Negar Sharafi
Staff Writer
Students don‘t have a lot of time. Unfortunately, a lack of time usually goes hand in hand with food on the go, which is both bad for your health and your wallet. But between lectures, essays, societies and the attempt to have a social life, we simply feel like we don‘t have enough time for grocery shopping and cooking. So if you do find the time to pick up a few things in Tesco on the way home from college, you really want your groceries to last for a while. And if you plan ahead, you‘ll see that you can buy certain things that won‘t have you running back to the shop two days later because you managed to eat everything in a day.
Here are a few recipes and tips for very easy dinners that you can turn into a great lunch the next day – provided you don‘t eat all the leftovers as a midnight or post-going-out snack!
Vegetable Tortilla
I‘m pretty sure I‘ve mentioned tortillas before, and if I haven‘t then I really should have! Why? Because they‘re awesome. Cheap, easy to make (seriously, it‘s hard to get them wrong!) and sooo versatile. You can use any vegetable you like and they‘ll taste good.
And also, since you‘ll hardly eat a whole tortilla as your dinner, it‘s a perfect lunch the next one or two days!
Here‘s what you‘ll need for a spinach and cherry tomato tortilla (in an average sized frying pan), but feel free to experiment and use different vegetables:
1 medium sized onion, chopped up
2/3 bag of spinach, washed and drained
1/2 or 1 leek (depending on the size), sliced
4-5 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 eggs
2-3 tablespoons milk
50 g grated cheddar cheese (optional)
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan at medium heat. Add the chopped up onion and fry until they start getting slightly browned. Then add leeks and cherry tomatoes and fry everything for a few minutes. Keep moving the veggies around with a wooden spatula so nothing sticks to the pan. Add spinach and allow it to wilt for a couple of minutes, then fry the vegetables for another 3-5 minutes until they onions, leek and tomatoes are nicely browned. Season well with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile whisk together eggs and milk in a bowl and preheat the oven to 180°C. When the vegetables are ready, pour egg mixture into the pan and mix with a spoon or spatula. Make sure the mixture is spread evenly in the pan, the reduce the heat slightly and let the mixture set for a few minutes. When you think the bottom side is done, add the cheese if you‘re using it and put the tortilla in the oven to cook the top for about 5 minutes.
When it‘s done, take out of the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before taking it out of the pan.
The next day, you can take whatever‘s left of your tortilla and put it on ciabatta bread or a piece of baguette, maybe add some cheese or a bit of lettuce and there you have a great, nutritious sandwich that will help you survive the day.
Vegetable stir-fry
This one is even easier than the tortilla. Just take whatever vegetables you like (I usually go with red peppers, onions, broccoli, leek and maybe some carrots), chop them up and fry everything in a large frying pan until the veggies are soft. Then add salt, pepper and soy sauce or other spices if you prefer. This stir-fry is a great dinner just on its own, but you could also have it as a side dish to go with chicken fillets and potatoes or other kinds of meat.
The next day, take some pita bread and fill with the leftover veggies, maybe some feta cheese and that‘s it. It will literally only take you about 2 minutes to make this lunch and it will save you a lot of money.
Rice
You‘re having rice as a side for your dinner? Take the leftovers and turn it into a healthy rice salad for lunch the next day. Just add tomatoes, peppers, sweetcorn, maybe some tuna, spring onions and some fresh herbs, season with, salt pepper, olive oil and lemon juice or vinegar and you‘re done! You can even make this the night before to save yourself some time in the morning and it‘ll taste even better because the vegetables and rice will soak up the dressing. The easiest way to take salads are plastic containers. You don‘t even have to buy them if you don‘t have any at home, but the next time you‘re having ice cream or ready-made soups, basically anything that comes in a plastic container, just wash and keep it for the next time you‘re taking lunch to college.
Pasta
Whether you have only plain cooked pasta left or sauce as well, you can make a delicious pasta salad for lunch. If you have tomato sauce or pesto, just mix that with the pasta, add salt and pepper, cherry tomatoes, maybe some ham, cheese and peppers for a healthy meal that will keep you awake during that really boring lecture.
Chicken
If you went through the effort of making roast chicken or even if you just have some fried chicken fillets left over from dinner, you‘re already halfway there to a perfect lunch. Get a small baguette and make yourself a chicken sandwich with pesto or mayonnaise, lettuce, cheese, peppers, red onions and anything else you like. Other options would be adding some chicken to your rice or pasta salad.
Soup
There‘s nothing better than soup to get you through the day now that the weather is getting colder and colder. Next time you‘re making some, just make a big pot and take some to college in a thermos so it‘ll stay hot all day.
Basically, you can make a great lunch with any leftovers you have. Just add some fresh ingredients and turn it into something different so it‘s not boring. There‘s nothing you can‘t try, just be creative!
