Heading to university and living away from home can seem daunting. There’s a lot to think about, including what you are going to eat. Yes, of course, ready meals, takeaways and restaurants are easy options, but they aren’t the most affordable ones. This is where student cookbooks could be the answer!
Student cookbooks are tailor-made to cater for student needs, including tips for budgeting, easy to follow recipes and using ingredients that students would actually buy. This means you can plan your meals, buy the right ingredients and make yourself (and maybe your flatmates too) something delicious to eat.
Here are some recommendations of the recipe books that we love:
Nosh For Students
This book was written by a mum, Joy May, whose son went to university with limited cooking skills. He quickly realised he couldn’t live off toasties and needed to learn to cook, and so the book was born.
The Nosh Book has a photo with every recipe, so the person following knows what they’re aiming for, as well as a key detailing how much each serving would cost, how many people it would serve, and how long the prep and cooking would take. Also, before you get to any of the recipes, there are detailed guides on utensils and equipment, storing food, reheating and, my personal favourite, a page entitled ‘How long before it kills me?’, which clearly explains how long you should keep food and how to know when it needs to be thrown out.
There are different versions of this book, including Nosh For Students 2, which is for those more confident in the kitchen, and Vegetarian Nosh For Students.
One Pound Meals
This series of books began as an Instagram account and YouTube channel by Miguel Barclay, who wanted to show that you can make delicious food on a budget. He has so far published 5 One Pound Meals books, with another one coming out this December. Each book has over 80 recipes inside and promises to provide maximum flavour with even a minimal budget. Perfect for students.
In the original One Pound Meals book, the recipe is written for making one portion, which is great for students wanting a varied diet and reduces food waste. This means you don’t have to eat the same food every day for a week after cooking in bulk.
The other books in the series include Vegan and Meat-Free recipe books, amongst others.
MOB Kitchen
Another student friendly collection of recipe books that originates from an Instagram account is MOB Kitchen. Boasting over 400,000 followers, MOB Kitchen focuses on recipes that are not only accessible to everyone, but are recipes that you really want to cook.
So far, four books have been released with the same focus of tasty food on a budget that anyone can make, with their first providing recipes to feed four people for only £10. Another one of their books is a sustainability Bible, entitled ‘Earth MOB‘, which talks about how to be environmentally friendly in your kitchen by using seasonal, local produce.
They share plenty of their dishes, and how to make them, on their Instagram feed, as well as plenty of giveaways to get involved with. Definitely worth checking out!
BBC Good Food
This isn’t technically a book recommendation but it’s a very useful tool, particularly when you have a particular ingredient and you need some inspiration for what to do with it. Simply type in the ingredient to the BBC Good Food website and loads of recipes will appear before your eyes. Then it’s just up to you to decide what you fancy cooking. Hopefully, you’ll have the rest of the ingredients you need in the cupboard or fridge.
This list should give you a bit of inspiration to get cooking when you head to university so you don’t have to rely on expensive takeaways and ready meals to get you through term.
