Being a student in the winter means balancing exams, assignments and long, tiring days, and the last thing you want is to spend ages cooking!
These simple recipes make it easy to enjoy hearty meals without spending hours in the kitchen or blowing your budget.
Thai red curry noodle soup – 20 minutes
The type of meal you can easily throw together in 20 minutes after a long day.
Stuff you’ll need:
- red curry paste
- noodles
- 200ml coconut milk
- soy sauce
- chicken stock or gravy granules
- chicken
How to make it:
Toss in the red curry paste along with coconut milk and stir. Add chicken stock to 200ml of water (or a teaspoon of gravy granules If you have them in the cupboard), and stir in. Add in your chicken and let it boil in the soup before stirring in soy sauce and a sprinkle of sugar if needed. Throw in the noodles until ready.
Want it veggie? Just switch the meat to tofu or veggie dumplings!
Sausages and mash – 15 minutes
It’s honestly just as easy as making a pot noodle!
What you need:
- sausages
- potatoes
- gravy granules
- red onions
How to make it:
Cook sausages in pan or the oven. Then boil chopped potatoes then mash, adding butter or milk. Fry red onions with a little bit of water and butter until caramelised. Mix in the gravy granules with some boiling water and serve with veg of your choice.
Lasagne soup – 30 minutes
Lasagne is sooo delicious but becomes a little less exciting when you remember how much effort it takes. This soup gives you all the flavours without the work.
Ingredients:
- any pasta shape you’ve got in the cupboard
- mince (or you could even break up any sausages you have spare)
- chopped tomatoes
- mozzarella
If you’ve got any onions chop them up into a pan. Add in your meat before a tin of chopped tomatoes, and if you want too, add a dash of double cream. Cook your pasta in the sauce and top with some mozzarella cheese.
If you're veggie, you could try using green lentils instead of mince!
It's cosy, cheap, and tastes like you actually tried.
Pizza flatbreads – 10 minutes
Flatbread pizzas are perfect for a lazy dinner, or when you fancy a treat but want to keep it cheap.
Things you need:
- flatbreads
- ketchup
- tomato purée
- mozzarella
- toppings of your choice
How to make:
Spread a combo of tomato ketchup and purée onto your flatbreads and top with cheese and any toppings of your choice. The best thing about these is that you can mix it up and have something different each time. Cook these in the oven until slightly crispy and cheese is melted.
Honey soy fried rice – 15 minutes
This is one of those meals for when you haven’t done a food shop in a while and just need something simple. It's cheap, filling, and ready in 15 minutes.
Stuff you need:
- onion
- meat of your choice – I think sausages or prawns work best
- broccoli
- rice
- honey, soy sauce, ketchup
How to make it:
Chop and throw in your onion, whilst boiling broccoli in a separate pan. Add in either prawns or sausages and let cook. Squeeze in some honey, soy sauce and ketchup and mix together and let everything finish cooking in this sauce. Add in your rice - you can make your own but honestly I’m lazy and usually use a microwave pack. And finally, sprinkle over a little bit more soy sauce, stir, and serve with your broccoli.
Don’t worry if you’re veggie - swap out the meat for an alternative or veg of your choice!
By Erin, a second year Marketing student and Student Content Creator