Tea and Toast team goes undercover to investigate.

Roast chicken salad sandwich    SU £2.55        Tesco- £1.80

Diet Coke (500ml)-                        SU-  £1.05      Tesco- 98p

Doritos (40g)                                   SU- 60p          Tesco- 45p

Okay, so there is definitely a price difference, but it doesn’t seem like much. Let’s presume you eat this 3 times a week, over a ten week term you could be spending £30 more by eating at uni. It’s your choice to decide whether you have the time/energy to shop for more of a bargain, or if you’re content to spend that little bit more for the convenience.

I also took a look at the wider range on offer at the shop;

1 pint of milk                                   SU- 60p            Tesco- 45p

Nescafe original (100g)                SU- £2.30         Tesco- £2.00

Lynx shower gel                             SU £2.65           Tesco- £2.33

For these ‘essentials’, I would definitely recommend going that little bit further to the Supermarket, as I guarantee it will save you money.

Overall, lunch SHOULD be bought in the SU shop, everything else, SHOULDN’T.

Emily Bonner.

For most students working out where to go to get drunk is too much pressure, but for Camilla Chafer University was an even bigger challenge. Alongside her studies Camilla had a baby at the age of 18; something unimaginable to most of us. Now a successful blogger Camilla talks to us about her experiences as a student and her life now.

Students are known for their strange eating habits and lack of variety in their diets, but did you find having a baby at University made food a bigger concern for you?

Absolutely, When you’re responsible for someone else’s well-being and their diet, preparing meals and buying the right food is more important. I’m probably the only student in the whole of England who can say I’ve never eaten a pot noodle.

Were you a good cook as a student, or did you have to learn?

I was terrible. I definitely had to learn. I still have cookbooks that I had when I was a student. There’s lots of student cook books out there and a lot of them are terrible.

What was your safety dish that you fell back on all the time?

I was really good at egg fried rice. “Very exotic”.

Was it hard making your student loan cover the cost of your food budget? Was it harder budgeting money having a child at university?

Yeh, at the time everyone thought I was rolling in benefits but it wasn’t like that. I got a bit more in my maintenance loan but that’s about it. I couldn’t live with anyone else because I had a child , so it was extra pressure . Someone needs to ask Gordon brown if he can live on 3 grand a year.

You are a regular blogger , but have you had much involvement in blogging about food or restaurants? We did see that you contributed to ‘Welcome to London 2008′. Did you enjoy that?

I recommended a few restaurants in that guide , but I didn’t get to eat anything. It was so unfair. I haven’t had much involvement in this sort or blogging. I think it would be fun though. I like eating food! Everyone is trying to be the next Jamie Oliver , but I just can’t cook that well.

Do you find your work as a blogger impacts on your diet? Is it hard to keep healthy and eat regularly?

Yes! Working at home means I’m right next to the kitchen and I’m always eating biscuits. Let’s face it biscuits taste better than apples.

So finally, what would be your one tip for students trying to make the most of their student loan?

Buy fresh food,especially fresh fruit. If you put junk in your body then you’re going to feel sluggish.

Mike Smith and Louise Rogers

Over the course of the week the canteen has 22 different dishes available, with 1 different meat, fish, vegetarian and pasta dish everyday. However on a Tuesday and Thursday there is a special ‘Budget Buster’ meal available, but I do find myself wondering how budget busting this deal is with it being just 10p cheaper than a regular meal. This means that in comparison to the regular dishes you would have to spend £26 to save just £1 with a ‘budget buster’. Being a student every penny saved does help but this really doesn’t seem like a worthwhile deal for students.
The dishes are quite varied ranging from ‘pan seared salmon steak’  to the standard ‘cheeseburger and chips’ so im sure over the course of the week there will be something that will appeal to everyone.

Ignoring the ‘budget buster’ deal, the food in the canteen seems quite reasonably priced with a standalone meal setting you back £2.60, it won’t break the bank. For those of your with a larger appetite you may be interested in the £3.20 deal which includes 1 side or the £3.40 deal which includes 2 sides. Basically, if you go with £4 you should be able to go away very full and still have a bit of change in your pocket. I do think that the food is quite reasonably priced and the quality of the food is as you would expect for a student canteen, it’s no 5 star Michelin restaurant but it will leave you feeling like you got your moneys worth.

Mike Smith

To La Tasca we go.

Armed with my voucher  for 50% off Tapas to share, we headed to a busy Spitalfields Market in East London (just a short walk from Liverpool St. Station.)

Ordering is an obstacle in itself as the aforementioned friend is a ‘vegetarian’. As we were both famished, we slightly over-ordered but rather too much than too little I say.

After much deliberation over the varied and mouthwatering menu we finally decided on; Patatas Bravas (potatoes in a tomato sauce), berenjenas gratinadas (baked aubergines with cheese), Champiñones al ajillo (mushrooms with garlic), Gambas pil pil (Prawns in a spicy tomato sauce), Chorizo frito al vino (Chorizo, fried in wine and paprika)  with an accompaniment of  pan de barra (bread with oil and balsamic vinegar.)

The food was delicious, although the aubergine was slightly tough. I even persuaded my ‘vegetarian’ friend to eat a couple of prawns, which she enjoyed immensely.

Although at first glance the food seems expensive, the 50% reduction made it extremely good value, especially as the food was washed down with several beers.

Better than Barcelona? Well maybe not, but a whole lot safer than flying with all that ash in the air.

