Hello friends, my apologies for not writing recently. Today I was pondering advice I'd give to students trying to cook for themselves for the first time. Recently I've seen a lot of info graphics and posts on healthy eating, and cheap eating and I thought "I could do that. That's how I live. Maybe I should tell people about how I live." Then I though "nobody would read that." But that's what this blog is for; writing things people may never read. So here it is, my top ten tips for living healthily, cheaply and easily in no particular order. Whilst this advice is aimed at students, it's not exclusively for them and can be used by anyone who wants a little guidance.
1. Buy food in bulk.
Seems obvious really. With things like dried foods; rice, pasta, noodles, cereal and dried fruit for example, you can stock up massively. Buying a 5 kg bag of pasta (as long as you have the space for it) is cheaper overall than buying five separate kilo bags of pasta at different times. Things like that certainly won't go off any time soon, so it won't matter how quickly you use them either. Same goes for buying cooking oil, and other basic store cupboard ingredients like teabags, flour and sugar.
Another great thing to do this with is rolled oats. Oats are great for porridge, which is healthy and filling, for flapjack, which is delicious, and for generally putting with salad or fruit and yogurt, or making your own muesli, which is cheaper and more fun than buying it in a packet.
Similarly, this is true for tinned vegetables, soup, and sauces. For example, I would definitely recommend buying tins of chopped tomatoes for use in basic sauces and meals, as well as having a couple of cans of soups for rainy days where you live in your duvet.
And I'm certainly not saying that you shouldn't buy things like frozen pizzas or ready meals (although I do suggest that you should mix it up on occasion.) Keep a couple of easy meals in the freezer for when you feel sad, lazy or rushed, just don't use them as the majority of your meals if you can help it, especially if you're not cooking vegetables with it. This advice also stands for frozen veg, and oven chips; both are great things to have in your armoury, but I wouldn't use them as your main sources of vitamins and carbohydrates.
2. Cook meals from scratch.
Cooking from scratch puts people off because they say it's time consuming and difficult. That's quatsch. Cooking a simple meal from scratch will take as much time, or less, than putting a frozen pie in the oven. And if you seriously think that cutting up vegetables and a few pieces of meat and throwing them in a pan is difficult, then I don't think I can help you. Sorry. There are several meals that you can cook just by frying off some meat and veg (or boiling if you feel healthy) and then adding sauce. These include chilli, pasta sauce, special fried rice, stew, casserole, chunky broth, stir fry, curry... And anything you fancy making up. I've had some great meals which haven't really been anything, just stuff in a pan that tastes delicious. Get inventive!
The other thing you can cook from scratch is baked goods: buying flour, sugar and butter is far cheaper than buying endless cakes from your local shop. The other alternative is the famous, or perhaps infamous, cake in a mug, or brownie in a mug (Credit to Ali and Mandy for introducing me to this idea). This one is ideal for students, as it's cheap, easy, and quick. Here is my current favourite recipe for such a meal (needs tweaking sometimes):
http://www.instructables.com/id/Mug-Brownie/
3. Cook meals in bulk.
You can cook things in bulk. Most definitely, a totally easy and useful for planning shopping and cooking days in advance. I discovered this one when I accidentally made portions the same size as I would make for several people at home. If you make enough food for four portions, that's four meals out of one set of ingredients. And the extra three portions can be put into Tupperware (definitely get yourself some of that!!!) and either put in the fridge or freezer for a later date when you're feeling too lazy to do anything except stick something in the microwave.
4. Get yourself the right equipment!
This is very important. I'd suggest the bare basics include a wok, a spatula, a sieve, scales, sharp knives, a chopping board and a slo-cooker. All of these things are hugely useful to people trying to cook anything that's not a frozen pizza (more on that later). My suggestion is that you cook things from scratch (see above) and for that you'll need the minimum requirement of one pan. The chopping board is mostly to protect your work surfaces, and for making it easier to move chopped veg from one place to another. Sharp knives are paramount to proper cooking; I struggled through three months with a set of semi-blunt knives, which couldn't even cut a mushroom. I've now invested in some cheap and cheerful knives (*epic manly voice* "from JML") which are far better, and purple (ceramic coated, very easy to clean). Sieves are useful, especially if you've got vegetables for washing, or rice to drain. The slo-cooker is genius, especially if you're very busy. You can prep a meal the night before and just leave it on for as long as you want. It heats up using a ceramic plate inside, so there's no risk of fire; it's designed to be left on for whole days at a time. You can also make puddings in it, but I've not tried that yet.
Also, TUPPERWARE!!!!! To prepare and cook in bulk, you will need varying sizes of plastic containers to hold things in. For the best versatility, I suggest something that can be both frozen and microwaved without a problem; but a set of Tupperware like this can still be bought in Poundland. (Another great use of this is as a lunchbox, a great way to save money and eat healthier.)
