Easy Student Meals

We asked the likes of Air Traffic, The Hoosiers, The Concretes and Aqualung for their tips on quick easy meals that can be cooked on a student budget...

Air Traffic
"Baked potato - butter and beans inside, cheese on top, with boiled broccoli and cauliflower. (Do the spud in the microwave so you don't have to wait for hours - prick with a fork and rub with oil and salt before you cook it.) Mmmmm..."

Aqualung
"Tea. And a biscuit."

Chicane
"Welsh Rabbit (cheese on toast)."

Dichen Lachman (Neighbours' Katya Kinski)
"Well, I love those Asian two-minute noodles, but I don't think they are very good for you. Perhaps tuna and salad?"

Electric Soft Parade
"Pasta and green pesto with any kind of cheese and cherry tomatoes. The trick is to boil the pasta up, then mix it into the pesto in a bowl, then fry everything up together at the end so the pasta goes crispy, the tomatoes go squishy and the cheese melts. Lush."

Four Year Strong
"Domino's pizza."

GoodBooks
"Pasta with anything... some tomato puree, tuna and a tin of sweetcorn was my dinner four nights a week at college."

Helen J Hicks
"Asparagus with lemon butter. Takes five minutes is delicious and in season now..."

Husky Rescue
"We should always have a fresh portion of moose meat in the handbag."

Kharma 45
"Chinese delivery."

Kyte
"I used to just get a Subway, cheese and chips from the chip shop next door, and then a can of Irn Bru."

Last Man Standing
"Throw up in one's own mouth. Well, it is the quickest."

Love Ends Disaster!
Rob: "Milkshake."

Lowgold
"'Ham Boleyn' - it's basically just a packed of sliced ham and a beheading."

My American Heart
Larry: "Anything with instructions on it, but eggs always do it for me. With a side of rice!"

My Federation
"The best, most impressive dish for the least effort has got to be this mackerel potato bake thing I learned off someone. You thinly slice up about four potatoes (don’t bother peeling them), and stick 'em in a baking type dish. Roughly break up a load of mackerel, and mix them with the potatoes. Then mix a tub of double cream, about half a pint of milk and a table spoon of wholegrain mustard. Sling it in the oven for about an hour, or until it looks burned, et voila! It's absolutely frickin' gorgeous!"

Pepe Deluxe
"Three words: “Honey, I’m hungry!""

Post War Years
"Fast cheese toasty – sandwich toasters are too much like hard work. 1) Toast bread. 2) Slice cheese. 3) Put cheese in bread, add ketchup. 4) Microwave to taste."

Ripchord
"I would probably say a Microchip sandwich. I used to eat a lot of these, but then became ever so slightly fat. So nowadays, a ham toastie, accompanied by some salt and vinegar Walkers' crisps and a Mars bar. The beverage? Orange flavoured Lucozade, of course."

Rogue Wave
Zach: "Water, pasta, cilantro, pine nuts, salt, pepper, blender, mug and straw."

Ruarri Joseph
"A banana. That’s not a meal. A banana in a slice of bread?"

Shakes
"Pot Noodle - pots of fun, pots of goodness!"

Stateless
Chris: "Spaghetti bolognese. Simple. Effective. Always does the job."
Levin: "A massive salad, covered in Nandos hot sauce. Trust me."

The Blood Arm
"I had a roommate who would only eat Hamburger Helper, Pizza Hut, and Kellogg's Special K cereal. He was eventually put on academic probation because he cut classes everyday to watch scrambled porn. I blame his time management issues on the low-grade quality beef he used to make the Hamburger Helper."

The Chiara L's
Emma: "You mean other than good old baked beans or instant noodles? Hmm... well everyone loves Shepherd Pie don't they?"
Jonny: Fish finger butties. 20 minutes in the oven and butter some breadcakes. Easy and nice. I heard a student friend who also doubles as a chef singing their praises just this week actually, quite right too."
Chiara: "SPAGHETTI CARBONARA - without the jar. For one person: 2 cheap bacon rashes, 1 egg yolk, cream, 2-3 tablespoon of parmesan (or other cheaper cheese if you can't afford that), salt, pepper, butter and spaghetti. Cut the bacon into stripes and fry them in a pan with butter till they are crispy. In the meantime with a whisk mix the egg yolk, the cheese and the cream in a bowl, with some salt and pepper. Put some salt in the water and cook the pasta for about 7 minutes, then drain and and the bacon and the mixture. Delicoius, quick and cheap."

The Concretes
"Take the time to figure out the basics of a good three egg omelette. It's delicious and you can also add pretty much whatever to it. Vegetables, cheese, herbs, ham, salmon, mushrooms. Or make a big batch of lentil soup that will last you days. Just heat olive oil, add chopped garlic cloves and chilli peppers, add lentils, water and a vegetable stock cube, simmer. Add salt, pepper and coriander or parsley. Put it all in a blender (which by the way is a very good investment) and serve with bread."

The Decemberists
Nate: "Tacos, but I am pretty sure you can't get good ones anywhere east of the Atlantic. Sorry!"

The Earlies
John Mark: "Egg in the microwave, crumbled blue corn tortilla chips, butter, dark pepper salsa and Pepper Jack cheese wrapped in a warm wheat tortilla."

The Envy Corps
"Can I suggest getting a chick to do it! No, that's chauvinistic... they prefer to be called 'women'."

The Hoosiers
"I’m quite fond of tomato soup, poach an egg in it, and serve that with a Scotch egg or sausage roll."

The Hussy's
James: "Roast chicken with trimmings- if done properly can be about £5-6 for 2. You can have snitch the next day with the leftovers."
Greg: "All day breakfast in a can. Cold. From the can."

The Shakes
John: "Get your mate to cook their food and give it you, which is lazy and free, but rare."
Gaz: "So probably just classic beans on toast. Always burn the toast and mix the burnt bit in with the tomato sauce. Or go to Big John's and get a Saveloy and Chips for 80p".
Ed: "Bacon sandwich. No sauce."

Tom Baxter
"This is a very lazy recipe to cook and there’s no goodness in it whatsoever, but it tastes great! Take some pasta (spaghetti’s good), melt some butter on it, sprinkle it with black pepper and salt. You could also add some chopped garlic, mix it with olive oil, tomatoes and chilli and it makes a great meal."

Winona
"Buy two pizza’s. Put one on top of the other and squash together. A Pizza Sandwich. For full recipe read 'The 13 And 1/2 Lives Of Captain Bluebear' by Walter Moers. It’s a cult classic. That’s a recipe for life really."