Hi folks, my DD is a few years away from having to fend for herself at Uni but the post on costs has left me thinking that I aught to teach her to cook more frugally. The problem is that I don’t know how to myself. I saw that one YP managed to by a whole week’s food for £17 I can’t mange a one meal on that. The cheapest meal I. An think to cook would be homemade baked beans but that would cost approximately £8
1 onion
Tomates
Aubergine
Pepper
Courgettes
Celery
Carrots
Beans
Oregano
Vegetable stock cube
Salt pepper and a tsp sugar.

And then you would want cheese on top which is an added cost too. This could be stretched by eating with pasta or baked potato. So could manage 3 meals out of it. But that is still pricy for a student. Ideas much appreciated.

I have this book

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Save-Money-Fam ... 1TA176XCW0

and some of the recipes are excellent.

1 courgette
a few cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Portion of dried pasta (100g from a 29p pack of penne from Lidl or Aldi)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Grated cheese

Slice courgette and crush garlic cloves lightly (No need to peel)
Cook pasta as per instructions.
Meanwhile, sweat the garlic in a decent layer of olive oil Add the courgette slices and fry gently.
Drain pasta and add to courgettes and garlic, mix.
Remove garlic (or not, if you like)
Season to taste.
Add grated cheese.

Also perfectly good cold if you make more and keep the leftover portion(s) in the fridge. I've never tried freezing it.

Yes, this does involve having things to hand such as olive oil, but you have to haven some staples anyway and even using it as an ingredient, as in this recipe, a bottle of oil will last for ages. The most expensive recipe-specific item is the courgette, but even they aren't that pricey if you shop at a sensible supermarket / greengrocer, or market (if available - and not the 'everything organic at twice the price of Waitrose' variety ).

_________________
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

Not sure what is wrong with tinned baked beans to be honest...! Beans on toast is a staple for most students. You have to have some store cupboard essentials like oil, spices, herbs, pasta rice etc, as you would at home - but these are an ideal box for parents or granny to pack up anyway.

What about a bean chilli? Onion, chilli (powder or fresh), ginger, garlic, fresh veggies, tomato puree, tinned toms, tinned baked beans, tinned kidney beans, tinned butter beans etc. Fry the onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, add fresh red/yellow peppers/grated carrots and tins - tomato puree to taste. Serve with rice or baked potato and a spoon of natural yoghurt. Tinned beans are perfectly healthy and about 20p each, if that - this would make enough for a good few meals and freezes well. Grated carrots are cheap and bulk it out.

Pasta with a fresh tomato sauce (made with fresh veggies) -sauce can be made in bigger batches and frozen.

Curries - especially veggie ones are extremely cheap to make and using lentils etc which are dirt cheap, bulks them out.

I'm not saying only eat tins but using tins to add ballast and less of the more expensive items is the obvious way forward.

my Dd won’t touch tins she is a bit of a gastro (my fault). She complains if I use tinned tomatoes in bolognaise instead of fresh and sun dried. She doesn’t like tinned baked beans. This is why I thought I should address this now. The logic is that if I make her aware of the cost of food now and how much she will have per week to feed herself at university, I may be able to persuade her to eat some cheaper options. I am a bit of a food snob and we eat predominantly organic and only locally grown grass fed meat. She is responsible for cooking one main meal a week in our house and as with many things i am beginning to think i have made a rod for my own back. Or hers, in years to come.

This sounds good.

Lentils are definitely an option. She loves them especially with baked mackerel and a rocket salad. (The mackerel isn’t cheap though and neither is the rocket. I am not very good at this.

I don't know where you shop and you may not have one conveniently to hand, but Lidl and Aldi really are very good when it comes to working with a limited budget. Or just because they are perfectly okay places to shop, really .

Just a heads up for anyone whose DC are considering the University of Birmingham - another good reason for going for the less 'desirable' (than the 'party central' Vale halls at the top end of the campus) Selly Oak accommodation is the close proximity to the Aldi on Bristol Road .

_________________
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

We have also brought ours up on food cooked from first principles, a lot of fresh veg and only humanly farmed meat and eggs. DD is at university and you will be pleased to learn that she has not only been able to uphold these principles, but to save a lot of money too. She buys fresh things, and rice, pasta etc, at Aldi; bakes her own bread and does a lot of bulk cooking for the freezer. She has the Vegetarian Nosh for students book but invents a lot of her own recipes too - it sounds as if your daughter will easily be able to do the same as you, like us, have made her responsible for a meal a week so she can experiment. Unless she is a heavy drinker I don't think she is likely to run out of money.

You can grow rocket - our garden is full of wild rocket which presumably someone planted once. She only needs a little tub for it or she can take it with her when she visits home - DD always does a sweep of whatever we have growing at the time. She also grows fresh herbs which of course will make most things tastier.

Two things - we don't eat tins (or their contents) very often either, but tinned tomatoes are really fine and don't contain any horrors so I think it is maybe worth breaking that objection now. They open up a lot of possibilities in the sauce making department.

And secondly, just occasionally for the sake of their friendships, it is worth being a bit flexible and eating what others fancy too. We have always loved eating out and as students they tend to go to cheap pizza or curry places. It is probably best not to be too overtly superior about one's food tastes if one wants to have some friends - being able to relax and enjoy food with others is also a useful life skill.

Chortle
Wish my offspring were as adventurous, Amber. They don't do badly but it's a bit hand to mouth rather than planning! And yes to sharing meals as a social thing. One of my favourite activities