Going away to university for the first time is exciting, demanding, tiring and nerve-wracking - so it’s really important to give your body the right fuel.
It can also be a time when your diet changes dramatically – more late nights and early mornings, socialising with lots of new people and sometimes having to plan all your meals yourself can play havoc with the foods you eat.
Heard of the ‘fresher’s fifteen’? This is often quoted as an estimate of the amount of weight that students put on in their first year at uni. A study from Cornell University suggested that college ‘freshmen’ in the US gain an average of 4.2lb just during their first 12 weeks on campus.
Our Let’s Get Cooking programme is working with universities to help students learn to cook healthy, tasty meals from scratch – on a tight budget. We asked the team to recommend their top Let’s Get Cooking recipes for students, and you’ll find all of them below – these are great for cooking in big batches to share if you’re in a hall of residence with a kitchen or sharing a house, and also freeze well.
If you’re in a catered hall of residence or eating elsewhere on campus, here are our top tips for keeping up your energy:
- Choose plenty of starchy foods – like cereal, pasta and rice
- Fruit and veg with every meal will give you fibre and micro-nutrients to help you stay in good condition; you’ll need to add meat, fish or veggie alternatives for protein and some dairy foods for calcium and vitamin D – stick to low fat and low sugar options wherever you can.
- Base your meals on pasta, rice, potatoes or cereals with some vegetables or salad, a serving of meat, fish or a vegetarian alternative and some dairy food. Go for fruit or yoghurt between meals to stop you reaching for the chocolate! Other good snacks include a banana, a slice of buttered fruit bread, or a slice of toast with margarine or peanut butter.
- Eat breakfast! Good choices to start the day include cereal with a banana and milk, plus a glass of orange juice, or toast with peanut butter and jam, followed by an apple. Porridge with banana, cinnamon and honey is another good budget option, as are poached egg on toast or an omlette. Including some protein with your breakfast keeps you feeling fuller for longer.
- Try a jacket potato with tuna mayo and an apple for lunch, or pasta with tomato sauce and some salad. Chicken and vegetable stir fry with rice or a sandwich made from wholemeal bread with ham and salad are also good alternatives – finish them off with a banana.
- Keep a bottle of water with you for sips throughout the day
If your university wants to do more to help students eat more healthily, Let’s Get Cooking offers training for students to set up and run their own cooking sessions. We cover shopping and cooking on a really tight budget along with easy recipes and essential kitchen skills. Nottingham Trent University was the first in the country to try this – read what they thought here. Your university can find more information and get in touch with us here.
You’ll find lots more tips for eating well on a budget here.
