Uni Recipes - Please add to this! Anything cheap and easy to prepare

[Ventress]

Hi all,
As we discussed on the year 13 thread, our young people are sometimes not the best with preparing cheap and healthy meals so this thread is give them some ideas 😊

Please join me in adding your ideas and recipes 😊

Here we go…

I have my own version of Greek chickpeas in the oven that requires much less oven cooking because I caramelize the onions (loads of them, sliced) in a frying pan before placing them over the warm cooked chickpeas (you can soak and boil your own, which is nicer if you have good quality dried chickpeas) and baking them for an hour in a casserole dish. I add in herbs - fresh marjoram if I have it but dried oregano will do and lots of black pepper and extra olive oil. This dish is always incredibly popular with vegetarians and meat eaters alike and very economical.

Oh!

home made quiche with cottage cheese and eggs and a tortilla.

apparently it’s a weight watchers meal but I found it on instagram.

I’ll try to find it later

hardest part is finding something to cook it in in my experience

Passing this one to veggie DS.
My student staple was a tin of ‘spicy beans in red pepper sauce’ and boil in the bag rice piled wth grated cheddar.

My student staple was kwik save Yorkshire pudding filled with instant mash, sausages from frozen, mixed veg from frozen and instant gravy poured over. It was not haute cuisine but it seemed like proper food at the time.

This is similar but without the tortilla

we do this but with cottage cheese, in a pan with a tortilla at the bottom. Thin pie crust.

we don’t add bacon or onions but do add spinach and basil or another herb and chopped baby toms. Parmesan grated on top is a good swap for Mozzarella but grated cheese will do too.

I don’t have tiktok but I bet there’s loads of ideas there.

hadnt thought of using a Pyrex dish in the air fryer so this is one I’ll be doing!

Photos would help

My student house special was pesto pasta, cooked so long that the pasta was just a big lump in the pan, a whole jar of budget pesto and tons of grated off brand mild cheddar?! Don't try it!

Things like chicken traybakes, you can just chuck veg, beans, tinned toms in and bung in the oven. Or if no oven then I guess it's gonna be kebabs and pot noodles?

This sounds delicious. I am enjoying finding new uses for marjoram, which was unfamiliar to me until DH planted some. I now prefer it to oregano (though I find they are not always interchangeable).

Easy dhal-

Rinse some split red lentils a few times then put in a pan with water to cover + 2 inches and a teaspoon of turmeric. Cook until really soft- the water should all be absorbed/evaporated, you may need to add a bit more.

In another pan, melt 2 tbs butter or ghee (or use oil if that is all you have). Quickly fry a tsp of cumin seeds and a tsp of chilli flakes- don't let them burn.

Add to the lentils and season to taste.

You can eat this with rice, with bread, with yoghurt or as a dip. Add more water and it's a soup.

Excellent recipies, tip from dd freeze in portions in bags which are flattened, so sauace is spread out flat. Takes up less freezer room and often you have only one drawer or less. Shes coeliac so cooks alot. Also teach them fried rice needs to be cooked then fried, that tin foil cant be microwaved and dont eat pink chicken, all things shes had to stop her housemates doing this year!

Thank you for these, they are great.

I love the dhal recipe. I’m going to try this at home.

Jamimmi / oh goodness, the “pink chicken “ does worry me, although DS is pretty good with chicken as he cooks trays of chicken wings/drumsticks in the oven to go with his fried rice 😊

That pesto pasta disaster made me laugh @BillieWiperbut the chicken tray bake sounds very good 😊

I like the tortillas or flat bread suggestions. Also burritos. I think DS could eat a different meal every day with all of these recipes- thank you! 🙏

@Ventress the pink chicken had a happy ending he's been her lovely boyfriend for 7 months! They have all improved over the year too!

Smoked salmon or ready-cooked fillets are often on the yellow sticker section round here - worth getting and having with scrambled eggs or stir fry. Works out as a really cheap “treat” meal.

Rice pouches aren’t the cheapest way to eat rice but can be a very quick and relatively cheap hit of flavour - add frozen veg and a bit of chorizo/chicken/tofu/quorn and you have a very easy and reasonably nutritious meal.

The older I get the less I wish to eat meat (much to my DH's distress - he loves meat!) and the more excited I am by herbs to liven up my plant based food preferences!

Smoked salmon pasta is also nice. Chop an onion finely and then add some smoked salmon. We just use the trimmings. Ads some cream lemon juice and black pepper and then mix with pasta.

1 pack of trimmings can stretch to 2-3 people as it’s quite flavourful.

