If you’re going to be living away from home when you start at UoB, learning to cook will be a necessity. Of course, you could just live on a diet of ready meals and takeaways, but where’s the fun in that? Plus, cooking adventures always make for a good story.
We’ve picked out a few cheap and easy meals for you to try - just to make things a little easier the first time you whip out your saucepan…
Stir Fry
Stir Fry is definitely one of the quickest options on the list and it’s a meal with so many possibilities when it comes to flavours. What’s not to love?
Here's an example recipe
Vegetarian / vegan / gluten-free: You could always add tofu alongside your favourite veggies and use gluten-free noodles.
Spaghetti Bolognese
Spaghetti Bolognese, or ‘Spag Bol’ is an absolute classic. It’s delicious and perfect for batch cooking, so you’ll have loads of leftovers meaning dinner will be sorted for the next few days - a convenient and cheap option!
Check out the classic recipe here
Or you can mix it up, to make a delicious vegetarian / vegan / gluten-free dish, by just swapping out the minced meat for lentils or vegetarian mince, and swap to gluten-free pasta.
Pesto Pasta
We’ve found that pasta is definitely a favourite amongst students - as is pesto. The two combine to make a delicious, mouth-watering meal, and you can add whatever veggies you like to spice it up a bit.
Pasta + Pesto = Pesto Pasta. What more is there to say?
Check out a recipe here
Vegetarian / vegan / gluten-free: You could use vegetarian / Free-From Pesto and gluten-free pasta.
Jacket Potato
A nice and easy recipe. It might not always be the fastest meal to make, but we can guarantee it will be just as tasty, no matter how many times you make it.
Check out a simple recipe here
Vegetarian / vegan / gluten-free: It’s up to you how you want to fill the potato – beans, cheese, tuna, salad – the list truly is endless.
TOP TIP: Short on time… pop the potato in the microwave for about 8 minutes and finish it off in the oven to speed up the cooking process – but don’t forget to pierce the potato with a fork first!
Fajitas
You can’t go wrong with Fajitas - a delightful, colourful meal that involves peppers and tomatoes therefore it must be good for you.
Check out an example recipe
Vegetarian / vegan / gluten-free: You could use vegetarian chicken style pieces and gluten-free wraps.
TOP TIP: When it comes to seasoning, you may not have all of the herbs and spices sitting in your cupboard. Never fear – you can always pop to your local supermarket and pick up pre-made seasoning! You can also buy pasta sauces and stir fry sauces too, to cut the cooking time in half while you’re studying.
Eggs
Finally, we come to our saviour - the egg. It can be cooked in so many different ways: boiled, scrambled, or fried, and combined with so many delicious foods. So, how could we leave it off the list? Let’s start with the basics…
How to fry an egg
Make scrambled eggs
Try boiling an egg