Here are three quick and easy recipes for when you need to eat something delicious with minimum effort. Even if you’ve never touched a pan before, we guarantee you’ll be able to cook up some yummy meals to keep you going through first term!

Top tip: Shopping at smaller ‘express’ and ‘local’ stores from supermarket chains will often mean that prices are not as low as they could be. Doing your weekly food shop at your local full-scale supermarket will save you those extra pennies!

 

1. Pasta Aglio e Olio

What you’ll need (per portion):

• 75g of long pasta like spaghetti, linguine or tagliatelle
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, depending how garlic-y you like your pasta
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Optional:

• Chilli flakes
• Parsley
• Parmesan cheese

Step 1: Bring some water to a boil and add a pinch of salt. Once boiling, add the long pasta and cook for around 12 minutes.

Step 2: While the pasta is cooking, finely chop your garlic and add it to a pan with your oil. Turn the heat on medium-low and slowly toast your garlic for about 7 minutes (be careful not to burn it!).

Step 3: Once the pasta is ready, drain it and add it to your garlic oil, and stir to combine.

Step 4: At this stage you can just eat your wonderful creation, but you can also optionally add some garnish to give it that extra pazzaz. I recommend some chilli flakes, a light sprinkling of parsley and some grated parmesan cheese – but go wild! You could even add some cooked shrimp or spinach to this dish to make it more nutritious!

 

2. Pesto Grilled Cheese Toastie

What you’ll need (per toastie):

• 2 slices of any bread of your choice
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 2 slices of cheese (we’re not skimpy here!)
• 2 tablespoons of pesto

Optional: Tomato slices.

N.B. You can of course swap the butter/cheese/pesto out for plant-based alternatives!

 

Step 1: Begin to assemble your toastie by adding butter to one side of each of your slices of bread. 

Step 2: Heat your butter on low heat in a pan. Once it bubbles, add one slice of bread butter side down. While it cooks assemble the rest of the toastie on top: one slice of cheese, pesto, optional tomato slices, second slice of cheese, second slice of bread, butter side up.

Step 3: Let the bread toast for two minutes on each side, once golden, take off the heat and enjoy! 

Tip: For extra protein, soak your toast in egg batter before cooking, turning your cheese toastie into a French cheese toastie. Voila!

 

3. Bean Wraps

What you’ll need (for 2-3 wraps):

• 1 can of baked beans
• Approx. 120g of salad of choice (e.g. lettuce or spinach)
• 2-3 tortilla wraps
• 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning (or make your own by mixing: chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, paprika, ground cumin, sea salt and black pepper)

Optional: Grated cheese.

Step 1: Heat your baked beans in a pan with your taco seasoning until hot and bubbling. 

Step 2: While waiting for your beans to heat up, assemble your wrap by laying a tortilla on a flat surface, adding a handful of salad and a sprinkle of grated cheese. Once your beans are ready, spoon them onto your wrap (roughly 3 tablespoons).

Step 3: Wrap up like a burrito, and enjoy!

 

We hope you enjoy making these recipies and that they keep you fueled during those first, busy weeks at uni!