An, that’s lovely @jamimmi. Perhaps if DS displays his complete incompetence he will find a lovely GF! 😂

we do smoked salmon carbonara at home. Basically swap the pancetta for small strips of smoked salmon DS won’t eat eggs 🙄 @CompleteMere

Definitely herbs @Ceramiq. I have bought a box to put jars of herbs and spices in, now I need to make a list of those I want to buy 😊

We do pasta as @snowymarbles describes 😊 smoked salmon with cream and lemon juice plus lots of Parmesan! I hide egg into this too 😊

Have a lovely Sunday everyone - we’re having lasagne with salad and garlic bread, plus a roulade. Yum!

Another one - par boil some baby potatoes. Chuck in a tray with some chopped sausages, chopped apple and onions. Add bid of oil roast for a while and add some whole grain mustard near the end.

This is a great thread. Thanks for starting it @Ventress and for all the contributions so far.

DS tends to cook lots of pasta and egg based meals! This thread will be great to give him some variety!

F
[Disclaimer]
Not at uni but loving the ideas

I think you need to take in to consideration what utensils / appliances and storage are available. It might be one cupboard and one fridge shelf.

For cooking a good knife is IMHO essential, but keep in the student's room not the kitchen.

Argos do a small slow cooker I think others do as well but here is a recipe that will feed one person for 2 days, or two people for one.

Pork ribs - I prefer the ones that are joined together
1 jar passatta
1 tin of beans - I like butter beans but any will do
Salt and pepper and any dried herbs /spices - I like smoked paprika.

Switch on the slow cooker
Put the ribs in, if you have got the ones joined together then they will fit sort of lining the sc
Drain the tin of beans and add to the slow cooker
Add in the passatta

Go to lectures / library / pub for a few hours

The bones will actually come out of the ribs so remove them before serving, I find it easiest to do this with chop sticks.

Once it looks like pulled pork in a tomato sauce it is ready to eat.

I like to have this with crusty bread

Pasta with cream cheese.

You can do this just with pasta and the cheese but you can add in mushrooms, bacon, chicken, veg. I'll do a mushroom recipe here

Philadelphia style cheese
Pasta
butter / oil (you don't need this if you are just using the cheese)
salt and pepper

Put the pasta in water and heat
Slice the mushrooms
when the pasta is about 5 mis from cooked add the oil / butter tot eh pan and then add the mushrooms with seasoning
Keep the mushrooms moving so they don't stick
Once the mushrooms are cooked add a dollop of cream cheese, about half the packet will be plenty
Add a couple of spoonfuls of the water the pasta is cooking in
keep stirring the cream cheese and mushroom mixture, drain the pasta and then add it to the mushroom mix.

To save washing up you can eat from the pan.

One bit of advice is to use tins / cans as substitutes for fresh so if you have a recipe for fishcakes then try it with tinned fish rather than fresh.

Really easy cottage pie
1 tin of minced beef and onion
1 packet of instant mashed potato
Optional frozen or tinned or even fresh veg

You do need a casserole dish.
Boil the kettle

Open the tin(s), pour the mince in to the dish
Make the mash
Dollop mash on top of the mince and put in the oven for 20 - 30 mins

Daal and rice, super cheap, mostly long life ingredients you can send at the start

1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic sliced (or dried/frozen)
1 chilli chopped (or dried)
1 inch ginger chopped (or dried/frozen)

saute these in a little oil

add 100g red lentils

add 200ml boiling water and a 50g sachet of creamed coconut, stock cube plus a heaped teaspoon spoon of curry powder, strength of choice. Bring to boil, stir, cook 20 minutes on low heat add water if needed

serve with brown rice for good nutrition. Rice can be cooked in bulk and frozen in plastic tubs, take out as needed. It’s about 50p a portion as described and you can serve with pan fried vegetables sprinkled with cumin for instance. Vegan, gluten free (check spice blends and stock cube). I make this regularly in larger quantities, freeze and eat for breakfast with freshly fried parantha (frozen in world foods aisle)

Vegan chilli is a doddle for even the non cook

sauté chopped onion, carrot and celery, add can mixed beans, can chopped tomatoes, spoonful of chilli powder to taste, teaspoon ground coriander, teaspoon oregano then cook for 15-20 mins until veggies are softening. Add fresh chilli and coriander if desired, dried doesn’t really cut it. I serve with brown rice, grated cheese or sour cream myself but cream cheese also works, makes loads and freezes

I love these recipes, thank you all.

agree @sashh re space etc. we have Ninja 9 way cooker which is supposed to do everything from stir fry to slow cooker! We do use it at home so perhaps we’ll donate one of these to the kitchen 😊

DS and DH will hopefully they’ll get to see the halls and kitchens when they visit at the end of the month.

When I was in my early 20s in postgrad my partner used to

buy a chicken and skin it, stuff it with lemons, pierce the skin and put garlic cloves in it, pour olive oil over it, cover with tin foil and roast

then, take the left over pieces (underside etc) and boil the bones to make broth.

Put the tiny left over pieces into the broth with soy sauce and pok choi

several meals in one.