ISO small, cheap, easy, healthy recipes

[cupcakesprinkle]

Currently I am Studying abroad in the UK for the semester. I am living in a flat with 6 other people and a very small fridge and storage space. I'm looking for suggestions for cheap, easy, healthy recipes without a lot of leftovers.

Any suggestions at all would be a huge help.

 

[auntdot]

I understand your problem. It is hard to cook cheaply when you basically have to buy individual portions. Just an idea, maybe you and your roomies could, at least sometimes, cook a bigger meal that all could eat.

How about eggs? Make an omelet and add almost anything. Some tasty thigs to add are bacon and almost any cheese you want including blue, onions and peppers, crabmeat, lox and sour cream, tomato and mozzarella, the imagination is your only limitation. And there is always Mr. Google.

Can add almost anything to scrambled eggs also. My favorite is spinach, bacon, and shrooms.

Can always saute individual portions of meat in a small pan and then add some wine, chicken stock, marsala, vemouth to the pan with some flavorings including herbs, mustard, even some diced tomato and reduce a bit.

Just a few ideas.

 

[college_cook]

In your case, it would be easier to just make a family-style dinner every night, and I'd say with 7 people there's a good chance of few leftovers.

Here's an idea: since there's 7, one person should be responsible for the groceries/meal for 1 night every week.

As for easy for that number of people, I'd recommend braised dishes, soups, stews, pasta dishes, and casseroles. Find yourself a whole chicken, a white onion, and some carrot/celery, some thyme, and stew in a pot on very low for a couple hours. Remove the meat from the bone/skin and toss in a bag of egg noodles and S+P to taste and you've got yourself a basic but delicious chicken noodle soup.

Other cheap /healthy things might be potato/leek soup, tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches, italian beef done in a crock pot, stir fry with white rice or flat noodles, lasagna which is not only cheap, but as healthy as you want it to be and with an infinite number of variations. Same goes for pasta dishes. Dunno what you have in the way of dry storage space, but go to your local asian market and have everyone pitch in for a 50 lb. bag of basmati rice, which, with 7 people contributing might be anywhere from like, $4-6 per person. Also, if you're going to be doing a lot of baking, or anything involving a lot of flour, frying for example, have everyone chip in for a 50 lb. bag of flour, which will be even cheaper than the rice. Maybe $2-3 per person.

 

[David Cottrell]

Hi cupcakesprinkle, sorry I don't have a specific, but for university students sharing a kitchen this might help - click on this YouTube link. It's short only about 3 min 36 seconds but full of good ideas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZebndiGd1M

 

[redkitty]

Hey Cupcake, where are you in the UK? I'm down in Bristol.

Some suggestions, do you like beans on toast? It's very British and has become a comfort food for me. Cheap and healthy if you use low salt/sugar Heinz BB and whole meal bread.

Buy a package of 2 chicken breasts, grill both at the same time and have one for that meal and one in the fridge for the next day (can be used as chicken salad or sandwich) You can also buy curry paste's for the chicken or a tikka rub which could be stored easily since they are usually small jars.

For breakfast you could have rolled oats, easy to cook and no leftovers. Buy some dried fruit or banana to toss in it.

Eggs, like Aunt Dot suggested. Loads of things you can do with eggs.

College Cook has some great suggestions for group meals, but thats only if everyone in the house is up for that.

For the pantry, whole wheat pasta. You can just use the amount you need for one meal. Couple tins of tomatoes for sauce and some dried herbs. Ground beef you could freeze in single servings so only having to defrost and use enough for one meal.

Not sure how you feel about brown rice but its cheap and very healthy. You can buy a bag and just cook enough for one serving. Maybe with your chicken, you could do rice with veggies. You can also buy bullion cubes (chicken, beef or veggie) to cook the rice in and they are cheap and small to store. You could also do some sort of fried rice dish with any veggies you have, carrots, peppers, onions and maybe the chicken breast too!

Buy sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes and mash them up or roast them. Olive oil is something you should have on hand. I would love to suggest some soups but you would have leftovers!

And for fun check out this link BEYOND BAKED BEANS - Cheap healthy food for students and singles The site is aimed at cheap and healthy foods for students, singles or anyone on a budget. Have a looksee!

Hope some of those suggestions help!

 

[cupcakesprinkle]

This sound great. I will definitely give them a try.

Thanks!