Moving away from home, where most domestic chores are taken care of for you can be overwhelmingly daunting, especially if your university accommodation is self-catered. As convenient as catered halls may seem, they lack the flexibility of choosing the time of your own meals, but also the food that you eat. The on-going myth that student cooking needs to be boring and somewhat unhealthy because healthy meals are too hard to make is about to be debunked.
If, like me, you love a bargain, shamelessly spending hours on end comparing supermarket prices online is a must. A walk to Morrisons or Tesco will benefit your budgeting but, if you want to really go for it, Iceland, PoundLand and Savers could be the places for you. Low prices don’t always parallel low quality though, since Iceland shelves contain many mainstream branded products that are sold in bulk for cheaper.
A great tip for saving the pennies is to shop at one of Exeter’s local food stores, where fruit and veg are not only 100 per cent organic, but also far cheaper. ‘Eat your greens’ on Sidwell’s street offers a 10 per cent discount to students. Similarly, ‘Love local foods,’ is a food van that comes up to campus on Tuesdays and Thursday around mid day, selling low priced, local produce. Once you’ve got your ingredients, it’s time to get cooking. Here are just a few recipes you could try that are healthy, cheap and also taste great!
Vegetarian Chilli
- Chop up two bulb onions, cube a garlic clove and add to hot pot for two-three minutes.
2. Add one can of red kidney beans, one can of corn, one cup of green peas, one cup of broccoli and/or cauliflower, along with one cup of vegetable stock to the pot for around six minutes.
3. Once the water has been absorbed, add in one jar of tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes.
4. Season with ground black pepper, turmeric, cumin, chilli flakes, parsley and any other herbs and spices of your choice.
Coconut Curry
- Chop up two bulb onions, cube a garlic clove and add to hot pot for two-three minutes.
Photo Credit: flickr.com/photos/yukochatulapoly - Add any vegetables of your choice into the pot, one can of chickpeas, along with two cups of vegetable stock.
3. Add in a can of coconut milk, along with three-four tbsp. of curry powder.
4. Further season with ground black pepper, cumin, garam masala, paprika and any other herbs and spices of your choice.
Stir-fry
- Add a chopped up onion, along with as much veggies as you like in a wok pan with one cup of vegetable stock. Also add in a net of noodles and wait for the water to be absorbed.
- For flavour, add one tsp. of wholegrain mustard, one tbsp. of maple syrup, a drizzle of soy sauce and spices of your choice (ground black pepper, cumin, paprika and ginger work well).
All meals have a cooking time of around 15-25 minutes.