Eating cheaply and healthily as a student

Sapphire27

Hi,
I’m currently a student and I want to challenge the stereotype that students only live on beans on toast/ready meals/noodles!
I’m trying to challenge myself to cook meals which don’t blow the budget, and trying to make them healthy too.

I have read previous threads of cheap and healthy meals on a budget, however I now feel many of these are out of date, and the costs are not the same today.

I cook for myself and my OH.

These are tips I always try to follow
- Save everything
I save carrot peelings, onion skins, and the tops and tails of vegetables for my homemade chicken stock. If I have any leftover vegetables that won’t get used, I put them in the freezer. This includes onions, butternut squash, swede,carrots, and the stalks of broccoli (peeled). When I have saved enough I make stew

- Add lentils
This reduces the amount of meat I use in dishes. I use lentils in soups, stews, and mince based meals such as spaghetti bolognese or cottage pie

- Add rice to soups
This adds a lovely creamy texture without the need for cream, and makes it extra filling too

- Make things from scratch
It takes a little more time, sometimes it can be a bit labour intensive, but my homemade pizza is SO cheap to make, and my OH prefers it to shop bought

If anyone has any tips or recipes to share, contributions would be most welcome!

WantToBeSE

My tips would be:

-Eat what is in season, it's much cheaper
-Instead of buying chicken breasts, buy 1 whole chicken and learn how to joint it. Link here: http://agirlcalledjack.com/2013/12/22/jointing-a-chicken-learning-a-new-thing-every-day/
-Learn to love beans/lentils
-Eat less meat
-Learn to cook (if you dont already know how)
-Buy the basics brand in the supermarkets

WantToBeSE

Hiya Sapphire. I am just having dinner at the mo, but will be back in the morning to type some up.
Also, the website that i gave you a link to, look on there, she has loads of recipes that are dead cheap and really lovely. A few that i can think of are Apricot Curry and also Carrot and Cumin burgers.

Will be back later

springdreams

There are loads of ideas and recipes in this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4084527

and this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4148389