Food - Student Style

I would like to challenge the common belief that students survive on quick, easy, and cheap food.  Peanut butter and jam sandwiches, instant noodles, and frozen pizza all come to mind as accepted meal solutions, or the good old grocery store of mum and dad.  Now I am not saying there is anything wrong with peanut butter and jam. But there are so many other choices out there - more delicious than the questionable items found at your local convience store. Cooking on a student's budget can be done, and you can have real meals.  Did you ever think that homemade chicken stew, beef stroganoff, and apple cheesecake were options?


Sometimes seems easier just to order pizza or boil macaroni, but who doesn't love a home cooked meal?  A handy trick is to make extra when you do cook and afterwards you have leftovers! Save the tins from Chinese food and you have homemade TV dinners - just remember don't put them in the microwave!


For those who are afraid to make it up as you go here a few places to look for a bit of inspiration:

• Stores like Chapters and the Wee Book Inn often have a wide variety of cookbooks that are incredibly cheap (think $10 or less). 
• If the idea of a book makes you nervous you can browse through the Kraft Canada site.  Kraft has a number of recipes that are very easy and most call for ingredients that can be found at your local Safeway or Sobeys.
• When you build up a bit of confidence with newly discovered talent in the kitchen, check out  Food Network Canada for more ideas.  Personally I like Michael Smith's recipes as they substitute ingredients well.  Plus they don't call for some of those odd things, like quinoa, that could be spinach flavoured grain for all you know.