CHRISTINA BAILY 26, who played Danni Carbone in Hollyoaks, will be starring in Looking for JJ, at the Unicorn Theatre, London, from October 23.

DEGREE Sport science and drama, Manchester Metropolitan University.

SIGNATURE DISH? A big bowl of pasta. It's the easiest thing to make; it fills you up and it's affordable. All you do is to buy the biggest bag of pasta you can find, a jar of the most basic tomato sauce, heat it up and bung it all together.

PICK UP ANY BAD EATING HABITS? One of my weaknesses was for pizza from the canteen. I think it's still my vice food now. Someone I knew used to get a french stick, take the middle out and put Pot Noodles into it. That was really gross.

TOP TIPS? Planning. Put all the basics in your cupboard so that you have something when you come in and it will save you loads of money. If you've got baked beans or spaghetti hoops you can bung them on some toast and it's 50p instead of a fiver.

DANNY WALLACE 30, TV presenter

DEGREE Media Studies (radio production), Westminster University

SIGNATURE DISH? When I left for uni my mum gave me an emergency packet of dried couscous. But my student meal of choice was the stir-fry. I like it so much because all the instructions are in the title: stir and fry, the two easiest things in the world. And it makes things tastier, too. I was really lazy, though. I bought ready-diced pork or chicken, only one veg, added sauce, then put it all together with those noodles that cook in two minutes. Delicious, and you can stir fry anything, socks, Shreddies, shoes.

PICK UP ANY BAD EATING HABITS? I was a sucker for the pasties in the student bar. They looked crispy when you bought them, but turned to soup once they were microwaved. But you just couldn't not have a pasty with your beer.

TOP TIPS? Never, ever buy the breakfast in a can. It sounds brilliant, all your culinary problems solved, right? But it's slop. It plops on to your plate and it's just eggy mush.

RONNI ANCONA 38, comedian.

DEGREE Three dimensional design at Central St Martins and Education at University College London.

SIGNATURE DISH? My diet at university was mostly made up of red goo. I was like a flamingo, gradually dying myself pink with taramasalata and tinned tomatoes. I ate pots and pots of taramasalata and every meal I cooked seemed to involve tinned tomatoes, with chopped-up onions and tuna.

PICK UP ANY BAD EATING HABITS? Nibbling and grazing. I go about the house nibbling and putting half back. My husband’s always finding half a banana lying around.

TOP TIPS? In the whole span of life, whether someone had a scoop of your taramasalata or pinched your milk is not going to matter, so think carefully before you fly off the handle about it. And don’t get too territorial over the fridge shelves; it just won’t matter in a few years’ time and it’s not worth losing friends over.

FAY WELDON 75. The novelist has a new book, The Spa Decameron, out on September 5

DEGREE MA Economics and Psychology, St Andrews.

SIGNATURE DISH? I remember eating a lot of cream crackers and Danish blue cheese. Also, at some point somebody must have cooked me spaghetti bolognese. I remember that night because I drank a lot of chianti from bottles with raffia around them and got incredibly ill. I wasn’t able to eat spaghetti bolognaise for 40 years. Curried baked beans with sausages and raisins was another common dish. Very cheap, very good.

PICK UP ANY BAD EATING HABITS? Everything was a bad habit. It was cold in Scotland so we filled up on carbohydrates and fat. There were a lot of cakes and buns.

TOP TIPS? Lentil soup is easy with onions and old ham knuckle. I could give you plenty of tips, but you won’t take any notice, the whole point of a student’s life is self-destruction and the defiance of fate.

HUGH DENNIS 45. The comedian is a regular panellist on Mock the Week, BBC Two, Thursday nights.

DEGREE Geography, Cambridge University.

SIGNATURE DISH? The thing I used to have more than anything else was a baked potato; you don’t have to do anything to it except to leave it for as long as you want. Even after 3-4 hours it was still sort of edible. I still love baked potatoes.

PICK UP ANY BAD EATING HABITS? I came from a household obsessed with eating healthy. My mother grew mung beans in the airing cupboard and ate live yoghurt. So uni was about being able to eat sugar and MSG, but I have to confess I was still pretty good. My only vice, if you can call it that, was toast, heavily smeared with peanut butter.

TOP TIPS? If you’re sharing a room, under no circumstances cook cauliflower cheese, the smell of it is absorbed by everything. My other tip is to go to the supermarket late in the day and pick up all the stuff that is about to be thrown away. You can get rolls and fresh meat for about 4p.

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