Healthy, tasty student food doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming

Double chocolate cake, fried chicken in a bucket, large cheesy pizza – with all this up for grabs, why would anyone eat green vegetables?

As a first year university student, I can definitely relate to the temptation of choosing ready meals and fast food over fruit and nuts. But believe it or not, there is a middle ground. Here are some tips on how healthy, tasty student food doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming.

Can't be bothered to cook?

Not all burgers are bad for you. Try this wholemeal roll with turkey (or chicken) slices. Photo: Nazma Lakhani

When you first start living alone, it's natural to feel nervous about cooking, as you may not have the confidence or the right ingredients. This could lead you straight to the local fast food restaurant as a cheap and quick solution.

But there is a healthier way – and not all burgers are bad for you. If you want a “no-need-to-cook” burger, try using a wholemeal roll, turkey (or chicken) slices and salad, and serve it up with orange juice. Or, if you feel adventurous enough to have a go at flavouring some minced beef and grilling it for a home-made hamburger, use the quick and easy recipe for mini-kebabs. Just make the mince into a burger shape, and grill or bake. You can serve this in a wholemeal or granary burger bun with some salad.

It's okay to have ready meals sometimes, but there are things you can do to ensure that you're still getting a balanced meal. Some supermarkets have healthier options, but you do need to look at the small print and compare labels. The main things to look out for are sodium and saturated fat, as well as calories if you're watching your weight.

Once you have your ready meal heating in the microwave, think about what you could have with it. Stock up on canned vegetables – even half-a-can of baked beans is a good accompaniment. Or maybe slice a stick of cucumber or a tomato – anything that helps you to have at least one portion of vegetables with the meal.

If there are vegetables in the kitchen, you're probably more likely to add them to meals. Try buying inexpensive but tasty vegetables next time you go shopping – and once you've bought them, eat them! Here are some ideas: peppers, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, baked beans (even if they've got sugar, they're still a vegetable!) other canned beans, sweet corn, and frozen mixed vegetables.

Naeem Meghjee, a student at Imperial College London, likes to put sweet corn in everything “because it's sweet and it goes with everything.” Sweet corn tastes great and can count as one of your daily portions of vegetables.

Living in catered accommodation

If you don't need to cook because your student accommodation also offers meals, then it might be easier to get what you need in a day. But, it's still worth putting some thought into your choices so you don't end up just eating your favourite foods day-in and day-out, with little variety.

You might find these suggestions of help when you're making your choices in the dining room:

• When faced with two main meals that you like equally, reach for the one that looks more colourful – it is probably healthier.
• Soup is a good filler. Even plain tomato soup can give you a portion of vegetables. If you have bread with it, try choosing wholemeal or granary bread more often so that you get some fibre.
• Get into the habit adding vegetables or side salad to your main meal choice.
• Have fruit juice rather than a soft drink.
• Finish with fruit on most days. If you prefer a dessert and are allowed to also choose a fruit, then go for both!

Sometimes – when I am really hungry – I put a lot of food on my tray, only to find that half way through, the meal becomes a struggle. Chances are that you do the same, and munch your way through the rest of the meal. In time, try to train yourself to only take what you can manage.

Splash some colour on your plate

Adding colour to your meal – like this salad made of lettuce, tomato, carrots and yellow peppers – gives you a wider supply of vitamins and minerals. Nazma Lakhani

Natural colours from fruit and vegetables give you a wider supply of vitamins and minerals. According to 19-year-old Hassan Nasser, “the more green the better!” His tip adds colour to his plate – but why stop at one colour? If you can, aim to have three different colours on your plate at every meal.

For example, a simple side salad of lettuce, carrot and cucumber gives you all three in one go. Or if you're having cauliflower cheese, which has some tomato on top, enjoy a helping of peas and have a few purple grapes afterwards.

Convenience foods like fries, hash browns, potato wedges, chicken strips and fried fish are sometimes called yellow foods. They are often salty and high in fat, so not so good if you're on a health drive. It's a good idea to add some colour. Chopping a red pepper takes seconds but brightens up the plate and boosts the nutritional content.

If you're choosing a sandwich in a supermarket or sandwich store, try and go for one with a wider variety of salad vegetables and colours. For example, if you enjoy tuna, choose a tuna sandwich with lettuce, cucumber and tomato rather than just sweet corn.

Stock up on lots of different colours when you shop. Nabila Jaffer, a Law Graduate from Sheffield Hallam University, suggests taking a rucksack to the market to get lots of inexpensive, fresh and nutritious fruit.

Add order to your day – starting with breakfast!

You may enjoy ordering Chinese takeaway, but there's also value to adding order to your day. It's a well-known cliché, but breakfast really should be the biggest meal of the day, and is probably the worst one to skip.

The logic is simple – you need as much energy as you can get throughout the day since you're constantly using your brain and muscles, whereas when you're asleep your body isn't moving around, and therefore can make do with less. Breakfast can give you the energy you need before a day of studying.

Cereals don't need to have the word “bran” in them to be good for you. Even if a cereal contains sugar, you'll have it with milk, which is a great source of calcium. Also, many cereals include added vitamins and minerals – just look at the side of the box. Try adding a chopped banana or raisins to your cereal as your first fruit of the day. Accompany your breakfast with a glass of fruit juice and you've had two portions of fruit before you've even set off for the day.

Chopping a red pepper takes seconds but brightens up the plate and boosts the nutritional content. Nazma Lakhani

Other easy breakfast ideas include:

• Peanut butter on toast;
• Fresh, tinned, or dried fruit added to your bowl of cereal;
• Porridge (even instant porridge cooked in the microwave gives you fibre);
• Egg on toast (I like to add grated cheese and humus to make it more filling).

Contrary to popular belief, a cereal bar isn't a good enough substitute for a bowl of cereal and milk – it won't give you the energy you need for the day.

Breakfast is a great start, but make sure you follow it up with regular meals. You might think that missing lunch helps you lose weight, but it may actually make you eat a bigger dinner! Nuts and fruit between meals can fill you up without piling on the calories.

Snacks

A snack doesn't have to be junk food to be tasty, and it doesn't need to taste like cardboard to be healthy. If you are tempted to have a snack, keep the following in mind:

• Crisps (potato chips) aren't the healthiest snack, but some varieties are better than others. Try baked crisps without salt, or those made with extra wholegrain.
• Chocolate spread might be unhealthy, but on top of a slice of granary or rye bread, it is probably better than a bar of chocolate.
• A couple of jaffa cakes are not that bad a snack, because they only give you about 100 Calories. Two chocolate digestives on the other hand, contain more than 160 Calories.
• Did you know that microwave popcorn is actually a really good snack? Even though the salt makes it less healthy, it is mostly just corn that has been popped – some might argue that it even counts as a vegetable!

All this talk of food is making me hungry… time to indulge in some vegetables!

Watch this four-minute video on how to keep healthy when leaving home for the first time.