Meal Ideas

The Lovely Muffin

I moved into a house-share two days ago and it is only today that I am getting a chance to do a proper shop.

As I'm sharing with other, I have very little space. Currently I have: 1 cupboard + 1 small box in the fridge + about 1/2 a drawer in the freezer. I'm a student on a budget. I have about €30 until Thursday.

I don't have much time in the evening to cook (mainly because I share with 6 other, who also have to cook their dinners), so I'm looking for suggestions for meals that are quick on easy to prepare, and healthy meals.

At the minute, the cupboard is practically bare.:o

I like soups, pasta, whole dinner (meat, veg, gravy). I wouldn't be a big fish eater, but I'll give it a try. I'm allergic to chillies/peppers.

Thanks for any suggestions.

fonda

Have a look here, loads of stuff on it

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054856196

nesbitt

As you have little storage space and are new to the apartment share I suggest the following.

Shop every 2/3 days somewhere handy on your way home from lectures. Plan your meals ahead as best you can, make a list and stick to it so you keep within your budget.

Buy your meat in a butchers, hopefully one somewhere on route for you. You can ask for 1 lamb chop, 1 chicken fillet, qtr pound of mince etc. Don't be shy about buying your meat for one person at all, you will save a fortune buying your meat this way, in my view and eat better with no waste.

Buy some little lock n lock style plastic airtight boxs for the fridge in Dunnes Homeware for just a few euros. Stack these little boxs in you large fridge box this will be a very hygenic way to store your meat and keep it all seperate. Same with your block of cheese etc.

Buy pasta on 3 for 2 deals, Penne or Spaghetti cook quickly.

Buy boil in bag rice (supermarket own brand is grand on a budget) as one bag is grand helping for you and is foolproof way to get your rice on table quickly.

Buy some brightly coloured clothes pegs to clip all your food bags closed in your cupboard, keep your pasta, breakfast cereal, porridge fresh and is cheaper when you are starting out than buying loads of containers just now.

Lastly, read the 'easy peasy food' thread, it is excellent with some great cheap food that is quick.

Hope the new share goes well for you.:)

The Lovely Muffin

fonda wrote: »

Have a look here, loads of stuff on it

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054856196

Thank you, lots of lovely recipes there.

The Lovely Muffin

nesbitt wrote: »

As you have little storage space and are new to the apartment share I suggest the following.

Shop every 2/3 days somewhere handy on your way home from lectures. Plan your meals ahead as best you can, make a list and stick to it so you keep within your budget.

Buy your meat in a butchers, hopefully one somewhere on route for you. You can ask for 1 lamb chop, 1 chicken fillet, qtr pound of mince etc. Don't be shy about buying your meat for one person at all, you will save a fortune buying your meat this way, in my view and eat better with no waste.

Buy some little lock n lock style plastic airtight boxs for the fridge in Dunnes Homeware for just a few euros. Stack these little boxs in you large fridge box this will be a very hygenic way to store your meat and keep it all seperate. Same with your block of cheese etc.

Buy pasta on 3 for 2 deals, Penne or Spaghetti cook quickly.

Buy boil in bag rice (supermarket own brand is grand on a budget) as one bag is grand helping for you and is foolproof way to get your rice on table quickly.

Buy some brightly coloured clothes pegs to clip all your food bags closed in your cupboard, keep your pasta, breakfast cereal, porridge fresh and is cheaper when you are starting out than buying loads of containers just now.

Lastly, read the 'easy peasy food' thread, it is excellent with some great cheap food that is quick.

Hope the new share goes well for you.:)

Thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it.

The Sweeper

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

I moved into a house-share two days ago and it is only today that I am getting a chance to do a proper shop.

As I'm sharing with other, I have very little space. Currently I have: 1 cupboard + 1 small box in the fridge + about 1/2 a drawer in the freezer. I'm a student on a budget. I have about €30 until Thursday.

I don't have much time in the evening to cook (mainly because I share with 6 other, who also have to cook their dinners), so I'm looking for suggestions for meals that are quick on easy to prepare, and healthy meals.

At the minute, the cupboard is practically bare.:o

I like soups, pasta, whole dinner (meat, veg, gravy). I wouldn't be a big fish eater, but I'll give it a try. I'm allergic to chillies/peppers.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I know house shares are horrendously difficult, but see if you can persuade your house mates to chip in on a few shared staples, namely vegetable oil (a large bottle of own-brand supermarket sunflower oil for instance), salt and pepper - they're things that 99% of everybody uses, and the problem is if you buy them yourself some tight bugger will always raid your cupboard for them - same goes for olive oil, ketchup etc.

It's actually false economy to buy your own tiny bottle and containers of oil, pepper, salt, ketchup and so on. If you can persuade the housemates to chip in an equal share there can be a central condiments stash saving you all cupboard space.

However, I completely understand how hard it can be to get that sort of agreement in a house share!

The Lovely Muffin

The Sweeper wrote: »

I know house shares are horrendously difficult, but see if you can persuade your house mates to chip in on a few shared staples, namely vegetable oil (a large bottle of own-brand supermarket sunflower oil for instance), salt and pepper - they're things that 99% of everybody uses, and the problem is if you buy them yourself some tight bugger will always raid your cupboard for them - same goes for olive oil, ketchup etc.

It's actually false economy to buy your own tiny bottle and containers of oil, pepper, salt, ketchup and so on. If you can persuade the housemates to chip in an equal share there can be a central condiments stash saving you all cupboard space.

However, I completely understand how hard it can be to get that sort of agreement in a house share!

This is a fantastic idea, but we are different nationalities and some use low-fat products, others use -full-fat products etc, the only thing we really buy today are cleaning supplies/loo roll etc, not food products

As well as that, the non-Irish housemates (I do not mean that in a racist way) tend to eat foods/dishes that they would get in their home counties rather than Irish/English food.

As you say, it would save a lot of cupboard space, but unfortunately it is a non-runner.

angeldaisy

Hi I'm starting to try to find cheap and easy recipes too, I'm a mature student but feeding a family. I use the website www.bbcgoodfood.com and look for suggestions.
Also might be worth your while buying a small slow cooker. that way you are not waiting to use the cooker, plus you can buy cheap cuts of meat also it means that you will have a meal waiting for you when you get in. Saves wasting money on 'crap' food on the way home because you are starving.
Its really easy to throw a quick stew or chilli in the slow cooker, you could either freeze any leftovers or have it the next day.

reallyrose

angeldaisy wrote: »

Hi I'm starting to try to find cheap and easy recipes too, I'm a mature student but feeding a family. I use the website www.bbcgoodfood.com and look for suggestions.
Also might be worth your while buying a small slow cooker. that way you are not waiting to use the cooker, plus you can buy cheap cuts of meat also it means that you will have a meal waiting for you when you get in. Saves wasting money on 'crap' food on the way home because you are starving.
Its really easy to throw a quick stew or chilli in the slow cooker, you could either freeze any leftovers or have it the next day.

I got one for 14.90 in Argos the other day. You'll easily get 14.90 worth of use out of it.