The Best Student Cookbooks

Consistently coming up with a variety of student meals can be difficult whilst you’re caught up in student life. We thought we’d share some of our favourite cookbooks/sources of meal inspiration so you can treat yourself to some exciting meals again!

‘Roasting Tin’ books - Rukmini Iyer.

Iyer uses brilliant concept of throwing all your ingredients into your roasting tin, sticking it in the oven and after the suggested cook-time you’ll have a fully formed meal! This is great when you’ve got a busy student kitchen and don’t want to be standing over a hob when you’ve got tomorrow’s lecture reading to do still! It’s also brilliant for minimising your washing up. All the meals have been exceptional and the book has recipes for curries, joints of meat, salads, pastas and more to suit all preferences. There is now a veggie and vegan book, and ‘around the world’ book, a quick book and the classic book.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roasting-Tin-Simple-Dish-Dinners/dp/1910931519/ref=asc_df_1910931519_nodl?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310856639426&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10623335341022710345&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-418222817678&psc=1&th=1&psc=1&dplnkId=b076e5c9-05b1-4fb9-8d2d-1c7794eb796a

5 Ingredients - Jamie Oliver

This is another great concept. This book, as the name suggests, has recipes which only require 5 ingredients. This is great for those of us with little fridge space, small student budgets and those of us wanting simplicity. There’s also a huge variety of dishes in here, ranging from pastas to desserts, rice, noodles, meat and many veggie options.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/5-Ingredients-Quick-Easy-Food/dp/0718187725/ref=asc_df_0718187725_nodl?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310842649900&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2181215297826865968&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-321978254288&psc=1&th=1&psc=1&dplnkId=6ae216e8-4585-41db-be3c-9a4fe97521aa

7 Ways - Jamie Oliver

Whilst on the Jamie Oliver train, 7 Ways is another great concept which fits the student lifestyle exceptionally well. This cookbook focuses on 18 ingredients (such as broccoli, sweet potatoes and avocados) which we commonly buy in the supermarket anyway and provides new recipes for these ingredients. These recipes are simple, easy, use accessible ingredients and many are one-pot.

https://amzn.eu/d/8ET1e2n

@dishesbydaisy on TikTok’s £5 dinners

This is a great series for cheap and simple student meal inspiration. These meals come under £5 and comprise accessible ingredients that can be found in most supermarkets. For those less confident in the kitchen, being able to watch the meal being cooked can be very helpful. All of the meals I’ve tried have been nice and often can be cooked in bulk meaning you can eat the second portion the next night, saving yourself time and stress.

BBC Good Food

There’s a massive range of inspiring recipes on here. Many won’t be accessible to the student budget but after a bit of searching there will be something for literally everyone. You can save your favourite recipes in folders for future viewing which is useful if you want to revisit a recipe. One of my favourite features is the reviews at the bottom, allowing you to assess whether a recipe is worth investing in. Even more useful are other’s suggestions in the reviews section which can give you an idea of how others have altered the recipe to fit their needs.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com

Hopefully these 5 suggestions can give you some cooking inspiration and save you from the dreaded pesto pasta and toast for a few weeks!