Campus Cooking: A Recipe Kit for Quick and Easy Meals

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there were home-cooked meals, a magically always-stocked fridge and a dishwasher fairy. Now, there’s cheesy chips and curry sauce, Dolmio pasta sauce and Dominoes vouchers slipped under your flat’s front door. When you’re caught in the excitement of nights out and new faces, it’s easy to forget to eat properly during the first few weeks of uni.

One of the most important challenges you face after leaving home is learning how to cook for yourself. It’s completely possible to make good meals on a student budget, and being able to cook for yourself won’t only improve your health, but your confidence too.

To give you ideas about what to buy and make, I’ve compiled a list of the staple ingredients you’ll need to make a whole host of super easy meals, as well as some of mine and my housemates’ trustiest recipes. Tip: Cooking with flatmates makes shopping far cheaper and mealtimes much better!

Cupboard Staples

If you have these on hand at all times, you’ll always have the foundations of a solid meal.

Carbohydrates:

Rice
Noodles
Pasta (treat yourself to something other than penne)

Dry seasoning:

Salt
Black pepper
Paprika
Oregano
Thyme
Basil
Cajun
Garlic powder
Chilli flakes
Chicken or vegetable stock cubes

Liquid ingredients:

Olive or vegetable oil
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce
Hoisin sauce
Honey
White wine vinegar

Aromatics:

White onions
Garlic

5 Easy Recipes

Now that you’ve got the basics, it’s simply a question of what you’ll buy for the week. Here I’ve provided 5 recipes with recurring ingredients, to make shopping easier and cheaper, allow for variation and to avoid waste. If you make less than the serving sizes I’ve given, you can use the same bought ingredients for multiple meals. Note: I’ve used chicken as the recurring meat in some of these meals simply for ease and to make things cheaper, because meat is expensive!

Teriyaki Chicken and Rice With Veg

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

From the cupboard: Rice, oil, light soy, honey, garlic powder, chilli flakes, garlic, white wine vinegar
To buy: Chicken thighs or breasts, cornflour, vegetables of choice

Recipe:

With 2 tsp cornflour in a bowl, add 100ml soy sauce gradually, whisking until there are no lumps. Add 50ml water, 3 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp white wine vinegar, 0.5 tsp garlic powder and 0.5 tsp chilli flakes. (Optional)
Fry 650g of chicken in oil, cut into chunks, for 10-15 mins until cooked (please check a piece before serving). When this is almost done you can put your rice on.
Add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic and cook for a few minutes (make sure you don’t burn it!)
Add the teriyaki sauce to the chicken and cook for 5 minutes until the sauce is thick and coats the chicken.
While cooking the sauce, add vegetables of your choice (my favourites are broccoli and baby sweetcorn) to a pan and fry on a medium – high heat for a few minutes, add some soy sauce, honey and pepper to taste.
Serve!

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

From the cupboard: Onions, garlic, salt & pepper, pasta, chicken stock cube, oil
To buy: Mushrooms, double cream, parmesan, white wine (optional, but you may well have some lying around)

Recipe:

Add some oil to a pan, fry 300g of sliced mushrooms, cook until they start to sweat and then add salt and pepper.
Boil water for pasta and extra for stock. Make 125ml of stock. Put pasta on.
Once mushrooms are golden, add 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic and cook until golden but not brown.
If you are using wine, add 125 ml into the pan (beware of steam!), scrape the bottom of the pan and simmer on medium heat until mostly evaporated and the pan doesn’t smell of wine.
Add the stock, 185ml of cream, grated parmesan to taste and more salt and pepper to taste.
Add pasta to sauce, add a splash of pasta water and stir.
Serve with extra parmesan and black pepper!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

From the cupboard: Pasta, garlic, paprika, cajun seasoning, salt and pepper
To buy: Chopped tomatoes, chicken, cayenne pepper (optional), double cream, parmesan

Recipe:

Chop chicken into chunks, add oil, seasoning to taste and mix until well coated.
Fry until cooked, take out of the pan and shred using 2 forks.
In the same pan add more oil and cook 2 or 3 cloves of chopped garlic for 30 seconds.
Add ½ or ¾ of a tin of chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. Put pasta on.
Add one pot of double cream, or less if you want more of a tomato flavour. Cook for a minute or so.
Season the sauce with the seasonings used earlier, tasting as you go (don’t be shy with the cajun).
Salt and pepper to taste, and add a handful of grated parmesan.
Add the shredded chicken back to the sauce, keeping it simmering on a low heat, allowing the sauce to bubble and thicken.
Add pasta and a bit of pasta water, stir, and serve!

Stir Fry Vegetable Noodles

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

From the cupboard: Garlic, onions, noodles, soy sauce (dark and light), hoisin
To buy: Vegetables of choice, eggs, spring onions, butter
Optional ingredients: Sesame oil, cornflour, sesame seeds to garnish, red chilli

Recipe:

In a mug, mix together 2 tbsp light soy sauce and 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 tbsp hoisin, 1 tsp of sesame oil (optional), 1 clove of finely chopped garlic and a little bit of finely chopped ginger or ginger paste (optional), and cornflour slurry (again optional, consists of half a tsp of cornflour mixed into a few tbsp of water)
Scramble 2 eggs in a mug
Melt a knob of butter in a big frying pan or wok, and once the pan is hot pour the eggs in and scramble on high heat, stirring fast, until the egg is cooked but soft and fine (not all stuck together).
Remove the egg and put in a bowl. Put 2 nests of noodles in boiling water with lots of salt (they only take a few minutes so keep an eye on them!)
It all happens quickly now! Add vegetable oil to the pan, turn the heat up high, add half of a very finely chopped onion and stir fast.
Once the onion starts to brown add 4 chopped cloves of garlic, a chopped chilli, the white parts of a few spring onions and stir continuously on high heat.
Add chopped veg of choice and stir on high heat until cooked but crunchy.
Add eggs back in, sauce and stir fry together until coated in sauce, cook for a minute and turn off the heat.
Garnish with the green parts of the spring onions you chopped, sesame seeds (optional) and enjoy!

Aubergine Parmigiana

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

From the cupboard: Olive oil, onion, garlic, oregano, basil, salt & pepper, wine vinegar
To buy: 3 aubergines, tinned plum tomatoes, fresh basil and oregano (optional), parmesan, breadcrumbs (easily made), ball of mozzarella, kidney beans (optional)

Recipe:

Slice aubergine into 1cm thick slices. Finely chop 2 cloves of garlic and 1 big onion.
In a pan on medium heat, add oil and fry the onion, garlic and dried oregano until soft and starting to look golden.
Add 2 tins of plum tomatoes, stir and break up the tomatoes, (if using beans stir them in here, however many you want) then put a lid on and simmer until reduced and thickened (about 15 mins).
While this is simmering, fry aubergines (ideally on a griddled pan) until slightly charred on both sides.
Season sauce with salt, pepper, basil and a splash of wine vinegar.
Layer sauce, then grated parmesan, then a single layer of aubergines in a baking dish, and keep layering these 3 components until you run out. Finish with sauce and parmesan on the top.
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top, fresh oregano if using it, a dash of olive oil, lots of parmesan and tear the mozzarella over the top.
Bake until crispy and golden (around half an hour) on 180*C.
Enjoy! Best served with new potatoes.

Words by Romilly Anderson