Healthy & cheap meals with only a kettle and microwave?

[Numbrrblox]

Hello all, please can you recommend recipes that can be cooked with a kettle and microwave? DS is moving into halls and catering is only two meals a day. He's a competent cook and does plenty of meals at home, but I'm looking for healthy, cheap things he can make once a day (sometimes lunch, sometimes tea) with no hob or oven. Thank you!

Protein meals from Lodi at around £2.50 a pop. Micro mash and veggies, jacket potato and beans, rice bags, couscous and tinned fish etc

Aldi not Lodi🫣

Brilliant, yes! Thank you

Kettle only - soya chunks, couscous or rice noodles.
Microwave - a lot of things.
Baked potatoes, veg, stuffed veg...

microwave toastie maker.

But what is “veg”? What does he put with a pepper or a carrot that tastes nice and is an healthy filling meal after being in the microwave? I’m after recipes, rather than just “things that can be heated by a microwave”.

I’ll get him to look into that, thanks

You can make poached eggs in the microwave.

Can he get a small air fryer?

Aldi have fresh salmon which can be cooked in the microwave, along with rice/jacket potato and salad.

Poached eggs on toast. I have a great little egg machine that you can make boiled/poached eggs in (but microwave poached eggs are better).

Could he get a soup maker?

The fresh soups from the supermarkets are nice too for a filling meal.

If he has space, I’d be tempted to invest in a few little gadgets, like the air fryer, egg poacher, soup maker, or plug in camping stove/hob so he can make a little more.

Can he get a toaster? You can do scrambled and poached eggs in the microwave and also surprisingly enough bacon. All good on toast. He could also do beans /avocado toast. Paper kitchen towels are essential for the bacon though.

Microwave- jacket potatoes, baked beans- top with grated cheese from the fridge.

microwave rice pouch, mixed with tinned tuna, mayo, chopped cucumber (and then any salad/veg that he likes. Those microwave steam bags of peas, carrots and sweetcorn are nice in it) and mix it all together. Have warm or put in the fridge to have cold for a lunch. It’s like a rice salad/sushi bowl vibe.

My dd (vegetarian) liked wraps with the taco sauce beans, grated cheese and salad (on repeat) also took the pouches of cooked lentils and chickpeas Indian style plus pouches of rice. If he’s having two meals provided, how about sandwiches or salads eg you can buy cooked salmon or mackerel which you can toss into mixed leaves, cucumber, red pepper etc and serve with decent bread

Frozen peas and sweetcorn is easy in a microwave. You can get a small electric pasta cooker which you can also boil veg or eggs etc.

Also a soup maker takes 19 mins to make a home made soup full of veggies perfect for winter!

Does he need more than two cooked meals?
A sandwich, eggs or jacket potato would be fine for the third meal. Won't he be out often anyway?

Sorry to just ask questions back!

M&S are doing jars of fat butter beans for 55p - protein, high fibre and tasty if mixed with a tomato based sauce and a grating of Parmesan. Great for storage cupboards following govt advice too.

Also, if he has access to a nutri bullet, cooking a veg like courgette in the microwave and blitzing it with tahini, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil makes a very tasty dip for veg sticks and pitta.

My dd learned last year in the same situation that you can cook pasta in a microwave!
Pesto pasta with broccoli and cherry toms became a staple for her!

If he doesnt mind quorn then he can cook the pieces in the microwave for roughly 8-9 minutes with tikka sauce & use packets of steam veg or microwave 2 minute rice. Tastes better than it sounds!

Is he allowed an air fryer? That would solve a lot of problems.

But - does he need a cooked 3rd meal each day? Most catered halls we saw meant you have breakfast and then one hot meal. So students were only required to do something quick, sandwich, soup heated in a microwave (the fresh ones are actually quite good). Baked potato with beans and cheese are easily done for example as well.

I would see that the catered meals are the main nutrition ones. Can he choose between lunch and dinner or is it a fixed time meal?

DD is often just wolfing down a sandwich at lunch between lectures and seminars (and she can just walk in 5 minutes from uni to her hall) and then does a meal in the evening unless she has training/rehearsals and then she throws stuff into the microwave like soups.

Why not let him solve that problem and figure it out. He is moving out to uni. You're on MN asking the question for him, where is he asking the question, his question?

I'm pretty sure that my friends and I ate a lot of toast (took our own toaster), toasties (same), tinned soup. If he's allowed to take a toaster I would strongly recommend it.

I got pretty jazzy with microwave cooking because my halls had no food included (they had a canteen where you could buy it, but nothing included) and no hob. So here's the microwave cooking document my friends and I made before we left - long post incoming! Haven't looked at this since I left uni!

