I couldn't cook when I left home – but these easy £2.50 recipes became my go-to

I couldn't cook when I left home – but these easy £2.50 recipes became my go-to

Mia says she saved £20 a week on her grocery shop when she started cooking from scratch

When Mia Jones moved from Anglesey to London for university, she says she couldn't cook "whatsoever" - but she soon realised that had to change.

"I couldn't live off pasta for the rest of my life," she says, and the ready meals and pot noodles were beginning to mount up.

"I'd be spending £45 a week on food," says the 22-year-old. "That wasn't viable."

So she began buying fresh ingredients. "Then I realised, 'Oh, I need to learn how to cook now'."

She started watching social media videos for ideas and recipes, replacing ingredients she didn't enjoy.

Mia says learning to cook "made me realise I could function on my own"

Although there were a few early disasters, it wasn't long before Mia was able to say she could cook with confidence.

"It made me realise I could function on my own and live on my own", she says.

"[First year] me would not be able to believe it all".

Even better, Mia reduced her weekly food shop by £20 - and noticed she had more energy.

"I was feeling a lot more awake in my lectures, which was very useful," she says.

Now, after completing her masters degree, she shares her recipes online in the hope of helping other students in the same situation.

Mia and other students who once struggled in the kitchen have shared the dishes they learned to make that were cheap, simple - and, most importantly, tasty.

All of the recipes can be made by filling a basic store cupboard for under £13. Each meal then needs extra ingredients costing under £2.50 - and they make several portions, ideal for the next day or for freezing.

Mia's first recipe is a chickpea curry: "It's very cheap and very nutritious," she says.

The second is udon noodles. "It's a 10 minute recipe, it's easily customisable [with tofu or chicken] and really useful for a weeknight dinner." Mia says she'll add chilli oil if she's feeling fancy.

Mia recommends adding extras such as chilli oil and sesame seeds to the dish

Like Mia, Jayda Otuo-Mensah "didn't really cook" before going to university.

The physiotherapy student wanted to learn how to make healthy food while spending around 40 hours a week on placement in hospitals.

"It's a lot easier when you're cooking because you know exactly what's going in," she says.

"I can have a chicken burger and it's really healthy because of the way I cooked it."

Jayda says she learned to cook by following TikTok videos

After "a lot of trial and error" using TikTok videos, the 20-year-old Coventry University student felt confident enough to film herself cooking.

She now buys staple ingredients, and although she tries to follow a weekly meal plan, she mostly cooks whatever she feels like.

One of the meals Jayda makes most often is tacos.

"It's a great meal to learn; it's quick and affordable," she says.

Rob Medhurst says the student classic of spaghetti bolognese was the springboard to more ambitious dishes.

"It's very affordable and it's easy," says the 25-year-old graduate of Nottingham Trent University.

"I know some people love the art of cooking but personally I don't," says Rob

"I quickly learned meal prepping and batch cooking was the best way for me," he says.

"I know some people love the art of cooking but personally I don't."

Rob has found the simple spag bol to be a flexible recipe: "You can just adapt a couple of things for chilli or lots of burritos."

He says he has made the same recipe so many times that he calls it "muscle memory".

When making this you can also add extras such as grated cheese

Chef and cookbook author Claire Thompson remembers her daughter Grace leaving home for university and asking: "Can she really cook?"

She sent Grace away with three crates of supplies, which her daughter described as being "stocked for the apocalypse just in case anything went awry".

Chef and cookbook author Claire Thompson says there is an essential store cupboard of items everyone needs to make quick and easy meals

But for Claire there are some essentials everyone should think about stocking up on when leaving home.

"I think spices are a really good thing to start getting your head around," she told the BBC World Service's The Food Chain podcast.

"They deliver lots and lots of flavour for not very much money, and they last well in your store cupboard," she says.

"Adding a jar of chickpeas to a tomato sauce and adding that [to] your pasta, you're boosting really good levels of protein and bringing nutrients to a really pretty cheap dish really."