Cheap but reasonably healthy student meals

I'm starting Uni in October, and I'm going self-catered so I need to come up with some ideas for food I can make. I want to try to eat healthily, but I'm not sure how easy that will be on a student budget.

So, do you have any recommendations for cheap yet healthy meals?

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Reply 1

Leicestergrad11

Original post by fayola1337

Risotto... Can throw whatever is on special offer in tesco's into it, pretty much lived off it in my 3rd year

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Reply 2

superwolf

Vegetable or chickpea curry (buy a good Indian cookbook and a bunch of spices from and Asian cash and carry and you'll be able to make tons of awesome, cheap and tasty meals), soup (you can put practically anything in soup, it's a good way to use up leftovers), you can buy a kilo of frozen pollock (fish) for £3-4 - can wrap it in tinfoil and bake it in the oven covered in various spices/vegetables, make chowder, fry it... vegetable fried rice is cheap, pasta with various things (easiest pasta sauce in the world - heat up cream cheese with some milk and keep stirring til it's smooth. Goes well with bacon and mushroom).

BBC food website is a good source of free recipes and you can search using various criteria, otherwise try looking round charity shops for good recipe books (I wouldn't bother with most of the ones aimed at students, unless if you're planning on living off fish finger sandwiches for the next three years :tongue:

Reply 3

Dolly786

Buy a big bag of paste from asda.
Then shop in aldi buy Tomato pasta already made for 50p with different fillings.
Add extras every other day like heat minced meat for about 10 mins, pour the ready made tomato pasta. Cook for 15 mins. Meanwhile cook the paste. Lunch or dinner ready in less then an hour.
Add vegetables, or buy frozen vegetables instead of meat.
Beans on toast, add eggs, fresh vegetables etc.
Pancake with different fillings. I put chocolate in mine.
Hope these help.

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Reply 4

zaliack

The best option is to shop with people in your halls to buy bulk food, and cook it together. Spaghetti bolognese is really cheap, and you can cook enough for lunch and dinner -

£1 for a kg of spaghetti
£2-3 for frozen mince (To bulk it up, you can throw in some frozen veg - £1 for a kg)
£1 for a few cans of cheap tinned tomatoes
£1 for tomato paste
£1.50ish for herbs.

That's £8.50 and it's enough for about 8 servings.

Macaroni and cheese (although a bit unhealthier) is reasonably cheap and bulky as well (Milk, butter, cheese, macaroni - £6ish for several portions)

Also, bulk buy frozen sliced chicken from iceland (about £1.50 each) and use it with rice and a sauce of your choice.

Always aim to add frozen veg to all of your sauces, bulks it up to last longer, and makes it healthier.

If you want something which tastes better, then buy chicken thighs from tesco (about £1.50 for 3-4ish), buy some herb bag things (about £1) and cook them in it. Use the sauce from the herbs as "gravy" for new potatoes (50p tinned, £1 fresh) and veg.

Mince, gravy and veg - really cheap, easy to make, and tastes okay.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

OrangeUK

Pasta, lots and lots of pasta!

Reply 6

idontthinkso

Before uni I thought I'd learn to cook and eat healthy.
At uni cooking and planning meals were the last things on my mind.

kfc

Original post by OrangeUK

Pasta, lots and lots of pasta!

and Pot Noodles :biggrin:

Reply 9

Nia_Beth

Stir fry - prawns, chicken, veg, beef; anything like that is sooo quick, easy and relatively healthy I think :smile:

. Good luck

Reply 10

dem503

Original post by Dolly786

The key word here is Aldi.

Reply 11

Swanbow

Spaghetti bolognese is really cheap! Can of tomatoes, pasta, some mince and vegetables and you are sorted. Tortillas can be very cheap, buy a budget back at Lidl and simply add some spiced up chicken to it, also very cheap and effective. If you got Iceland you can also get fish for quite cheap, add some sauce to it with a side dish of vegetables and rice and your laughing.

The trick is to just try get the cheapest ingredients, and experiment around a bit. You'll eventually get the hang of cooking easy, cheap and healthy meals.

Reply 12

Iqbal007

Original post by fayola1337

You could eat noodles occasionally, like you can buy those instant ones, but obviously you mix it up and add things in,
I've had it before for a while, you get sick of it if you have it everyday, but having it once in a while is good, healthy depending on what you add as well as how you cook it and cheap.

I googled your needs, seems good http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/healthy/cheap-and-healthy/

Especially the chicken katsu and Chicken, red pepper & almond traybake

Reply 13

aarora

You can get a back of potatoes which cost like £1 and have jacket potatoes.. also things like noodles are usually on offer and get the big bags of pasta they're cheap and last long :smile:

Reply 14

memomemootoo

I buy a 250g block of Asda value lard once a week.

..eat 3 small cubes of that each day.. spend 39p per week :sexface:

healthy

Reply 15

Oswy

Original post by fayola1337

I'd suggest including rolled oats into your daily food routine - I have half a mug (which is about 50g) every morning with semi-skimmed milk (heated in the microwave for a little over a minute). Oats are a very healthy cheap food and provide good slow-release energy.

Reply 16

Gwilym101

You can buy veg in bulk. I brought 15kg of potatoes for £5, try green groceres rather than supermarkets. On that track try butchers and fish mongers as well.

Sides of mackerel are cheap and don't need to be cooked. Salmon trimmings are the same and very good for you.

Don't buy premade meals, they are low quality and expensive for what they are.

Spaghetti bolognase, curries and shepards pies are easy to make, reasonably cheap, reasonably healthy and you can make enough of each to last a few days.

Reply 17

nadiah

make a massive batch of lasagne (veggie or meat, if you use basics both are fairly cheap!) then freeze up some squares. And there you have home-made ready meal lasagne :smile:

Reply 18

zaliack

Also, for snacks, buy a lot of root vegetables and make crisps out of them. Tastes quite good and is cheap.

Reply 19

Cake Faced Kid.

I'm not in uni yet but I'm home alone enough of the time to need to cook for myself. Usually I do tomato soup macaroni cheese (nicer than it sounds) which is:
1 tin tomato soup (heinz, 80p)
Whatever veg is lying around, usually mushrooms (teco value button, 75p), onion (19p) , courgettes (68p for 2), frozen peas/sweetcorn (30p for 1/3 of value pack)
A 500g bag of pasta (more or less, it's a forgiving recipe) (tesco value - 30p)
However much cheese you feel like (200g for £1.01)

Cook pasta, fry veg, combine all ingredients in roasting tray, sprinkle over cheese, bake.

Total of £4.03 and will make four generous portions. Replace the soup with a pasta sauce for an alternative, put different veg in (tomatoes, peppers, celery), add mince, Pretty healthy depending on cheese amount.

Also if I really can't be bothered doing anything that requires effort, I just cook a load of rice with frozen peas and sweetcorn, drain, add butter, salt and pepper.

Soup's always good as well, stock (cubes or powder), pretty much any veg that you have, lentils/pearl barley/chickpeas, meat if you want it etc