Snacks
‘College pizza’ - toast a pitta bread, melt cheese in the microwave, spread tomato puree on the pitta, add melted cheese on top and add whatever toppings you want.
Nachos - tortilla chips, cheese, refried beans if you so desire. Microwave til cheese bubbling, serve with salsa and soured cream/creme fraiche.

Basics

Potatoes (10mins, covered with boiled water, pierced clingfilm over the bowl)
Pasta (time it says on the packet, covered with boiled water)
Baked potatoes (7-8 mins on full power)
Polenta (1:4 ratio cornmeal to water/stock/milk, boil liquid, add cornmeal, whisking as you add. Microwave til done - 5-10 mins? Stirring approx every minute. I think it’s good left to set, and then baked, but I know not everyone has an oven - I thought cold and set it was still pretty tasty.)
Onions seem to fry just fine in a pyrex bowl (3mins, stir then another 2-4mins)
Poached egg: fill mug half with water, break an egg into it, put it into microwave on lowest setting for about a minute (but keep checking so it doesn’t explode)
Carrot ribbon pasta: agirlcalledjack.com/2015/03/11/carrot-ribbon-pasta-30p-microwave-vegan/
Chicken Pilaf agirlcalledjack.com/2015/02/27/chillaf-aka-chilli-pilaf-50p-vegan-microwave/

Meat/Fish
Bacon (~3 mins, over rim of cup sitting in a bowl)
Fish (poaches fine, just cook til opaque. Can poach in a little bit of wine for tasty-ness)(can also microwave with roule on top for tastyness - and then eat w/ potatoes, or flake into pasta)

Sauces
Cheese sauce (2oz cornflour/flour, 1/2tsp mustard powder, mix gradually with 1pt milk, heat til boiled stirring ~ every 1 minute, add 5oz cheese)
Carbonara (Bacon first, then pasta, then beat with eggs and cheese)
Tomato and ricotta sauce (Boil passata in microwave, stir in ricotta/soured cream/creme fraiche, plus a pinch of sugar and some oregano, pepper etc.)
Tuna-tomato sauce (Chop onions, heat in oil on high for 1-2mins, add tinned tomatoes, squeeze of tomato puree, tin of tuna, oregano, heat through)
Generic tomato sauce (Fry onions 3mins, add diced carrots for another 2-3mins, tin tomatoes, garlic/garlic puree, oregano, thyme, basil - can add peppers etc if you want. I like to do it as a 5 a day tomato sauce sometimes - onions 2mins, add diced courgette, another 2-3 mins, add diced peppers and grated carrot - another 2-3mins, Andy then add tomatoes, herbs etc.)

Pudding
Microwave pudding (2oz butter/marg, 2oz sugar, 2 oz SR flour, 1 egg, pinch baking powder poss. Mix. Put 1+ tbsp Golden Syrup/Jam/Alternative in base of pudding basin, pour mixture on top. Microwave for 3.5mins, covered with pierced clingfilm. Can substitute 1tbsp flour for 1tbsp cocoa. Can also add dried fruit etc.)
Crispy cakes (Melt 4oz butter, with 4oz icing sugar and 4 generous tbsp golden syrup, add 6tbsp cocoa and boil a bit, mix with 6oz cornflakes/rice crispies and put in a tin (can line with cling film for easy removal and reduced washing up).)
YUM: agirlcalledjack.com/2015/04/10/microwave-mini-egg-hot-chocolate/
Yum if you like bananas: agirlcalledjack.com/2015/03/01/quick-n-hot-banana-pot-18p-microwave-vegan/
Chocolate fondue (chocolate + smidge of double cream, microwave for 30s so cream boils and stir til melted. This is the BEST with toblerone if you see it on special offer. Dip bananas/strawberries in.)

She’s his mother asking to help him out.
Id do the same. It’s called being a caring mother. Why shame her for “caring too much”? There are mothers out there who couldn’t give two hoots about their children. Back off.

This. I am amazed by how many seem to think that teens should be left to fend for themselves. What's wrong with trying to find solutions together and we don't know if the son is not also looking for solutions.

DD is starting second year now and has learnt a lot by trial and error but there is still plenty where problems can be avoided because parents have been done things and know what may or may not work.

Is he allowed a combi oven hob? You can buy them in for about £100

Microwave vegetable steam bags are quite nice. You can also get rice and pasta steam bags but I haven’t tried them so can’t comment on the quality.

Iceland have chicken skewers which can be defrosted and eaten cold which could be added to rice and vegetables to make a quick fake-away.