Cooking as a student: my guide to eat well and waste less

What we eat can impact our mood, focus and overall well-being. Eating well is not just good for the body; it can make for great experiences that fuel both body and mind! For example, discovering and attempting a new recipe can make you feel very accomplished, and making your comfort meal can spark real joy. When you make home-cooked meals, you can choose to nourish yourself with the best ingredients that boost both your energy and mood. Also, the happiness one can feel when having a delicious meal is priceless! Smart food shopping and meal planning are not just tasks in my opinion, but can build the foundation of a more joyful and vibrant life.

But planning your food shops while juggling uni work, your social life and leisure activities can be challenging. Some people do big food shops that last for a few days, others tend to do smaller, more frequent food shops. Deciding on what exact meals to make, planning your food shops, and making sure you don’t waste food or money is both time-consuming and hard.

1 - Tips:

If you don’t want to meal-prep for several days (it can be a big project and take a lot of time), make 2 portions of whatever dinner you make yourself. That way, you’ve got lunch that you can bring to campus instead of buying a meal. This has really helped me save money. It’s also good for those (like me) who can easily get tired of eating the same thing for several days in a row.

Try saving/having a couple of go-to recipes that you can whip up when you don’t know what to make. This can prevent excessive take-outs. My go-to recipes are: chicken wraps, chicken bowls, vodka pasta, a filling salad, and stir fry.

This is not for everyone, but I try to plan my meals ahead (for the week) and do one big food shop once a week. I also plan out what fresh ingredients (such as avocados or fruits/berries) I need, but I usually buy them whenever I need them so they don’t go bad.

If you are stressed in the mornings, try making an overnight breakfast, or prepare breakfasts in advance. I usually make overnight oats with a shot of espresso for flavour and some caffeine. I then add some bananas and strawberries. Overnight oats can be very versatile depending on what you put in it, the sky's the limit! Try adding blueberries, flavoured protein powder, or make it chocolate flavoured!

When planning my meals and shopping for the coming week, I usually start with deciding on one meal, and writing down the ingredients for that meal. Then, depending on what ingredients are left and what I have in my kitchen, I plan the next meal (and add the extra ingredients I need to my shopping list).

2 - Things I always have at home for recipes:

Keeping your kitchen stocked with a few key ingredients can be a game-changer for quick, easy and delicious meals. Here are some of my must-haves that not only last long but also give me the flexibility to whip up a variety of dishes in no time:

Tomato purée - it can be used in a variety of recipes and it lasts for a long time. I usually use tomato purée as a base for sauces, soups, and pasta dishes.

Tortilla Wraps - wraps can be used for simpler wraps. I usually make a wrap consisting of chicken, a good homemade sriracha mayo, lettuce, cucumber, avocado and red onion when I don’t know what to have for lunch or dinner. It can also be used to make halloumi wraps, for quesadillas or enchiladas, and you can fry or bake them to make tortilla chips. I often freeze mine, that way I don’t have to worry about them going off.

Pasta, noodles and rice - these ingredients are extremely versatile, and can be in your cupboards for months without going off. I use rice when making curries, stir fry, burrito or poké bowls, or fried rice. Noodles are great for stir fry or chicken noodle soup for colder days. Pasta can be used for pasta bakes, a simple pasta pesto or pasta with tomato sauce. You can also make dishes such as vodka pasta, pasta alfredo, tuscan chicken pasta and fajita pasta.

3 - An example of a week in meals

To give you some inspiration, here is what a typical meal plan for a week could look like for me:

When I make my meal plan for the week, I focus on designing it in a way that makes sure I use all the ingredients I buy, minimising waste and making the most of my food shops.

For the spaghetti bolognese, I make 4 portions of bolognese. Since I don’t enjoy eating the same thing multiple times, I use 2 portions for spaghetti bolognese. I then add chilli powder and beans to the remaining 2 portions, making it a simple chilli con carne to have with rice!

Some days I have overnight oats for breakfast, and some days I have toast. When I have bread at home, I use it to make homemade croutons for my caesar salad.

For this meal plan, I will need to buy a pepper. I’ll use a third of the pepper for my fajitas (Monday lunch). Then, I use the rest of the pepper for my stir fry. That way, nothing goes to waste.

This particular week, I’d buy the strawberries and bananas on Monday. So, they’ll be fresh for when I need them.

I make sure to use the oat milk (used in the overnight oats) for when making coffee at home. If I don’t use it for my coffee, I make sure that I’ll have overnight oats at least a few times that week, so I don’t waste the rest of the milk.