Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
My top 3 go to student recipes
Hi, I’m Bridget and in this blog I’ll be sharing with you how to make some of my favourite, easy, student budget friendly meals.
Cooking was something that I basically taught myself from scratch when I came to uni, and I like to think, three years later, I’ve come pretty far. Sure, in first year I ate a lot of pesto pasta and oven chips, but with the help of some student cookbooks and a little experimentation I’ve moved on to bigger and better things. So don’t worry if you don’t have much cooking experience, I’m here to help.
I definitely find recipes specifically made for students to be the best to use. The people who write these know we can’t be bothered to buy random ingredients we’ll never use again, and are mindful of the student budget. BBC Food also has a great database of recipes, although there are so many different renditions of the same meal it can be hard to find the easiest/fastest/cheapest one. So my top tips would be to search for lists such as ‘quick easy meals’, it’s definitely worth checking out.
All of the recipes below aim to make two portions (so that we have some for leftovers!)
Roast Veggie Pasta Recipe
This is my go-to if I have any leftover vegetables from other meals that need using up. It’s quick, easy and makes me feel a little better about eating pasta yet again. The total cost, if like me you shop at Aldi, is about £1 per portion.
- 2 mugs of pasta (from my experience, 1 mug of uncooked pasta makes a portion)
- 1 tin tomatoes, or 250g tomato pasta sauce
- Leftover veg - whatever you have works, I usually use a red pepper and half a courgette. About a mug’s worth once chopped should be good.
- Oil
- Salt, pepper, mixed herbs (optional), some cumin and chilli powder if you’re feeling fancy
- Baking sheet
- Saucepan
- Colander/sieve/another method of draining pasta
- Chop your veg into smallish pieces - it’s up to you how chunky you want it. Cover in oil and some salt, and use your hands to mix so all the veg is covered. Spread out on a baking sheet, and cook at about 190 degrees for 30-45 minutes.
- When there’s about 15 minutes left, boil some water, then cook your pasta in it for 10-12 minutes. Drain the pasta, then put back in the saucepan and stir in the tomato sauce. If you’re using chopped tomatoes, you might want to add some extra seasoning - salt, pepper, chilli powder and cumin is my standard.
- Let the pasta and sauce heat up for a while - keep stirring so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan - and then add and stir in the veg.
Enjoy! Leftovers are just as good the next day, I usually microwave them for about five mins.
Pitta Pizza Recipe
This is the easiest lunch ever, and is a great one to have as an emergency when you realise you’re almost out of food as you can keep the ingredients hanging around for months until you need them. Top tip: pitta bread freezes really well! Keep a pack in the bottom of your freezer drawer for emergencies.
- 4 pitta breads
- Cheese (grated or sliced)
- 2tbsp tomato puree
- Any potential pizza toppings you might have lying around - leftover mushrooms, ham etc
- Spread some tomato puree evenly over each pitta
- Slice or grate the cheese, then cover each pitta
- Chop and add any extra ingredients you might fancy
- Grill for about 3 minutes, until the cheese is melted
Falafel Wraps Recipe
This one’s a little more time consuming, but it’s 100% worth it, trust me. If you’re feeling lazy though, you can use shop bought falafel to make this literally the easiest meal ever. Once made, the falafel will freeze well and can be heated up in the oven for about 10 mins, and make a really quick snack or part of a meal. I sometimes make a big batch of the wraps, wrap them in foil and freeze them, and they can be easily reheated in the oven by putting them in, still wrapped in foil, for about an hour.
For the falafel (you can replace these with shop-bought falafel)
- 1 tin chickpeas
- ½ red onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
- 2tsp ground coriander (or fresh, finely chopped)
- 1tsp cumin
- 2tbsp flour
- Oil
For the wraps
- 2 tortilla wraps
- 2tbsp humous
- Sweet chilli sauce
- 6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- ½ red onion, sliced
- 4 slices of halloumi
- Hand blender (or, patience, a fork and a good knife)
- Baking tray
- Mixing bowl
- Chopping board
- Knife
Start with the falafel: preheat the oven to around 190, chop your onion and garlic, and drain and add them to a bowl with the chickpeas. If you’re using a blender, blend em up. If you don’t have a blender, you want to make sure the onion and garlic are chopped as finely as possible, then mash the chickpeas with a fork or potato masher.
Stir in the seasoning and flour, then use your hands to make balls about the size of ping-pong balls.
Rub oil over your baking tray then lay out the falafel, and cook for 25-35 mins until they’re firmish to touch.
While they’re cooking, whack your sliced pepper and onion in a frying pan with some oil, and cook on a medium heat for about 20 minutes, until they’re soft and caramelised.
Once these are done, push them to one side of the pan and add the halloumi, cooking for about a minute on each side until lightly browned.
Assemble the wraps, by spreading humous and sweet chilli sauce over them, and adding a sprinkling of chopped tomatoes.
Pop the halloumi and veg in the wraps, and lay 3 falafels on top and then roll up burrito-style.
And there you have it, three super easy recipes to try, that are kind to your student budget. Enjoy!
