Student cooking

vetstudent

Hi, does anyone know anything that will help me spend as little as possible on food? I have just come back to uni and need to do a shopping trip, but I get there and have no clue what to buy! I usually end up putting things in the basket and taking them out again!

I want to spend as little as possible while eating healthy.

I do not buy drinks (drink water mainly though i have squash atm until it runs out).

I do not have a freezer or oven, just a basic microwave, toaster, fridge and hob.

Thanks:beer:

Fire_Fox

Do you not even have a mini freezer compartment? If not buy the odd bag of frozen veggies or fruit and make into soups/ smoothies/ stewed fruits/ tomato and veg sauces as these will last longer in the refrigerator.

400g cans of mackerel or pilchards in tomato sauce (90p - £1), organ meats such as liver (£1+ per kilo), dried red or yellow lentils as these cook from raw, cheap canned kidney beans and baked beans, frozen green vegetables (spinach/ broccoli/ green beans), fresh root and longlife vegetables (onions/ carrots/ swede/ turnip/ red cabbage/ celery/ beetroot), peanut butter, the cheapest strong cheddar, canned tomatoes, porridge oats, dried mixed fruit, fresh pineapple and Farmfoods frozen rhubarb (cheapest fruits per kilo, most others are far more expensive than vegetables).

Don't be scared of bulk buying, I live alone and can get through 2kg of carrots, 4kg of onions, a whole cabbage and 15 or more eggs over a period of weeks if I store them correctly (cool, dry, dark place, look online for other tips). Or you can split larger packs of fresh or frozen with another student. Also be sure to go to a few different shops and price things up in a notebook or smartphone, Aldi Lidl and Farmfoods are often cheaper than the supermarkets, Tesco has gone up loads recently. Local open air market and any Indian mini markets are well worth exploring.

Buy a slow cooker for under a tenner and a stick blender for under a fiver, those will totally transform your options. And run a search for Weezl74's many threads. She was co-ordinating a feed a family of four healthily for £100 for a whole month a year or two back.

Edwardia

http://www.virgintoveteran.com/

Sam Stern is a student who has weitten six cookbooks.

Cas Clarke wrote Grub on a Grant and Vegetarian Grib on a Grant about cooking in halls at Sussex Uni and has reworked those into a new cookbook for students that starts students off with what they need and eveything from boiling eggs upwards.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Essential-Student-Cookbook-Foolproof/dp/075531056X

Clowance

I imagine the op is in the situation of a "catered hall" where you pay extra for the food (discounted) and therefore does not have access to a proper kitchen. My dd is likely to be in this position next year, the only cooking facilities are as above a microwave and kettle and sink and a fridge accessible to all other students therefore no use storing anything as it will go walkies.
Not allowed to have electrical appliances in room either.

I have been reading on internet about cooking pasta in thermos with boiling water - apparently you need a proper stainless steel thermos, fill with boiling water for a few mins then chuck away (to warm); add portion of pasta and fresh boiling water to top, put lid on and wrap in towel for insulation and lay on side. Takes about 30 mins. Then you could stir sauce and cheese through.

Jacket pots with baked beans - could keep these in room, add cheese if possible.

tinned tuna / corned beef - in pasta or sarnis or on jacket potato

Microwave packets of rice usually about £1

Tinned veg as nutritious as any other though tastes different, tinned carrots only 20p from tesco. Tinned new pots already cooked and cheap but taste a bit weird. Heat in microwave.

Scrambled egg in microwave.

Toasted cheese sarni - do bread in toaster and cut thin strips of cheese and lay separately on plate, microwave cheese for about 20-30 seconds until just bubbling then scrape on hot toast. Add slices of tomato if liked.

HTH

surfsister

catered halls sound a bit daft isn't there any other choice? none of my kidsever did this.

pawsies

look up save the student

tessie_bear

go to a libary and look in the cookery section for student cookbooks...some great books out there that use a small amount of ingredients i like jan arkless.....shop in aldi when u pay 39p for a kg of carrots if a few go soft before u get to them u have still had your moneys worth

good luck

Fire_Fox

Clowance wrote: »

I imagine the op is in the situation of a "catered hall" where you pay extra for the food (discounted) and therefore does not have access to a proper kitchen. My dd is likely to be in this position next year, the only cooking facilities are as above a microwave and kettle and sink and a fridge accessible to all other students therefore no use storing anything as it will go walkies.
Not allowed to have electrical appliances in room either.

The OP gave no indication they could not store anything in the refrigerator? A brand new slow cooker is far less of a fire risk than a hairdryer or hair straighteners which I bet most of the female residents have. Plenty of students have irons, personal computers and television sets so I assume the rules are not inflexible at all halls of residence, IIRC some insist some/ all appliances are PAT tested (or whatever the modern equivalent is). Maybe your daughter has been unlucky with her allocation if she is not permitted to have any electrical appliance in her room under any circumstances?

Edwardia

SIL is a nurse and the nurses in her hospital were notorious for bringing in toasters to put in the ward kitchen for snacks. They weren't PAT tested being non-official and there were several small fires so now if managers spot them the toasters get confiscated.

So these bans are there for valid reasons.

Fire_Fox

Edwardia wrote: »

SIL is a nurse and the nurses in her hospital were notorious for bringing in toasters to put in the ward kitchen for snacks. They weren't PAT tested being non-official and there were several small fires so now if managers spot them the toasters get confiscated.

So these bans are there for valid reasons.

Agreed: have lived in a nurses' home and worked on hospital sites so many times had the fire service out for burned toast. But toasters are different to a slow cooker (assuming in good working order), so IMO it's worth finding out what the rules are for each accommodation facility. A toaster has an open element and reaches a different temperature - too many young people light cigarettes off them! :eek:

vetstudent

Thanks for the replies I do not have a fridge freezer but have a decent size fridge in my room. Electricals are fine in your rooms here, I will have a look at slow cookers next time I go to town

Tesco is my only supermarket option here really, there is a Lidl but its quite a walk.

I bought some veg today but forgot stock cubes, so will get them soon and attempt some soup (asked a friend and she has a stick-blender I can borrow )

Thanks again for all the replies, a lot of great ideas there for me to look at when I dont know what to cook

I wasnt that hungry earlier so had banana sandwiches! Bought some cheap bananas, and Im thinking of making pancakes tomorrow, so the rest of the bananas can do with them