Student meals: Cheap Meals for 1

Easy, wholesome, and most importantly cheap, student meals for 1

Hey freshers! Welcome to university.

I hope you are all settling in nicely. Although times may be a little strange, the food shop remains one of the most mundane student tasks! But do not fret as most, if not all, supermarkets now offer free delivery on your orders so you can get your top products straight to your door without moving from the comfort of your bed! Although freshers has only just finished, you may already be missing some home comforts - I know I am - so I’m here to bring some of that homely-ness back to you.

Even if you are not the top chef, here are some easy, wholesome, and most importantly cheap, meals you can whip up.

1. Sausage and Mash

What you need:

• However many sausages you would like (we recommend organic meat sausages if possible, or you may prefer vegetarian or vegan sausages)
• 5 medium potatoes
• Gravy granules
• A good splash milk
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• Tablespoon of butter

How to cook Sausge and Mush 

1. Peel the potatoes and chop them into quarters. Then wash in cold water to remove starch
2. Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water, add a pinch of salt and place your potatoes in it. Bring to boil, and then leave to boil for around 20 minutes.
3. Place your sausages on a tray on top of tinfoil (so the sausages don’t stick-this helps when washing up) and pierce a few times. Cook in the oven or grill for about 20 mins but check your packaging for specifics.
4. Once the sausages are done, take the potatoes off the heat and drain thoroughly.
5. Place the potatoes back in the saucepan. Add butter, milk, and season.
6. Mash all together until it is at your desired creamy-ness level, you will need a masher for this. Add small splashes of milk as you go if the mash is not quite creamy enough.
7. Boil your kettle and fill a mug with a teaspoon of gravy granules. Fill the mug with boiling water and mix with a fork until your desired consistency.
8. Plate sausages, mash and pour gravy over.

2. Spaghetti Bolognese

What you need:

• Dry spaghetti
• 250g of mince
• 1 tsp salt pinch of pepper
• 1 tsp of oil
• Dolmio pasta sauce in a jar (or an own brand alternative is usually more than half the price)

OR

• Garlic clove
• 1 onion
• Tin of chopped tomato or passata
• Italian herbs mix (optional)

How to cook Spaghetti Bolognese 

1. Add salt to half a saucepan of water and bring to boil
2. Chop half an onion and your garlic clove
3. Snap spaghetti in half and add to boiling water (to stop the pasta getting sticky add a small splash of oil into the water)
4. Place oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
5. Add mince, chopped onion and garlic to the frying pan, then season
6. Fry mince for about 10 minutes over medium heat or until all is grey then add the jar of sauce.
7. Bring the sauce to simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes
8. Drain spaghetti and plate it up
9. Add sauce on top of the spaghetti and enjoy! Add grated cheese if you like.

3. Moroccan Chicken with Couscous

What you need:

• Chicken breast
• Splash of oil
• Couscous
• Moroccan spice
• Chicken stock cube

How to cook Moroccan Chicken with Couscous

1. Preheat the oven to 200°. Place chicken on a tin foiled baking tray, add oil and season.
2. Place chicken breast in the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes depending on size of the breast
3. When the breast is nearly done, boil a kettle.
4. Add the stock cube to a bowl of boiling water and mix until dissolved. Fill the bowl half way with couscous, mix well and then leave.
5. Take the chicken out of the oven
6. Once all the water has gone from the couscous, plate it up with your chicken and enjoy!

4. Pasta Bake

What you need:

• 200g of pasta
• Pasta bake jar of sauce (most shops will sell their own brand version of this).
• 100g of grated cheese
• 1 pack of mozzarella
• Chorizo (optional)

How to cook Pasta Bake

1. Follow the instructions on the jar of sauce but generally it is as follows
2. Place pasta in an oven proof deep dish. pour all of the sauce in and then fill jar most of the way with water, pour over and mix.
3. Add cheese, chorizo sliced or diced, mix and then bake for 20 minutes
4. Take out after 20 minutes, and add sliced mozzarella to the top
5. Place back in oven and cook for remaining 10 minutes
6. Take out, serve portions and enjoy. Leave the leftovers covered in the fridge and eat the next day.

5. Stir Fry

What you need:

• Stir fry noodles
• Stir fry mix (salad)
• Stir fry sachet or sauce
• Spring onions
• Your desired protein - Chicken or Beef or Tofu
• Tsp of oil

How to cook Stir Fry

1. Chop up your meat or tofu into chunks season with Cajun
2. Fry chunks in oil with until lightly browned
3. Add noodles and cook for 5 more minutes
4. Add salad and onions and fry for a further 2 minutes
5. Add sachet of sauce and fry for a further 2 minutes
6. Serve and enjoy.

6. Jacket Potatoes

What you need:

• 2 jacket potatoes
• Toppings of your choice such as beans, cheese, tuna, sausages, bacon, cottage cheese.

How to cook Jacket Potatoes

1. Pierce the skin of the jacket potatoes and doubt into microwave for 5 minutes
2. Take them out and place in the oven, cook for 30 minutes.
3. Once finished, place the topping of your choice.

7. Mac and Cheese

What you need:

• Mixed bag of pre grated cheddar and mozzarella
• Cheese sauce jar if you can get your hands on this or fancy a bit of a challenge follow this recipe to make your own roux.
• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 100ml of whole milk
• 1 Onion
• 2 Garlic cloves
• Salt and pepper
• Cheese Macaroni Seasoning - paprika or Cajun

Sauce if you dont use the one from a jar:

Melt butter on low heat 

Add flour and mix into a ball 

Add butter until it turns into sauce 

Add cheese to your taste

How to cook Mac and Cheese

1. Boil pasta follow instruction
2. In another pan make roux if making
3. Combine the two
4. Put into deep oven proof dish
5. Add cheese and herbs on top plus crushed cornflakes or tangy cheese Doritos for extra crunch (then save the rest of the Doritos for a snack! Do you need another excuse to buy Doritos?!)
6. Put in oven for 20 minutes at 180° To customise it to your preferred taste add leeks, bacon or any other extras of your choice!

8. Chicken Pesto Pasta

What you need:

• 1 Chicken breast Pasta
• 1 tbsp of green or red Pesto

How to cook Chicken Pesto Pasta

1. Chop chicken and fry in oil until brown for about 15 mins
2. Boil pasta for 20 minutes
3. Put pasta and chicken into a bowl, add butter and pesto then mix.

I hope these quick and easy recipes have given you some inspiration! They were an absolute life saver for me at uni not to mention super yummy! Plus, if you make too much you can always have leftovers for lunch.

Check out our Iceland voucher codes, Morrisons voucher codes, Ocado voucher codes, Waitrose voucher codes, Tesco voucher codes, and other Food, Drink & Grocery offers. 

Let me know how you get on and feel free to share your meal creations on Instagram, just don’t forget to tag us @vouchshares

Anna Taylor - VoucherShares.co.uk 

More blogs from Anna:

Reusable face coverings (face masks) voucher codes and deals

How To: Beautiful Skin

Top student deals from Voucher Shares

How to keep your hair in tip top shape during lockdown

Spring-cleaning or Deep Clean? Top tips to keep your home spotless

More from Voucher Shares Community Blog

Follow @vouchershares