What to eat when drinking

One of the biggest fears you might have when starting university is whether you’ll put on the “Freshers’ Fifteen”.

However, those extra pounds won’t just be from excessive alcohol consumption. With hours of waiting in the queue for Sobar and nights spent cutting shapes on the Jesters dance floor, your typical three square meals a day won’t quite cut it. You will need extra fuel to keep you going. Here’s my advice to cut the kebabs and beat the “freshers’ fifteen”.

The Pre-Night Out Snack

So you’re dressed, your carefully chosen playlist is popping off and you are ready to start the night. Before anything else you need a pre-drink snack. Something that will make the wait for the bus and the queue into Jesters slightly more bearable: the humble cheese toastie.

Simple, quick and effective and with both carbs and cheese, the two essential food groups. Simply pop some bread and a few chunks of cheddar into the toastie machine and you’re good to go. If you aren’t fortunate enough to have a flatmate who splashed their loan on a toastie machine then just melt some cheese on toast under the grill, you utter maniac.

Add ham, bacon or tomatoes to take it to the next level

For those of you who cannot afford the luxury of adding cheese to your weekly shop, a bowl of cereal does the trick. My personal recommendation is cookie crisp but if you’re slightly more health conscious a good bowl of granola could also work. Not only will this keep you going all night but the dairy in the milk will help minimise your hangover the next morning: win-win!

The Post-Night Out Snack

So you’ve conquered Jesters. You’ve managed to resist the temptation of Chick-o-land. You’ve crawled your way up the stairs into your kitchen. You’ve definitely earned some form of edible reward: curly fries.

Now trust me, your drunk-self might believe that you can up the ante and whip up something more challenging at 3 in the morning but waking up with a half-eaten bowl of spaghetti next to you and realising you’ve wasted an entire tub of Bolognese sauce really isn’t worth the hassle. So keep it simple. Pop some curly fries in the oven whilst you chug some water and then add whichever condiments you prefer.

Yum.

If you’re looking for a more instant meal I can also recommend super noodles, and don’t waste your time with the overpriced Pot Noodles, the 18p packs of Aldi super noodles do the trick just fine! Please be advised that operating a kettle does require some semblance of sobriety so there is no shame, at least not whilst you’re still drunk, in asking a friend to do it for you. Wait three minutes and you have yourself the perfect snack and just one jug to wash up in the morning!

The Hangover Cure

So you’ve finally rolled out of bed, it’s almost dinner time and you need to refuel. Thankfully you’re now sober and can dare to cook something slightly more challenging: the full English breakfast, the student budget version.

The beauty of the full English is that it can be adapted to even the most dire of shopping budgets. The minimalist version just involves toast, bacon, eggs and baked beans. Fry up your bacon and eggs, warm your beans in the microwave (saves washing up another saucepan) and toast your bread. If your weekly budget can extend further, feel free to add mushrooms, chips, tomatoes, sausages or even some hash browns.

Or, just head down to your nearest spoons

If you think your culinary abilities are up to it you can also try whipping up some pancakes. For pancakes, it’s all about the toppings and if you’re recovering from a night-out I recommend something like banana and honey (sugar and carbs are ideal for battling nausea and shakiness).

Never underestimate the power of food during freshers. It’ll help you forge friendships, endure hours of queueing, crawl your way home and survive the inevitable hangovers.