We know how hard student life can be. Finding the balance between studying, life, work and eating is a hard equation to solve. Although, we try we cannot simply put the time aside to cook for hours and we cannot blame students for living off the quick and easy options. However, we have put our chefs hat on and came up with a few student budget friendly meals.

Up first we have American-style meatloaf. Far from being just simply “a big hamburger”, meatloaf is a rather ingenious solution to the problem of making good food quickly and on a budget. This easy to make meal is perfect for that mid-week meal and does not take up too much time!

American-Style Meatloaf  

Ingredients:

500g of beef mince (£3) 

1 tablespoon of onion gravy granules (£0.70) 

1 teaspoon of ketchup (£0.52) 

1 teaspoon of English mustard (£0.50) 

1 teaspoon of bbq sauce (£1.15) 

2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce (£0.80) 

1 teaspoon of table salt (£1) 

1 egg, beaten (£1) 

½ a cup of white breadcrumbs (£0.80) 

Total= £9.51 (approx)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.  

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined. 

Then shape the meat mixture into a loaf tin. 

Place the tin in the oven for 2 – 2 ½ hours, or until piping hot throughout (or if you want to be really accurate, check that the meatloaf reaches 70 degrees Celsius in the middle with a probe thermometer). 

Lastly, remove meatloaf, slice up and enjoy over some mashed potatoes or garlic bread! 

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Our second student budget friendly meal is slow cooked pulled pork! Just prepare and let cook

Ingredients:

1 Boneless Pork Shoulder (about 2kg in weight) (£4.50) 

1 teaspoon of black pepper (£0.75) 

1 teaspoon of ground cumin (£0.90) 

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika (£0.90) 

¼ cup of dark soy sauce (£0.65) 

¼ cup of honey (£0.72) 

Total = £8.42  (approx)

Method:

Firstly, remove the fatty skin from the boneless pork shoulder, and combine black pepper, ground cumin, smoked paprika and soy sauce.

Secondly, place the pork in a slow cooker and brush the soy sauce and spices mixture all over (underneath as well), and put slide on top and cook on a low heat for 8 hours.

Once the 8 hours have passed, remove the lid and check the pork is cooked through, shred the pork shoulder with two forks.

Then stir in the ¼ cup of honey into the pulled pork. 

Finally, serve over steamed jasmine rice, or on top of tortilla chips, or even on brioche rolls.  

Fried Rice

Lastly on our student budget friendly meals we have picked a top favourite that is perfect for veggies as well, fried rice.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (£1.39) 

¼ of an onion, finely chopped (£0.10) 

1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped or minced (£0.60) 

1 beaten egg (£1) 

2 tablespoons of light soy sauce (£0.65) 

2 tablespoons of oyster sauce (£1.90) 

2 tablespoons of rice wine (£2) 

2 cups of cooked rice, chilled (£0.65) 

Sesame oil to taste (£1.90) 

Total = £11.18 (approx)

Method:

Firstly you combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce, and rice wine in a bowl and set aside. 

Heat up the oil in a frying pan or wok on high heat, and add in the onion, garlic, and ginger and cook until onions are slightly brown.

Add in your choice of filling and fry until cooked.

Next add in beaten egg and let sit for a minute, stir until the egg is scrambled through the rest of the ingredients in the pan. 

Pour the soy sauce mixture around the side of your pan and fry for 20 seconds. 

Add in the cooked rice and break it up with your spatula, fry for 4-5 minutes on high heat, stirring frequently so that all the rice gets fried. 

Once the rice is cooked through, turn off the heat and add in sesame oil to taste. 

Finally serve and enjoy! 

If you are still looking for some more tips and tricks check out our previous blogs