Providing food for a week with only fridge & microwave to prepare

[MaisieMaisie]

DD is in 1st year at uni. She was commuting but it's become a 5 hour round trip more often than not so at this late stage we have managed to find digs in a B&B type place for the rest of the year (or until she finds an alternative).

She will have breakfast there and can bring food to heat up in a microwave and a shelf in the fridge. She must vacate the premises every Friday completely so I'm trying to think of the most nutritious way to keep her fed. (left to her own devices she would live on pizza, chips or bread).

I thought I'd send her with a packet of homemade granola with seeds in case she's late home in the evenings (heavy work load) and I thought I'd freeze portions of lasagne and chilli for her to bring with her for say Monday and Tuesday evenings.

Any other ideas? Either for her to prepare with minimum fuss or stuff that will keep. Biscuits? Stuff for lunches?

Pitta and humous for lunches? Tinned soups or microwave rice packs (the ones with stuff like beans added to round out nutrition).

Microwave rice mixed with tinned tuna or scrambled egg
Jacket potato,beans and cheese
Microwave pasta/risotto
One of those microwave grain pouches (eg Jamie Oliver or Merchant Gourmet) with some of the ready cooked prawns/salmon you can get in the supermarket

As for lunches wraps or pittas with tuna/readymade falafel/cheese
Soup (tinned or carton) in a flask with bread or a roll

A lady I know at work gets a lot of those Jane Plan meals - they can sit in a cupboard for months and just need microwaving when you want them - they always look pretty nice - and whilst they’re “diet” your daughter could easily have other things with them to bulk them out

Ideas here too www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/microwave

Look out for packs of tuna with bean salad or tuna with cous-cous, John West do some also Rio Mare, probably near tinned sardines/tuna in the supermarket aisle. They don’t need refrigeration and are ready to eat, make a good wrap filling too.

Tinned soup is a good stand by, especially the substantial ones such as Cullen Skink fish soup.

Does her uni have a good “canteen”? Mine did.

I was a single mum and on a very tight budget and knackered with all I was doing (parenting, studying, voluntary role and part time job) so I actually found that during term time I was better off making lunch my main meal. Very cheap and nutritious in the uni canteen, I could get a main and a pud for about £2.50 then, but mostly just had a main for around £1-1.20 - admittedly about 15 years ago - but I’d have thought there are still subsidised “canteens” in most unis? By the time I accounted for food and energy costs there wasn’t really much in it price wise.

Then I’d have something lighter of an evening, eggs, something on toast, salad, sandwiches...

In addition as she has a shelf in the fridge things that can be eaten cold could be an option - quiche, sausage rolls, tartlets, scotch eggs etc

Things that don’t need refrigerating and can be microwaved: there’s your usual standbys of things like baked beans, tinned spaghetti etc but there’s also “meals in a tin” (myself and others have stocked up on these for Brexit/prepping) - macaroni cheese, chilli, curry, stews, chicken in white wine sauce, spaghetti Bolognese, ravioli...

Think outside the box a bit, outside your preferred healthier options, few foods are completely useless nutritionally - eg instant mash legally has to have certain vitamins added, breakfast cereals are fortified, cous cous is non-perishable and only needs a kettle to make, ditto the smaller pastas (just pour boiling water over a portion and leave to “cook”).

Not all veg needs to be refrigerated, she could have a few potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, garlic & onions for flavour - all fine to store at room temp. As is most fruit. Quick easy nutrition boost there.

Could she get or could you buy her an old fashioned veggie trolley (see pic) and she can use that for storage in her room? Easy to collapse and pack on weekends.

There’s also more traditional student “fare” which while not GREAT nutrition wise will fill a gap. Fine if not eaten every day.

Things like pot noodles, pot pasta...

Don’t forget things like condiments, herbs and spices which can make the difference between bland and punitive and tasty and comforting.

Snacks more on the healthy side than most students would even think to have - dried fruit (Sainsburys do wee snack packs I’m sure other places do too), cereal bars, seeded crackers, nuts, snack packs of seeds (I LOVE sunflower seeds), peanut butter and marmite for on toast are packed with vitamins.

Will she have toaster and kettle?

Remember not just bread you can toast, also bagels, muffins, crumpets (I’m on a kick of these at the moment), waffles (inc potato), potato scones (my fry up cheat leaves frying pan free for everything else)

I’ve recently been converted to toastabags which not only can you use them for toasted sandwiches but many other things too - veggie burgers/patties, bacon, even chicken nuggets apparently (I’m veggie but I’m just googling for reminders and for meat stuff), pasties and sausage rolls...

She’ll be fine

Would she be able to have a sandwich toaster?

Great suggestions thank you all. Yes, she does have a canteen at college and the idea of lunch as a main meal is a good one.

Glad to have hopefully helped. I also found I was too knackered to have much appetite at the end of the day so eating at lunchtime when I was more with it and slightly less stressed was better.

You could prep all the ingredients for this microwave chilli and they can be kept in the fridge until she needs them. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/microwave-chilli Likewise for this risotto www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/microwave_butternut_99796 Both of these recipes serve 2, so she’d have lunch sorted for the following day.

The microwave is great for cooking most veg - I usually do all my veg in preference to using the hob as it’s faster, keeps more nutrients the veg taste nicer. Just need to work out the times based on her own portion size and oven power. Not so good for frozen peas etc if you don’t have a freezer but loads of other fresh veg will work well.

You can cook pasta - depends on type of pasta but for dried pasta into boiling water for a few minutes, sometimes then wait 5 mins and back in for another few minutes; plenty of recipes online (albeit thin pasta or fresh pasta work best).

For sauces having some meat (a couple of slices from a deli counter or those packets of flavoured chicken or ham bits, salmon, smoked salmon or other fish you like, salami, whatever you like really), some chunks of veg, pre cooked or warmed up if needed and then a sauce element to mix everything together and keep it moist is tasty, easy and relatively cheap. Zap some cherry tomatoes so they break down as the base of a tomato sauce, or use/add a combination of cream, splash of sherry or gin or vodka or lemon or lime juice, pesto, gentleman’s relish, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, sweet chilli, garlic purée, curry paste, etc will all combine to make a wide variety of different flavours from the same basic principles.

Similarly if you use rice or quinoa or couscous etc you can use the same bits to make tasty dishes. If you have cooked rice then stir in a beaten egg, maybe a little cream too, plus flavourings (cheese, deli meats/fish as above but chopped more finely), veg, chopped spring onion, herbs etc) and then zap again you can end up with a cross between risotto and an omelette (omletto? Rislette?) that is quick, filling, tasty and healthy.

Finally remember there are plenty of puddings you can do too - starting with mug cakes seeing as it’s mumsnet but google and there are loads of ideas - there are also books aimed at people like your dd who just have a microwave and no other kitchen support for mug cakes and even mug main courses!

Mccains jacket potatoes, beans, cheese etc. She can take cooked bacon and sausages (they will be fine for upto 5 days in a container in the fridge.),

Is there a toaster? As well as toast you can cook waffles in the toaster.