Top 5 Healthy Meals for Students.

This article is to help all students who have just started university and moved a way from home for the very first time. These quick and easy meals are ideal for students but are also useful for single people, the elderly or for someone recovering from illness. They are all nutritious, healthy and combine a way of getting some nourishment into your body fairly quickly and at low cost.

My daughter started university last summer and straight a way she said to us on arrival in her halls of residence, what am I going to eat? We went to the supermarket and came back with basic foods and essentials, pasta and sauces, eggs, bread and cereals. She then said what do I do with them. OMG we had an eighteen year old who had never used a cooker! We put together these cheap meals for each day and that is the basis of this article. She can get a cooked breakfast from the university as well as cereals toast and ready made sandwiches to help see her through the day. Hopefully after a little time her friends will come to her rescue and help develop her cooking skills but in the mean time if she follows this guide she will be ok.

Snacks and sandwiches are available throughout the day so there is no problem getting something when your hungry. The problems for her are in the evening so we have put together this quick meal list to help her and many other students eat a proper healthy meal.

All of these quick and easy meals are relatively cheap suppers that all have vegetables in them, basics include pasta, potatoes, rice or noodles added for convenience.

QUICK AND EASY PASTA RECIPES AND SAUCES

There must be at least ten different pasta's available in packets that cook in boiled water in under 10 minutes. All pasta recipes are quick and easy to make.

All you have to do is empty the pasta, try and judge how much you need from the label, remember you have some brains, that is why your at university. Place a saucepan containing boiling water with a pinch of salt and a thimblefull of olive oil on the stove and keep it boiling. Place enough pasta into the water and cook for rquired time. By adding a small amount of olive oil to the water will help stop the pasta from sticking together. After the cooking time is finished drain the water and add one jar of the sauce you have chosen into the saucpan and stir. Put back onto the heat for 2-3 minutes to warm up and server.

Have a green or tomato salad with it or garlic bread. You can try grating some cheddar cheese on the top if you like, if anyone has some parmesan cheese sprinkle that on the top as it is better than cheddar for tomato based sauces.

Remember to wash and tidy up, your mom would be proud of you!

SPANISH OMELETTE

Eggs are very versatile, come in small, medium and large. Check the sell by date before buying them, don't eat too many in any week, in any 7 days don't eat eggs on more than 4 consecutive days. If you have a egg(s) for breakfast don't have eggs for supper. Look in the cupboard and get out any vegetables, it doesn't matter which they are. Onions, red and green peppers, chopped tomato, salad onion, zucchini, broccoli, grated carrot. Or Cheese. Wash and trim the tops and bottoms of any vegetable and cut them them up into small pieces. Try to make all the vegetables the same size, that way they will all cook equally.

Place any vegetables into a small pan with a little boiling water and cook for 3/4 minutes only- remove and drain.

Place 3/4 eggs into a Pyrex bowl or mixing jug, add a pich of salt and black pepper and stir with a fork. Don't over whisk it. Get a frying pan, add a little butter to the oil in a frying pan and heat it up high, then add the egg mixture, cook for one minute then add the vegetables. Turn the omelette once and cook until it goes brown or until if feels 'spongey' to the touch. Serve immediately with a green salad, relish if you have some and some fresh crusty bread.

There are a lot of options for this recipe, use cooked and boiled potatoes, chopped up delicious with onion. Or had chorizo with ham and potato or just a plain cheese omelette is very quick for a nice supper with friends.

Wash and tidy up afterwards.

RICE DISHES- Chicken and vegetable.

Rice is quick to cook and you can add quite a few different ingredients to it to make it into a super meal. Brown rice takes a little longer to cook but is more healthy for you, but white rice is just as tasty. Rice on its own can be quite bland so you have to add meat or vegetable to it to make the most of it. This recipe is easy and cheap to make making it ideal for students on a budget.

Left over chicken breast is a great way to use it up with rice. Add some peas, frozen ones will be ok. Cook the rice has instructed on the packet minus 2 minutes, this is very important. There should be some liquid still left in the rice at this point. Add the peas, chopped up green and red peppers and the chicken strips. Add salt and pepper to taste, try adding some soya sauce to spice it up a little. Serve with crusty warm bread tomatoes cut in half as a side dish.

SALMON WITH VEGETABLES.

I know I can hear all the students world wide saying Salmon isn't a cheap recipe, but if you look hard in the supermarkets you can find some that will be adequate for this supper recipe. Try going to the shops just 30 minutes before closing, some traders drop the prices of fresh foods then so take the opportunity to try something new. Also getting omega -3 once a week is not something to be over looked.

Salmon is one of the best ways to get your omega-3. This recipe uses salmon fillets but any fish including cod or haddock will go just as easily, Place the salmon wrapped in some foil into the oven for 18-20 minutes, temp about 190 C. The foil should contain the fish, some liquid, either water or a small amount of white wine, some dill sprinkled on top and a small amount of chopped red chilli, salt and pepper.

Cook the potatoes as instructed with a pinch of salt in boiling water and drain. Place the cooked salmon next to the potatoes and serve with a fresh green or tomato salad, alternatively serve with peas, brocolli or spinach.

VEGETABLE STIR FRY

You can make this meal entirely from vegetable if you like, but adding noodles or cashew nuts or bean sprouts will enhance it enormously,

A stir fry is a very quick method of using up any vegetable that you have left at the end of the week. Most stir fry recipes can have meat or sausage or chorizo added to enhance them.

Place some olive oil in a wok or large pan and heat up, add some garlic cloves and ginger if you have some. Place some sweet corn, mange to peas along with green and red peppers, a small onion or spring onions and cook for 3-4 minutes .Then add some cashew nuts or prawns.

Finally add some bean sprouts or noodles to the dish and mix together. Add some soya sauce if you like it and serve immediately while it's hot. Serve with fresh green salad and crusty warm bread or ciabatti.

Please take a moment to vote on these meals, by clicking the star.-Thankyou.