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Did you guys live on microwave meals?

Sorry in advance if this has already been created before, I just haven't got the time to trawl through masses of topics. :s-smilie:

I started uni in September at Swansea, and have been mainly living off microwave meals for these first few weeks as I can't cook to save my life! :redface:

I don't even know how to boil an egg ffs! :p:

I was just wondering if anyone else started off like me, meal-wise? Did any non-cooks learn to cook by themselves by the end of the year? Is anyone as useless as me lol?

Reply 1

Angelil

19

Ewwwwww microwave meals :puke:

You shouldn't live on them, they're expensive and really bad for you.

You will certainly learn once your bank balance starts depleting :p:

Seriously though, there's no excuse - there are so many decent student cookbooks out there, and loads of things you don't even need a cookbook for. Don't tell me you need instructions to make beans on toast, or soup out of a packet/tin?!

Reply 2

Cowards

8

I have no other option...

Reply 3

Angelil

19

Cowards

I have no other option...

Reply 4

Cowards

8

Angelil

I wish.

All that I've got is a Microwave and the option to have the food in the hall, but with only a £1.80 allowance for it, there's not much point paying for more food.

Although I make more sandwiches and stuff than have zapped meals...

Don't accuse.

Reply 5

MissSurfer

17

Angelil

Ewwwwww microwave meals :puke:

You shouldn't live on them, they're expensive and really bad for you.

You will certainly learn once your bank balance starts depleting :p:

Seriously though, there's no excuse - there are so many decent student cookbooks out there, and loads of things you don't even need a cookbook for. Don't tell me you need instructions to make beans on toast, or soup out of a packet/tin?!

Can I just say that whilst I agree that they're expensive, not all of them are bad for you. I don't like eating too much E-numbers and I won't eat anything with hydrogenated fat in, but since starting uni I've had a couple of ready meals a week just because it's a bit easier to start with (even though I can cook ok - I got an A in GCSE food tech).

Although they weren't really microwave meals - I cooked them in the oven but same thing I guess!

Good idea to learn to cook though cus I can't imagine it's great to have them every night!

Reply 6

Mr Goodkat

OP

I don't have them every night, but when I do, they're usually pasta meals. Are they bad for you aswell?

Reply 7

punktopia

3

I have them pretty much every night and I'm in my third year. Everyone else I know cooks "properly", but I think a veggie microwave lasagne is better for you than value boiled pasta tbh. Certainly tastes better.

Reply 8

button16

1

One thing to do if you have some time some days and not so much others, is freeze the left overs and have it another day in a few weeks. I haven't had one micromeal since I started uni :smile:

Reply 9

Seanisonfire

15

I live on microwave meals. 5 for £4 in the local tesco, taste good, I cant cook and I'm still alive.

Well i do have the odd ham sandwich i guess. ;w00t;

Reply 10

cabbage

i have ready meals occasionally.. but try to cook things when i can. Some of them are just easier.. like the fish pie one, its really nice. Plus i normallly do them in the oven.. somehow they seem to taste better done in the oven.. and its feels a bit more healthy! haha

Reply 11

BibbleJW

12

Well, I have yet to have a single microwave meal at uni, and prefer to make stuff myself (getting stuff together to make pizza dough at the moment). I have made things like Pork Chop with stilton sauce, Arribiata pasta bake with pancetta, chicken stuffed with mozzerella, wrapped in pancetta. I do think that it is better for you, and it tastes better if you actually cook what you are eating.

As to how I learned to cook, I took the osmotic method; I worked in a kitchen for 4 years, and I think some of it sunk in.

Reply 12

Cirsium

19

Even if you have nothing but a microwave there's plenty of stuff you can make in the microwave that is cheaper and better for you than a processed ready meal! If you have some spare time and want to learn to cook then the Delia basics books go right from the very beginning - how to tell if water is boiling :rolleyes:

Alternatively my other half has something like Cooking for Blokes and Posh Cooking for Blokes - he hasn't poisoned me yet!!

Reply 13

*Joanna*

12

Bags of salad are the way forward, as are tins of soup, beans, baked potatoes (ideally crisped off in oven but beggars can't be choosers), sandwiches, stir frys, omlettes, scrambled eggs....there's loads of easy stuff you can do without having to be a good cook. I can't cook nowt without a recipe book, yet I eat healthily enough- hardly ever have microwave meals.

Just chuck yourself in at the deep end and try some stuff. Or find a flat mate that can cook and ask them to help you a bit!

Reply 14

Echolife

15

I've just eaten Heinz Speg Hoops that now come in a carton that you can microwave. So no tin opening, using cooker or dirtying saucepans/dish just eat it straight from the carton.

Reply 15

Fusion

20

^^^ Haha maximum convenience

Reply 16

Speedbird2008

3

Ready meals are disgusting. Learn how to cook:

1 - Better for you
2 - More satisfying to see and taste something you have made
3 - COSTS LESS! :biggrin:

Reply 17

SoundDevastation

13

things you can cook in a microwave.

couscous
vegetables
rice
scrambled egg
beans
soup
pretty much anything else from a tin
jacket potatos

with a bit of experimentation you can cook vegetable curry.

Reply 18

simon-uk

Mr Goodkat

Sorry in advance if this has already been created before, I just haven't got the time to trawl through masses of topics. :s-smilie:

I started uni in September at Swansea, and have been mainly living off microwave meals for these first few weeks as I can't cook to save my life! :redface:

I don't even know how to boil an egg ffs! :p:

I was just wondering if anyone else started off like me, meal-wise? Did any non-cooks learn to cook by themselves by the end of the year? Is anyone as useless as me lol?

Just hang around the kitchen, and ask people if you can watch them cook. Then copy them. By using this method, I have learned how to use the kettle (it needs to be plugged in), the hob thingy (you have to press the sparky button), and the microwave (the buttons are all in different places to my one at home.) I even cooked a stir-fry tonight, although it didn't go very well. I threw most of it away and ate a packet of hob-nobs instead. But I do at least know how to boil an egg. :p:

Reply 19

Dionysus

15

SoundDevastation

things you can cook in a microwave.

couscous
vegetables
rice
scrambled egg
beans
soup
pretty much anything else from a tin
jacket potatos

with a bit of experimentation you can cook vegetable curry.

That's extremely easy to do in a saucepan, and much better. Break three eggs into a saucepan; add a knob of butter. Put on the heat, stir continuously, take off the heat, put back on the heat; on off, on, off etc - add smoked salmon or chives or something if you want to - once it becomes a little bit more solid, add to two slices of toast. It really is that easy. If you want to make it posh, serve with flatcap mushrooms and tomatoes on the vine.

Did you guys live on microwave meals?

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