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How Much Do I Need For Food + Cheap Dish Ideas??

I dont know anyone at Uni so i will be going in completely blind. Im a healthy male who likes to eat big portions and mostly healthily when i can. I have no idea how much i will need for myself so any advice would be much appreciated. Additionally dish ideas?? I already know pasta XD
Depends what kind of foods you like and if you have any dietary requirements or restrictions. But have a look at BBC good food and other similar websites for recipe ideas. You can save money and reduce food wastage by making a meal plan and sticking to it. You can save money also by buying things like rice and pasta in bulk if you use them often.
Reply 2
Pasta is healthy now??
Different curries, they have a high starting cost but after that you only really need to buy the meat/vegetables and coconut milk/chopped tomatoes depending on the recipe, they also take a while so if you like quick meals this isn't the best way to go (although it doesn't take too much longer than making pasta from scratch). Salmon and rice is also pretty good although more suited to medium sized meals than large ones, it's also very quick <15 mins and you can modify and it things too it rather easily. Fajitas and stir fries are good to learn but you might need to plan a bit more in terms of getting the ingredients. Pulled Pork is pretty easy but more of a pre-planned thing as it takes a few hours to cook and then you need to pull it, a £6 pork shoulder will last you 5 or 6 good sized meals if stored well though so it's well worth it.

As a sidenote start trying out vegetarian alternatives, they're cheaper and often have just as good a taste if prepared well. Personally I find veggie hot dogs and quorn mince are awesome.
I love stir fries, easy to make (you can use your own veg or buy packs of stir fry vegetables) and mix it up with different sauces to change the taste a bit. Yum.

Otherwise, google and experimenting is your friend.
Reply 5
My go to dishes at uni tend to be things like spaghetti bolognaise, chilli con carne and rice, vegetable/ chicken stir fry, omellettes, risotto or home made soup, things that I can batch cook and eat throughout the week really and is cheap, as I live on a tight budget at uni to save money, so I budget £20 a week on food, and can some weeks do it for less than that.
Original post by Magicalgeofray
I dont know anyone at Uni so i will be going in completely blind. Im a healthy male who likes to eat big portions and mostly healthily when i can. I have no idea how much i will need for myself so any advice would be much appreciated. Additionally dish ideas?? I already know pasta XD


I'd always advise going to a market to buy meat
you can buy a lot of decent quality products for very little money

Spoiler

Original post by Magicalgeofray
I dont know anyone at Uni so i will be going in completely blind. Im a healthy male who likes to eat big portions and mostly healthily when i can. I have no idea how much i will need for myself so any advice would be much appreciated. Additionally dish ideas?? I already know pasta XD


Hello :smile:

My weekly budget on shopping when I first started was £25, this went to around £10 when I started doing group shops and has remained at this steadily for a while now. The most I spend on a shop is around £15 these days.

Easy, quick and healthy dishes that I cook often are;
Spaghetti Bolognese
Pasta Bakes
Enchiladas
Fajitas
Various Pasta Dishes (Tuna Pasta etc)
Homemade Turkey Burgers and Veg etc

I'd suggest purchasing some student cook books, they are really helpful!
Thank you for all your replies, such good ideas :smile: thanks for the budget estimates too as that was a real worry for me

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