Student Meals to Learn Before Uni
21 July 2025 • 5 min read
This post is part of our "Next Stop: Uni" series which guides you through each week of the summer between finishing school and Freshers so you can start uni prepared and excited.
Next Stop: Uni by UniHomes
It’s hard enough moving to uni – leaving home for the first time, trying to remember your coursemates’ names, dragging yourself out of bed in time for those 9am lectures – without having to also teach yourself to cook. And we mean properly cook; those never-ending takeaway pizzas will soon drain the bank, and sad student meals like, I don’t know, beans and pasta are nowhere near nutritional (or enjoyable) enough to actually do you any good.
So if you don’t want to be the laughing stock of your student halls, it’s worth learning a few staple student-friendly recipes over the summer whilst you have the time (and access to your parents’ cupboards). We’ve put together a few meal ideas, all tried and tested by our Content Ambassadors, to get you inspired and to give you somewhere to start. You never know, you may find that cooking is actually your thing and develop a hobby for life.
Toad in the hole
The further into first term you get, the more you’ll be grateful for toad in the hole – comforting and stodgy, toad in the hole is a super simple and cheap meal that uses ingredients you’ll already have in your cupboards and fridge. It takes well under an hour to whizz up and makes enough for you to share with your housemates, giving you ample opportunity to impress everyone with your newfound cooking skills. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
👉 1 pack of sausages
👉 Oil (sunflower or vegetable)
👉 4 large eggs
👉 200ml milk
👉 150g plain flour
👉 Salt and pepper
Method:
Preheat your oven to 230°C fan (this is HOT so please be careful later!).
Add a glug of oil to any deep tray you have (like a roasting tray), ensuring that there’s enough oil to cover the base of the dish.
Place the dish in the oven in order to heat the oil.
Fry your sausages for around 15 mins until browned. They don’t have to be done all the way through as they’ll finish cooking in the oven later.
Sift your flour and combine with milk, eggs and seasoning.
Whisk the mixture together really well to get rid of any major lumps. Keep going until small bubbles start to form. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water to thin it out.
Taking care not to burn yourself on the hot oven or tray, open the oven and add the batter and sausages to the tray of oil. The batter should audibly sizzle as it hits the hot oil; if it doesn’t, stick the tray back in the oven for a few more minutes to heat it up further.
Bake for around 15-20 minutes until the mixture has risen and is golden on top. It’s important that you don’t open the oven while the toad in the hole cooks, or else you risk deflating the Yorkshire pudding.
Serve with onion gravy and veggies!
Anything-&-pesto pasta
This recipe comes from our Content Ambassador Sophie, and is a great student staple with it being a prime use for any leftovers; add any protein or vegetables that you want to, use noodles instead of pasta – it’s a fantastic way to make a tasty meal out of almost anything!
Ingredients:
👉 2 sausages (or similar portion of other protein source)
👉 2-3 handfuls of pasta
👉 1 handful of frozen mixed veg
👉 3 teaspoons of tomato pesto
👉 1/2 ball of mozzarella cheese
👉 Salt and pepper
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.
Begin cooking the sausages for 22 mins, remembering to turn halfway through.
Whilst waiting, place the pasta in a saucepan and prepare the rest of your ingredients and equipment.
Just before turning, set the kettle to boil.
As the kettle finishes, pour into the saucepan, add salt and pepper, turn up the heat and bring to boil.
Add frozen vegetables and bring back to the boil, and cook for seven minutes.
When the sausages are finished, remove from the oven and cut into slices.
Drain the pasta water and return to the saucepan.
Add further salt and pepper and red pesto, and mix thoroughly.
Add sausages and tear the mozzarella into small chunks, before mixing together.
Pour into a bowl to serve (or keep it in the saucepan to save washing up!).
Easy pastry pizza
This pastry pizza comes from Claire, our Portsmouth Content Ambassador, and is a solid recipe for getting you to feel like you’ve been properly hands-on in your cooking.
Ingredients:
👉 Puff pastry
👉 Tomato base (passata works well)
👉 Cheese (it can be mozzarella, cheddar, Red Leicester, halloumi... anything you fancy!)
👉 Any toppings are optional: e.g. mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, pepperoni, bacon, ham, pineapple, peppers, pesto)
Method:
Start by chopping up any desired toppings. My pizza has mushrooms, tomatoes and red onions.
Preheat the oven to 220°c/200°c fan assisted (check your puff pastry for oven settings).
Lay out the pastry on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Gently fold the corners in on all four sides of the pastry to create the crusts.
Begin to pour on the tomato sauce, using a spoon to spread it evenly.
Sprinkle on your chosen cheese – my personal favourite is a mix of mozzarella and cheddar.
Now the toppings can be placed on the pizza, along with any desired seasonings.
Place the pizza in the oven and cook for 25 minutes (again, check your puff pastry’s instructions).
Once it’s cooked, take it out of the oven, cut it up and enjoy!
Need even more recipe ideas?
One of our Brand Ambassadors has put together a video on how to make an easy chow mein:
