Food

‘Nosh For Students’ Cookbook Review

September 19, 2018

‘Nosh For Students’ Cookbook Review

When I moved away from my comforting home in Cornwall to a ‘big city’, the thought of living off baked beans and frozen pizza was a shock that I stubbornly decided not to give into. No, I wanted to try and keep spending low and eat amazing food while I was away, so when I saw Nosh For Students at my local Waterstones, I had to give it a try.

If you’re a newborn ‘Fresher’ going shopping in a supermarket on your own for the first time it is seriously stressful and can be kind of daunting. This book gives you tips on how to make the best shopping lists – look to page 8 for ‘Good buying ideas’. Nosh also provides a page on what to keep in your store cupboard, and has a hilariously titled section called ‘How long can I keep this before it kills me?’, giving you information on how to store food safely whilst appealing to your sense of humour.  It might just save you from having food poisoning on that night you really wanted to go to ‘Bump and Grind’ at Zero Zero.

A day eating with Nosh For Students

Let’s begin with breakfast! Starting with an easy recipe on page 24, ‘Stuff on toast’ beans on toast with an egg on top. Easy peasy lemon squeezy (or should we say cheesy?), this is a great quick meal that’s very low cost working out at just 60p per person. However, timing is everything: I toasted my bread and warmed up my beans in the microwave but I hadn’t heated my pan to fry the egg beforehand so the meal had gone cold by the time my egg cooked. If you want to spice things up a bit Nosh suggest trying the ‘Eggy bread’ or ‘Welsh Rarebit’. Don’t worry, the ‘rarebit’ doesn’t refer to meat – it’s just a recipe that includes cheese and worcester sauce. Yummy!  

For lunch I fancied trying the ‘Chickpea and Chorizo Couscous’. Personally, I love chorizo, but to be honest, this recipe might just be too expensive for the average student. Chorizo costs £2.50, rice costs between £1.50-£2 and the individual spices needed are £1.50 each, so this meal can be pricey. You really do need to spices to lift the flavour of the cous-cous, but the good thing is the jars are reusable, so think of it as an investment.

For dessert I wanted to make something easy to store. Something I could have again as a midnight snack if I wanted. I picked ‘Chocolate Fridge Slices’– a rather expensive dish, coming to a grand total of £6.95. You need to buy hazelnuts, apricots, creme fraiche and chocolate but in the end these slices were to die for! It is however, a simple dish: you just need to melt chocolate, add everything else and leave it to set in the fridge and cut into slices. Definitely recommended.

After trying these recipes I do feel like my cooking skills have advanced, and I think Mum may approve of my attempts! The cookbook includes all the essential information students need to know and the recipes easy to follow, however I do think the costing is a little high for many of the recipes in the book. If you’re looking for an easy-to-follow way to spice up your meal times, this truly is the ticket! If you do buy this book and love it, you should check out the other titles in the series: Vegetarian Nosh For Students, Nosh Gluten Free, Nosh For Graduates and 101 Questions Students Ask About Cooking.

Nosh For Students £5.95:

Nosh Gluten Free £6.78:

Nosh For Vegetarian Students £6.89:

What’s your go-to budget friendly meal? Tag @milkmagazinebsu in your foodie pics on Instagram

 

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