Emily Bonner

For those of you who don’t know who Camilla is you can read up on her work and visit her website where you can read articles she has written for newspapers such as the Independent and the Guardian. Camilla started off by telling us about previous bloggers whose careers have flourished as a result of their consistent personal blogging. She used examples such as Belle De Jour and Lauren Lake who have received book deals and television opportunities. Camilla uses these examples to stress to us the importance of sticking to a blog “even if you think no one is reading.”  Reminding us “ the ones who are really keen… they’re the ones who will succeed.”

When asked if she believes bloggers will take over the newspaper and magazine industry Camilla replied – “ no I think people like magazines an papers… I think they will work well in conjunction with it.”

For those like us who are studying journalism, Chafer advises; “You have to be careful about limiting yourself to one branch of Journalism” and even suggests learning HTML to help with blogging.

As a popular blogger, and blog consultant, she was asked what makes certain blogs more popular than others; “the voice, the persona that the person writing it creates…and knowledge.” So the blogging is in your hands according to Chafer. To be a popular blogger, she suggests,  that you have to hone your writing style and go research your subjects. Sounds a bit like hard work to me.

Tanzi Whitehouse & Emily Bonner

Known as Las Iguanas, this chain of restaurants offer quality brazilian and latin foods, with exquisite cocktails and drinks that get you in the latin mood. The food menu itself is not entirely the cheapskates dream, however it is very tasty, and students are offered a discount of 20% off the bill from monday to saturday, which makes you feel a little bit better about spending a little extra on that huge plate of nachos.

To add to the excitement, the bar offers happy hour on most cocktails and pitchers, all day sunday and monday, and from midday to seven thirty from tuesday to saturday.

Las Iguanas is also brilliant to go to if your feeling exotic. The decor in all the restaurants is very brazilian, with multicoloured chandeliers, dark wooden floors and brazilian style graffiti all over the walls. The experience is intensified with the sound of samba, and the plasma screens on the wall that show clips from brazilian carnivals.

All in all, Las iguanuas may not be the cheapest for food, but the drink deals and student deals are hard to miss.

Las iguanas Soho

Ben Lancaster-Nogueira

tomach and so will help with nausea. Eating a banana can also reduce your blood pressure as they a

re high in magnesium, so this will help with easing that pounding headache.
We’ve all heard that a fry up will cure any level of hangover, well scientists have actually found that the best way to cure a hangover is to eat a bacon sandwich! Firstly, eating anything on a hangover is a good idea, it won’t ‘soak up’ the alcohol but it does help speed up your metabolism whic

h will make you feel heaps better and it will also boost your energy levels making you a bit more active.
But what makes the bacon sandwich so special? Researchers have found that having a heavy binge on alcohol reduces the amount of neurotransmitters in your brain, but bacon contains a high level of amino acids which tops these up, giving you a clearer head.
Next time you wake up after a night out and feel like the grim reaper try one

of these ‘cures’ and hopefully you will feel just that little bit better.

Mike Smith

Enchiladas!!

So I had some time to spare, and I thought it would be a good idea to try my hand at making a very tasty mexican dish, and seeing how easy the recipe was to follow.

I went to the local supermarket and purchased a box of “Old El Paso Enchilada mix”, and the other ingredients needed. On the front of the box, it is clearly labelled how much chicken you need to buy, and how much cheese you would need to make the dish nice and cheesey.

As I mentioned once before, us students can get a little scared when it comes to cooking raw meats, because none of us want food poisoning right? The recipe on the back of the box tells you how to cook the chicken perfectly. However, heres a tip: Do not do what I did and defrost chicken in the microwave for too long, otherwise you end up with a lovely mix of half raw and half microwaved chicken…

The recipe is divided into three easy steps, the first being how to cook the chicken, and make the enchilada sauce. The second and simplest of the steps tells you what to do with the tortilla’s. The third tells you how to prepare the dish for baking and how long you need to bake it for.

I found that having the recipe divided into these three simple steps makes the production process a lot easier, and much less confusing. Overall the dish takes up to 25 minutes to prepare, and feeds up to 4 people (depending on how much chicken you add). Another great thing about the recipe on the box, is that it tells you how to make other types of enchiladas, like how to make them vegetarian, or more meaty.

My friend and I are now very full, and happy with how easy the recipe was to follow. Mind you, have fun doing the washing up, we did make a bit of a mess…

Ben Lancaster-Nogueira

Tanzi Whitehouse

I prepared the meal, which fed up to 4 people, for only £6.31. Not only was it a cheap meal to make, but it also only takes 12 minutes to cook. Being Quorn mince, there is obviously no meat involved, which cuts the cooking time by about 10 minutes. The mince mixed perfectly with the “Dolmio Extra Mushroom Bolognese Sauce”, and filled the kitchen with the familiar smell of a normal Bolognese sauce. The mince also went well with the spaghetti, and it sure tasted like a normal spaghetti bolognese.

However, whilst eating the meal, I did notice that the Quorn mince was a bit dry, and that there was a distinct lack of that taste that minced beef has. Also the texture of the mince was very different from that of minced beef, it was a lot softer, and was a little spongey. But saying this, the mince is very tasty in its own right, the meal went down very well with my two flat mates, and with one of them being vegetarian, it was good to hear that he really liked the food.

The advantage of using any Quorn product within a meal is that there are no risks of getting food poisoning from uncooked Quorn products. And being students, we all know how lazy we are when it comes to cooking, and that cooking chicken and red meat can be a little daunting when you dont know whether the meat is cooked properly or not. Another advantage is that, for all the veggies and vegans out there, you can enjoy the taste of good old meaty foods without actually having to eat meat!

Ben Lancaster-Nogueira