Keep some cheap staples in the cupboard and learn to cook a few easy dishes – it will make college life healthier and tastier, especially when you're hit with middle-of-the-night munchies, writes  DOMINI KEMP

MY STUDENT food days were a wretched combination of greasy carbohydrates and badly topped pizzas. I was also an inconsistent (and therefore useless) vegetarian and used to add packets of ground-up soya protein to my “bolognaise” sauces which bore more of a resemblance to cat litter rather than minced meat. Needless to say, I won’t be providing a recipe for it.

My advice for blissful student domesticity would be this: always have a few indispensable ingredients in your abode, so you can whip up a quick dinner or snack even at 2am. Olive oil, tins of chickpeas or cannellini beans, tinned tomatoes, pasta, frozen peas, butter, Parmesan, eggs, garlic and onions are a good place to start. It means you can fry some onions, add a tin of chickpeas or cannellini beans and some garlic and serve on toast. Frying a few bits of bacon or chopped chorizo in with the onions would make the dish even tastier.

Frozen peas are great. They cook in seconds and also make a handy ice pack in emergencies. A simple and cheap supper is mashed spuds with a few spoons of cooked peas, topped with fried or poached egg.

Avocadoes have to be the perfect fast food. I love to chop up tomatoes, season with salt and pepper (and a good pinch of caster sugar if they’re a bit grim-looking) and mix with an avocado and a bunch of finely chopped spring onions. This sloppy salsa is delicious on a baked potato which is another incredibly cheap supper: no need to wrap in foil or any such nonsense. Just make an incision around the spud, lengthways, bake in a hot oven (around 200°C) for at least 50 minutes, or until a knife can be easily inserted. Scooping out the potato flesh and mashing with some butter, pesto and some grated cheddar is a tasty dinner.

Being able to cook a few basics is great, but so is getting your five a day. If that means finding a good dip or vinaigrette to help make things less green, then so be it. If you can’t bear eating an apple, orange or banana, then try chopping them up with a mango or pineapple which with all their natural juiciness, help make the “boring” fruits more exotic.

Naturally when you’re hungover, the idea of something light and good for you does not come near the lure of a burger or bacon sarnie. But if you can go easy on your system the morning after the night before, you will feel and look much better, and your liver will thank you for it.

SPAGHETTI WITH MEATBALLS

Allow between 100 and 150 g spaghetti per person, depending on how greedy you are. Serves 4

To make the meatballs

Ingredients

Olive oil

2 onions, peeled and finely diced

6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 tsp dried herbs (optional)

Salt pepper

250g sausage meat

200g minced beef

100g Parmesan, grated

1 egg, beaten

50g breadcrumbs

Method

Heat a few glugs of the olive oil in a large frying pan and, very slowly and gently, lightly fry the onions and garlic until very soft.

Transfer them to a bowl and let them cool fully before mixing with the rest of the ingredients. Shape into small golf balls and chill for 10 minutes.

Heat another few glugs of olive oil, preferably in a non-stick frying pan and fry the meatballs until dark brown all over (about 10 minutes). Keep warm while you heat up the tomato sauce.

To make the tomato sauce

Ingredients

50 ml olive oil 

6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 tsp dried herbs, such as oregano (optional)

2 tins chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp caster sugar

Splash of red wine (if available)

Method

Heat the olive oil and gently fry the garlic for a minute, then add the tinned tomatoes. Season with the sugar, salt and pepper and add a Parmesan rind – if you have one spare. 

Add the red wine and simmer gently for 20 minutes, occasionally stirring, making sure it's not burning because of the sugar.

The Parmesan rind can be rinsed off and used again or else chucked away if it's warbled too much. It makes everything taste that bit better.

To assemble

Add the meatballs to the hot tomato sauce and heat thoroughly while you cook 400g to 600g spaghetti in a big saucepan of boiling salted water, to which you've added a splash of olive oil.

Cook until al dente, drain and pour in another couple of tablespoons of olive oil and toss.

Season the spaghetti and then dish out. Spoon over the tomato sauce and meatballs. Garnish with chopped parsley (or not!) and plenty of grated Parmesan and black pepper.