regular slot on my menu. Clearly over did it mind because it’s not something I’ve ever had since. Any one else ever have this? Or fancy sharing any other master chef uni meals?

My first university flatmate's idea of dinner was to ask if she 'could nick a little bit of mine'.

I now realise she was a classic cheeky fucker.

I've never had pasta, beans and cheese together. I'm going to try it 👍

Tomato soup with a nest of egg noodles in.
Tomato soup with Birdseye potato fritters in.

DH used to make meat pie sandwich.
That was too expensive for me, I used to live on cornflakes with watered down milk

Personal favourite was pasta, mayonnaise and grated cheese. Preferably something with a bit of stretch like emmental. So lardy, so delicious.

@Zerogravity was it ‘Grub on a Grant’?

Cowboy beans
Pizza toast
Kraft cheesy pasta
Tinned sweetcorn on toast
Ready brek at any hour of the day/night

I basically lived off pasta mixed with hp sauce. Still like it now but far less frequent!

My flat mate once ate a pot noodle, then a bar of dairy milk dipped in the leftover pot noodle water

I learnt to make a basic cheese sauce (always rather lumpy and solid), and then had it with either pasta, or vegetables or pasta and vegetables. If I had the time I'd put it under the grill. Fun times.

Throw some sweetcorn into your pasta beans and cheese, you won't regret it

I used to live near college during the week and come home at the weekends to keep my job on. Weekly menu was...

Ready meal
Pasta n sauce Cheese and broccoli with added chopped bacon, leek and red pepper and a bit of grated cheese
Jacket potato with cheese and beans or a chicken curry potato topper out of a jar
Omelette with the rest of the veg, bacon and cheese

Used to buy the bacon and cheese from the deli counter in small quantities.

When I was a bit older and in my own place my post pub staples were Birds Eye vegetable finger sandwiches or microwave chips smothered in brown sauce, mango chutney and mayonnaise.

That's next week's menu planning sorted

We would take it in turns to cook each night in our student house - some of the more memorable culinary highlights include ‘lemon curd stir fry’, ‘sweet and sour spag bol’ and ‘noodles and cheese’….all awful, but we were hungry …

Jacket potato with a tin of chilli beans.

Tinned spaghetti with cheese stirred in on toast.

Garlic pasta - cook pasta, drain, add butter or oil to pan and fry garlic for a couple of minutes. Add pasta back in to pan, mix and add salt and pepper.

Egg rice - cook rice, fry onion, then scramble egg into. Mix rice into egg mixture and season with soya sauce. If flush add frozen peas with the onion.

Peanut butter and jam sandwich.

Leek and potato soup - cheap and filling

A baked potato with canned tuna and mayonnaise, all kind of mashed in.
chesirecat99, weirdly enough, I used to have fusilli with tuna and mayonnaise too. Just that though, none of your fancy tomatoes or sweetcorn

I'll be honest, I'm 46 and I still make and eat some of the things on here...

@IntermittentParps

Me too...particularly the Pasta n Sauce one, especially if I'm in need of comfort food!

Sounds grim, but I can't stand beans soo.....

My staircase-mate’s main dish was pasta with meat out of a tin - which I affectionately named “dog food pasta”

MintyCedric, Pasta n Sauce is one of the few I've never revisited. Doesn't mean I wouldn't though!

I worked in a senior school kitchen about 10 years ago and this was a menu choice where 80 %of the kids had this in a pot EVERYDAY.

Cream of chicken soup with a splodge of mash potato in it. Still love that today.
Used to mash loads of potato in one go and make it last days - beans and mash, baked mash with processed cheese melted on top, mash and gravy and frozen mixed veg - even sausage and mash if funds allowed.

I do a grown up variation of this. I cook a bolognese sauce then add baked beans and serve it over pasta with plenty of cheese. Absolutely delicious and even better when reheated the next day.

My go-to meal at uni used to be pasta with Heinz tomato soup and cheese.

I used to eat a lot of tuna pasta bake at uni. Never made it since. I also used to buy cheap packet soups, the kind that make a litre of soup, and add rice or pasta to bulk it out.

The cheese and broccoli pasta n sauce is something that is a real comfort food to me. I associate with with my mum who used to have it on a jacket potato because slimming world said it was ok. I had one last week and it made me all warm and cosy.