5 quick & easy recipes

Between studying, socialising, and working part-time, the last thing you want to do is slave over a hot stove for hours on end making food (especially if you hate cooking to begin with).

It might be tempting to use your student loan to buy a takeaway every night, but things would be a lot better for your wallet — not to mention your health — if you learned how to make a few simple dishes.

If you’re short on time and money, follow these quick and easy recipes for meals that are big in flavour, low in cost, and can be done in no time at all.

Chocolate porridge

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and if you can dedicate around 20 minutes at some point to making this porridge mixture, that’s your brekkie sorted for two whole weeks.

For this one, you need: 400g of porridge oats, 200g of hazelnuts, 200g of Medjool dates, some vanilla extract, cocoa powder, an orange, and a carton of coconut water.

~ Toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan on a medium heat until they take on a gold colour. Toss them often to ensure they are toasted all over then pop them into a blender.

~ Take the stones out of the Medjool dates and add the dates into the blender with the hazelnuts. Add 200g of porridge oats, two teaspoons of vanilla extract, and 3 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder.

~ Add in some grated orange zest, and stir the mixture in with the rest of the porridge oats. Then simply store the mixture in an airtight container until you’re ready to eat.

~ When you fancy a portion (65 g is the recommended serving size), pour the mixture into a saucepan with 200ml of coconut water and lightly heat for 3-4 minutes, remembering to stir regularly.

Corn chowder

Chowder is perhaps the most comforting soup in the world thanks to its thick, rich, and chunky texture. It’s a great dish to have after a long and stressful day, and it only takes 25 minutes to make a batch big enough for you and three of your housemates.

The ingredients for this dish are: A stalk of celery, one onion, olive oil, dried thyme, plain flour, 840ml of semi skimmed milk, 1 medium sized potato, 3 spring onions, 175g of corn (frozen works just as well as fresh), and a handful of chives.

~ Take the leaves off the celery stalk and put to one side. Chop the stalk, onion, and potato into small pieces. Heat a good drizzle of olive oil over a medium heat, and then pop in the chopped celery stalk, onion, and half a teaspoon of thyme. Stir the vegetables until they start to brown.

~ Sprinkle a tablespoon of plain flour over the vegetables and stir for a few more minutes. Pour in 840ml of milk, add the potato chunks, and bring to the boil, remembering to stir regularly. Cook for around 10 minutes until the potatoes soften.

~ Chop up the celery leaves and spring onions whilst waiting for the potatoes to soften. When the potatoes are ready, add 175g of corn, and the spring onion and celery leaves. Ensure the chowder is piping hot, and then serve.

Tomato & basil omelette

Many people believe students can’t even boil an egg, but if you have 15 minutes to spare, you can show the world that boiling an egg is child’s play in comparison to making an omelette.

To make this egg dish, you’ll need: 2 large eggs, 2 sprigs of basil, 3 cherry tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

~ Crack the eggs into a bowl. Beat the eggs with a fork, adding a touch of salt and pepper as you go along.

~ Tear your basil leaves into small pieces, and chop your tomatoes in half.

~ Add a drizzle of olive oil to a non-stick pan and turn the heat up high. Add the tomatoes to the pan and fry them for one minute. Turn the heat down low and add the basil leaves.

~ Pour in your egg mixture. Once the mixture starts to firm up, use a spatula to fold the omelette in half. Once the underside of the omelette is golden brown, it’s ready to serve.

Sausage & bolognese pasta

This one is perfect for even the laziest student as you can simply buy the pasta and the bolognese sauce instead of making them from scratch.

For this super simple dish, all you need is: 85g of pasta (penne or conchiglie), your chosen brand of tomato pasta sauce, two pork sausages, and a handful of chopped mushrooms.

~ Remove the skin from the sausages and crumble the meat into a frying pan on a high heat. Whilst the sausage meat cooks, add your chopped mushrooms. Cook for three minutes and pour in the pasta sauce.

~ While the sauce and sausage meat cook, boil your pasta. When your pasta is ready, drain the water, and tip the pasta into the sauce, ensuring the pasta is completely coated. Remove the contents from the frying pan and serve.

Apple & blueberry smoothie

After all that food, you’ll need something to wash it down with. This smoothie takes less than three minutes to make, and is two of your 5-a-day.

You’ll need: 2 pears, 150g of blueberries, and 100ml of apple juice.

~ Cut the pears into small chunks and throw away the cores. Pop the pears and blueberries in a blender and pour in the apple juice.

~ Blitz the mixture until it is smooth. Serve and enjoy.

It doesn’t take much effort, skill or money to make these great tasting dishes, so stop dialling up your local pizza place when you get those hunger pangs and get yourself into the kitchen.