5. Shop around for the best products.
Obviously, this one depends on where you put the emphasis on your food. If you prefer higher quality food then perhaps you should try and find the best shops, whether they be supermarkets or local independent producers, at the best value for the quality. If you are on a tighter budget, and are less worried about quality then you should consider shopping around different supermarkets in your area; my particular favourite is Lidl, because it offers some cheaper prices on basic foods. Plus it sometimes has weird German things. Anyone who knows me knows how much I like weird German things...
6. Choosing meat
This goes for both the cuts of meat and the type you buy. Beef is obviously more expensive than pork or chicken, but it's got nice proteins and things in it, probably. As long as you don't go overboard, there's no reason for you not to have beef on occasions. You don't have to suffer just because your on a budget. Pork can be quite a fatty meat, so you have to be careful to get a good cut, whichever part of the animal you go for (including bacon). Chicken can be good, but turkey is almost exactly the same meat, but healthier and cheaper. If you're making a stew, casserole, or pie, the turkey will work just as well as chicken. When buying cuts of meat, diced beef is more expensive, but of higher quality, than stewing beef. However, if price is a concern, then a stewing beef used for what it is intended, and stewed for several hours, can also be very tender and equally tasty. Back bacon contains more meat (and is thus better value) than streaky bacon, which is mostly fat. The same goes for minced meat; you have to find a balance between fat content and price. With mince, the fattier it is, the more it will shrink with cooking. Chicken or turkey thighs have equally good meat to breasts (tee hee), but cheaper. They can require extra preparation, unless you can find them boned (the hee again) or ask a decent butcher to do it for you.
7. Vegetables
I know you might turn up your nose at this bit to begin with, but vegetables are a very cheap way to bulk out food. For example, not only is a chilli with only meat in it basically just a Bolognese, it's also very expensive and won't stretch to more than one or two meals (see below). The obvious things to buy are onions, bell peppers and carrots, but I would also recommend buying celery, and sprouts. No, no, hear me out on this one. Both of these things are ridiculously healthy, massively cheap, and you can't taste them in stews, curries or anything like that. A celery plant costs about 60p, and will be sufficient for at least ten meals. Sprouts are much cheaper than cabbage or cauliflower pound for pound and can be used in smaller portions without fear of spoiling. I fully endorse the extensive use of vegetables in all dishes, both for health reasons, and for costs. I even eat mushrooms now!
8. Flavour
There are very easy and cheap ways to get lots of flavour in your meals. I'd buy a couple of pots of dried spices and herbs to keep in your cupboard, and then use a couple of fresh ingredients. Choose wisely though, there's no point in buying cardamom seeds if you're never going to use them. I can't advise in this area, it depends what you want. Personally, I use chilli powder, curry powder and cinnamon for puddings. As for fresh ingredients, garlic bulbs are very cheap and delicious, as well as versatile. Similarly, lemons are about 30p each, and they can be used for juice and pulp in different contexts; fresh chillies are excellent for adding a bit of flavour (the seeds are the main source of heat, use that information wisely); and root ginger is delicious fresh, and massively cheap too.
Remember what I said about cooking in bulk? That's the same for sauces. Make yourself a batch of this curry sauce (
http://www.grouprecipes.com/36246/healthy-curry-sauce.html ) and freeze or chill it in your Tupperware, it's brilliant, and can be adjusted to your personal tastes. (Where it mentions stock, it doesn't say how much. I reckon one cube in 200ml of boiling water is right.) Which brings me onto my next point...
9. Stock cubes.
Stock cubes are one of the cheapest and best ways of making food delicious. You know those Ramen packets and super noodles that students are so in love with? Most of the flavour in these overpriced packets of carbs comes from standard stock or bullion cubes, such as OXO (other brands are available.) You can easily make a cheap alternative to the pot noodle by cooking your standard noodles in stock. Same flavour, a fraction of the price. Similarly, if you're making anything which needs any sort of gravy, a stock cube is a great edition to a mix, as it gives an extra flavour that isn't necessarily beef.
10. Luxury items.
This one really is a money saving tip, rather than anything else. If you're on a tight budget, then try to stick to supermarket own brands for as much as possible, but let yourself have one or two products which you buy for quality, not price. For me, these are usually fruit juice, which I try to buy not from concentrate and occasionally cuts of meat. I also sometimes buy a jar of Nutella, but to be honest, I sometimes prefer to Lidl own brand, because it tastes more of nuts. So yeah, pick a couple of things, maybe ones that you don't have to buy as often, that you just can't live without and are happier to have quality over cost.
That's it really, that's where my "wisdom" runs out. Thanks for reading all the way to the end, sorry it's such a long post! I hope you've learnt something, even if you don't use anything I've said :)
Hope your exams are going well, if you've got them. If not the *loud raspberry noise*. If you're out in the real world, then I hope work is going well and the January blues haven't caught you! Until next time, much love xx
