Budget Student Meal Prep

By Joanna 01/07/2019 In
Recipes
Breakfast
Lunch / Dinner

Let’s face it, sometimes life as a student can be hectic, and when you are living away from home, you may be restricted to very limited cooking utensils, hence you feel like you can’t be healthy although you are trying to. 

I’m going to show you how as a student you CAN still eat healthy using very basic kitchen utensils and cooking ingredients. Plus, you don’t need any cooking skill because trust me, I barely knew anything when I was a student.

This meal prep only requires 12 ingredients in total to make breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

The 12 ingredients are:

  • Bread
  • Tortilla
  • Soba or Rice Noodles
  • Tomato Paste with mixed herbs
  • Black Bean
  • Corn
  • Carrots
  • Bell Pepper
  • Chicken Leg
  • Onion
  • Eggs
  • Cheese

 

As students we want to always have varieties especially when it comes to our meals, so remember that these ingredients can be easily replaced with something else, as long as you have the basis of the recipes.

I’m super excited about breakfast because we’re making Pizza Bread!! Yesssss.. I personably used to make this very often when I was a student living in the school hostel. It’s quick, super simple, plus, the idea of having “pizza” for breakfast is great! Only 4 ingredients.


Breakfast - Pizza Bread

Ingredients (serves 1)

  • 2 slices Wholemeal Bread – 256Cals
  • 2 Hard Boiled Eggs – 120Cals
  • 2 tbsps. Tomato Paste – 26Cals
  • 1 tbsp. Parmesan Cheese – 22Cals

Steps:

  1. Let’s start by prepping the eggs. Boil them until they are hard. Once the eggs are ready, thinly slice using an egg slicer.
  2. Then, spread about 1 tbsp. of tomato paste evenly over each slice of bread and top it up with the sliced eggs.
  3. Finally, sprinkle some cheese on top, just about 1 tbsp. on both.
  4. If you have a toaster oven, simply bake for 5 - 7 minutes until the cheese are melted and the bread toasted. If not, you can also place it onto a pan and allow the bread to toast, then cover it for a couple of minutes until the cheese melts.

Total Calories- 424Cals

 

Well, if you know you’re always in a morning rush to go for your classes, then boil lots of eggs the day before and store them in the fridge for up to 3 days. All you have to do in the morning is to assemble this dish which takes less than 10 mins!

Egg is a power food because it’s a good source of protein. Just consuming 2 eggs in the morning, you’re already getting 12g protein. You want to be having protein in the morning because it helps to keep you full and satisfied. This means, no snacking in between plus you get to stay focused throughout your morning classes.

Lunch – Vegan Black Beans and Corn Wrap

It’s lunch time! I’m going to keep it really simple and hear this, you don’t even have to cook! You can also make ahead and pack it with you to school. We’re making Vegan Black Beans & Corn Wrap.

Ingredients (serves 3)

  • Medium Tortillas – 477Cals (3 tortillas)
  • 1 can (240g drained) Black Bean, washed and drained - 185Cals
  • 1/3 cup Corn, washed and drained – 40Cals
  • 1 Red Bell Pepper, diced – 30Cals
  • ½ Onion, diced – 23Cals
  • 1 - 2 tbsps. Tomato Paste (per serving) – 26Cals
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Steps:

  1. Start by dicing the onion and bell pepper.
  2. Then in a bowl, simply mix all the ingredients together; black beans, corn, bell pepper and onion.
  3. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. To assemble, grab one tortilla and spread about 1 - 2 tbsps. of tomato paste on it.
  5. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the mixed ingredients and spread it onto one side of the tortilla.
  6. Careful roll it up and press it down firmly. Enjoy!

Have about 2 tortilla wraps for lunch which has about 556Cals and I like to serve mine with more sliced up vegetables on the side. What I like to do, is prep the mixed ingredients and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. And when I want to have it, I’ll assemble into a wrap. That way, I’m always keeping my lunch fresh.

What I love about this recipe is that you can simple change up the ingredients, for instance, use tuna, chickpeas or even chicken breast. And the same goes to the vegetables, choose other vegetables, perhaps cucumber, cherry tomatoes, olives carrots and more.

Dinner – Hearty Soup Noodles

As for dinner, let’s make a dish you’ll know how to cook, “instant soup noodles”. For my version, we’re going to make it healthy by adding protein and vegetables. And instead of using instant noodles which are mostly deep fried, let’s go for much healthier noodles such as soba, rice or sweet potato noodles. And guess what, these noodles are also gluten free!

 

Ingredients (serves 1)

  • 1 Chicken Leg – 260Cals
  • 1/2 Carrot, sliced – 13Cals
  • 1/4 Onion, sliced - 11Cals
  • 1/4 Red Bell Pepper, sliced – 8Cals
  • 2 tbsps. Corn – 16Cals
  • 2oz Uncooked Soba Noodles – 192Cals
  • Egg – 60Cals
  • 1 tsp. Sesame Oil – 40Cals
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Steps:

  1. Slice ups all the vegetables; carrot, onion and bell pepper.
  2. In a pot, Sauté the onions with about 1 tsp. of sesame oil until fragrant and lightly golden, just for 2 to 3 minutes.
  3. Then pour in about 1.5 cups of water and simply add in the ingredients; chicken leg, carrot, corn. Season with some salt and pepper.
  4. Let it simmer until the chicken leg is fully cooked through.
  5. Then stir in the soba noodles, bell pepper and allow it to cook for another 5 minutes.
  6. Soup noodles always taste so much better with an egg, so I’m going to crack an egg, stir and let it cook for a couple of minutes.

 

This is a one-pot dish is about 600Cals which has protein, carbs and lots of vegetables. So no fussing about in the kitchen by trying to cook too many dishes! You can keep changing your protein by using fish, beef, pork or even beans. If you feel like you want a stronger broth taste, you can simply add some chicken stock into your cooking.

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