Cheap and Nutritious Meals...

StupidLikeAFox

Im a student, so i know im expected to be eating crap food, but whats a good, nutritious meal that can be made without spending too many shilllings?

djmarkus

I dont know, but i wanna find out

BuffyBot

http://www.campusaccess.com/campus_web/student/s2quick.htm

You may have to adapt some of them.

Lots of other simple ideas - (drained) canned tuna, pasta sauce, mushrooms, cooked (brown) pasta = simple, filling pasta bake. Indeed, pasta and rice and your friends.

Kintarō Hattori

Coddle is super tasty and very cheap to make. Can make tons of it in one go.

Supercell

The student favourites - Spagetti Bolognese - once perfected its delicious (very easty to modify to taste) , nutritious and cheap..and you might even eat it afer college!!

Beans on wholemeal toast (seriously) , lots of goodness in there and pretty cheap too (for the really really cash strapped days!!).

Tuna on pasta..tuna on bread..tuna on rice...try to stick to the tuna in brine (more healthy than the in oil crap), you can pretty easily mod your Bolognese recipies to use tuna instead, or just google it (tuna is great for omega 3 , high in protein and low in fat..very high recomendation, particularily if you do a lot of sports activities).

Get plenty of veg..pref in the local aldi or lidl - veg is veg..just wash it properly if it comes from one of the cheaper stores and you'll be grand.

Am sure others here have cheap good food tips, on a whole, cooking from fresh ingrediants is suprisingly cheap compaired to the prepackaged processed crapola ready meals, no reason to eat badly just because you're a student at all! (that said I did live on beans on toast one week when I discovered I had a fiver left for food for the week hehe..ahh the joys of student life!!)

BuffyBot

just wash it properly if it comes from one of the cheaper stores and you'll be grand.

Ermm..you should probably wash it no matter where you get it...

Supercell

BuffyBot wrote:

Ermm..you should probably wash it no matter where you get it...

Well as a general rule you are right of course..however veg from one supplier to another does change. For example Tesco insists that the veg be safe to eat unwashed from their suppliers (even though their produce wisely recommends washing it) and regularily tests for fertiliser and sprays etc..however smaller producers aren't so rigourious and you REALLY do need to wash before eating.

As a general rule, wash before eating is totally correct

Defcon 5

Why not try aldi noodles 25 cent a packet they come in a variety of flavours like spicy thai as well as old favourites like chicken ,curry, beef, mushroom.
Now the beauty of these little boy o's is that you can mix them with anything for example :


Chicken noodles with grilled chicken breast and some peppers fried with an onion. Mix everything together in a wok add a little salt and pepper.

Chicken breast 1 euro
3 pk peppers(1.49) 50cent
Chicken noodles 25 cent

Total cost 1.75 (pint of mi wadi orange optional)

Got me through college but when i didnt have chicken add tuna,different veg,gammon anything at all,great stuff enjoy

Shabadu

Tesco value noodles are the win at a phenomenal 13c per packet! Throw away the flavouresque sachets though, bleurgh.

Big veggie curries w/ rice are also v.good for you and tasty. Buy your veg,rice and spices in Asian shops. If you cba dry frying and grinding your own spices buy a spice paste. Some can be quite good, they're reasonably cheap and will last you for ages.

The secret of great curry is to ensure your onions and garlic have been well caramelised. Then add the spices, veg, sauté for a while, then a small amount of water depending on how much water your veg will release. Cook for an hour or so at a simmer, then chuck in some rice and simmer for another 15 mins.

For protein, throw some red lentils and water into a pot, about twice as much water in volume than lentils. Bring to the boil, then simmer until mushy. Blend or whip. Add salt and peper, finely crushed garlic, knob of butter or some ghee, then some garam masala toasted on a dry pan.

Make up a load of it, it'll only improve in flavour. Make sure you boil the bejaysus out of it before eating it again though. I'd give it 3 days max in the fridge.

Please avoid making jokes about my use of the words 'knob' and 'ghee' in this post.

:v:

tSubh Dearg

One of the best value things I used to cook while at college was a whole chicken, they cost about 4.99 and you can get about 3 meals out of them at least.

Day 1: Roast chicken

Day 2: Make a curry or chicken pie with left over meat, this will last for 2 days.

You can then boil the carcass for stock and make a soup out of it which can be frozen or just eat the soup over several days. Not too bad considering you can make all of this for under a tenner, including the cost of the veg etc.

EDIT: Just remembered Shepherd's Pie (or Cowherd's Pie for those pedantic people who call it this when I use beef mince instead of lamb) is also a great low cost, tasty meal and you make a huge one, divide it into portions, freeze and then reheat as you want it.

xzanti

Make a pot of beef stew.. Costs about 6 quid for all the ingredients (if you use low budget meat) I usually get about 5 good size bowls from one pot.. Put it in tupperwear and freeze for the week if you have to...

boneless

If you use a lot of rice get it in the Asian markets; cheapest in town. Supermarkets are not always the cheapest for veg. Shop around the smaller green-grocers if there are any near you. If they get to know you they sometimes give good bargains!

Stews are great this time of year and easy to store by freezing.

MonkeyTennis

Vegetarain Chili was always a winner with me in college, even though I wasnt a veggie. Lightly fry two large onions,a green pepper a chili pepper and two chopped cloves of garlic until soft. Throw in two tins of chopped tomatoes and a tin of kidney beans and simmer for 45 mins. (actually the longer the better) Serve with rice, on baked potatoes or in flour tortillas. Grated cheese and sour cream are nice add ons and if youre feeling cheeky some fresh coriander is top

catspring

also a student with a limited budget, and i made a nice dinner tonight which was pretty cheap, can be made in bulk and frozen, and was tastey and fairly nutricious. the following recipe makes enough for one or two (depending on your appetite)

soften half an onion and a clove of garlic in some olive oil in a pot; add half a red pepper, sliced; mushrooms (and any other veg you like); fry gently for a few minutes.
add some shopped chorizo (can be bought cheaply in lidl; i reckon normal sausages would work too - i'd brown them in a hot pan first).
add a tin of tomatoes, a taste of salt and pepper, level teaspoon of sugar, teaspoon of tomato puree (if you have it), and half a teaspoon of ground cumin (you could substitute this with other spices), a splash of balsamic vinegar. add as much wholegrain rice as you think you'd need (and some water if necessary).
bring to the boil, simmer for 15 minutes (or until rice is soft).

i know that most students cannot afford extravagant spices etc (myself included), but it is worth getting a few basics. i found that by buying even just one thing every couple of weeks, that it didn't take long to get the essentials together: mixed herbs, tomato puree, mixed spices, balsamic vinegar, etc. again if you live near lidl or aldi they're pretty good for this kind of thing.