{"id":4759,"date":"2026-04-07T16:43:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/?p=4759"},"modified":"2026-04-07T16:43:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:43:32","slug":"cheap-student-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/students\/cheap-student-meals\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheap student meals that batch cook and freeze brilliantly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Batch cooking is one of the best things you can do for your bank balance at uni. Spend a couple of hours cooking something big and thank yourself for the rest of the week. It also means nothing gets wasted, and that makes us pretty chuffed too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These six meals are the ones worth making in bulk &#8211; all cheap, freezer-friendly, and all a lot better than an overpriced takeaway \ud83c\udf72<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udf5a Lentil dhal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A bag of red lentils costs around \u00a31 and makes five or six portions.\u00a0 It&#8217;s one of the most filling things you can cook for under 60p a bowl. Reheat straight from frozen in a pan with a splash of water and serve with naan, rice or pitta for your dinner. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.budgetbytes.com\/dal-nirvana\/\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitchensanctuary.com\/red-lentil-dahl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Try this red lentil dahl.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83e\uded8 Chilli con carne<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One pot of chilli can give you four or five completely different meals for the week- over rice, in wraps or on a jacket potato. Want to make it more budget friendly? Swap half the mince for kidney beans without losing any of the deliciousness. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.savethestudent.org\/save-money\/food-drink\/student-recipes\/chilli-con-carne.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Try this version for around \u00a31.23 a serving \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udf60 Creamy sweet potato soup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sweet potatoes are cheap, filling, and blend into something that tastes quite luxurious. Roast them first for maximum flavour, blitz with stock and a few warm spices, and you&#8217;ve got a delicious soup that freezes for up to three months. Serve with crusty bread for a hearty meal. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk\/recipes\/sweet-potato-soup-with-garlic-croutes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Try this easy recipe \u2192<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83e\udd55 Minestrone soup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ultimate fridge-clearout recipe. Any veg that needs using, tinned tomatoes, stock and cannellini beans. The key freezer tip: leave the pasta out before you freeze it, then cook a fresh handful when you reheat.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbcgoodfood.com\/recipes\/classic-minestrone-soup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">This BBC Good Food recipe<\/a> is a solid starting point, but the whole point is to use whatever you\u2019ve got already!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udf45 Tomato pasta sauce<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A rich, garlicky tomato sauce is one of the most useful things you can have ready-to-go in your freezer. Make a big batch, freeze it in portions and you&#8217;re always ten minutes away from tomato pasta for dinner. It also works as a pizza base, a chilli starter, or a soup base.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jamieoliver.com\/recipes\/vegetables\/hero-tomato-sauce\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jamie Oliver&#8217;s hero tomato sauce<\/a> was made for exactly this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udf5b Potato and cauliflower curry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Warming, filling, and made almost entirely from cheap cupboard staples. Potatoes and cauliflower simmer down with tinned tomatoes, spices and a swirl of yoghurt at the end. The best bit? It freezes for up to six months.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thekitchn.com\/weeknight-recipe-potato-and-ca-108287\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Kitchn&#8217;s potato and cauliflower curry<\/a> is a great weeknight version\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Batch cook, <a href=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/students\/how-to-freeze-food-properly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">freeze properly<\/a>, and you&#8217;ll always have something delicious for dinner &#8211; without spending a fortune or letting anything go to waste.And remember, you can always share leftover ingredients on Olio.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Batch cooking is one of the best things you can do for your bank balance at uni. Spend a couple&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":4760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cheap student meals that batch cook and freeze brilliantly - Olio | At Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cheap student meals that actually taste good: six budget-friendly recipes that batch cook and freeze well, so you always have something in the freezer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/students\/cheap-student-meals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cheap student meals that batch cook and freeze brilliantly - 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