As a student, it is easy to fall into monotonous habits when it comes to food. Your shopping list consists of microwavable ready meals (which never even resemble the photo on the packaging), snacks that you binge on when you’re bored (which is most of the time) and a few fruits and vegetables here and there. Food is the least of your priorities yet you still crave some fresh, homemade food.
Good food does not require hours of cooking, but only a little more attention to preparing meals. To help revive your taste buds a little and bring back some variety into your life, I will be sharing a recipe every week of fresh snacks or meals which will (hopefully) be both delicious and easy on your wallet. This week I have included two quick and simple sandwich snacks which take no longer than ten minutes to make.
Ingredients: 1 slice of bread, half a banana, 1 tablespoon of Nutella
Toast the bread until golden brown or place in a grill, 200˚C, Gas Mark 6 for 4-6 minutes (6 minutes if from frozen), turning it over halfway through.
Spread the Nutella evenly across the bread. Slice the banana and strawberries into thin pieces and finally, arrange them onto the bread.
Lidl Medium Slice White/Wholemeal Bread – 45p, Lidl Scottish Strawberries – £1.69, Lidl Nutella – £1.89, Lidl Fun Size Bananas (Pack of 7) – 99p. Total cost: £5.02. Cost per serving: 45p
Ingredients: 1 slice of bread, 1 medium egg, half an avocado, a pinch of salt and pepper
Fill a kettle with water and boil. Place the egg in a small saucepan and then once the water has boiled, pour it into the saucepan. Boil the egg for 5-6 minutes, Gas Mark 6, making sure that you place a lid on the saucepan.
Meanwhile toast the bread until golden brown or place in a grill, 200˚C, Gas Mark 6 for 4-6 minutes (6 minutes if from frozen), turning it over halfway through.
Slice the avocado in half. Peel the skin off one half and slice the avocado evenly. Now use a spoon to beat the avocado until it becomes more like a spread then, spread the avocado across the bread. Refrigerate the other half of the avocado, wrapping it in cling film or kitchen foil.
Use a tablespoon to take the egg out of the saucepan and place it under cold running tap water for 10 seconds. Carefully peel the egg. Use a sharp knife to slice it evenly then arrange the slices onto the bread.
Take a pinch of salt and pepper and sprinkle onto the egg.
Lidl Medium Slice White/Wholemeal Bread – 45p, Lidl Freerange Medium Eggs (Pack of 6) – 89p, Tesco Small Avocados (Pack of 4) – £1.75, Tesco Saxa Table Salt 750g – 80p, Sainsbury’s Coarse Ground Black Pepper 45g – £1.50. Total cost: £5.39. Cost per serving: 82p
Of course, feel free to adapt any of these combinations; use guacamole, for example, if you find that avocado does not give a strong enough kick. Don’t be afraid to mix things up!