Shopping on a Student Budget

I often get asked "Ellen, how can you afford to eat such nice food when you're at uni?" so I thought I'd write a blog post to share some little tips that I follow to ensure I have fresh healthy meals at a low cost whilst being a student.

1. Meal Plan

This is a recent method I have started using whereby I write a list at the weekend and I plan what I will be cooking for dinner for that week. I plan for 5 days so it still allows some freedom for any spontaneous dinner plans. Dinners are the main meals I plan but if I know I want to make a nice lunch then i'll plan some of those too.

People might be scared by the thought of having to plan their meals because it's tricky to think of what to cook on one occasion let alone multiple evenings! But it's actually a great opportunity to look up new recipes and try something new.

Meal plans are great because you do your weekly shop in one go and there is little food wastage because you know precisely what you'll be cooking so you won't overbuy ingredients.

Be clever with your meal plans by choosing ingredients that will work in multiple meals, for example if you're going to buy a bag of peppers it might be wise to use them in a stir fry one evening and then do stuffed peppers another time.

Like I previously mentioned, this is something that I've only recently started doing but it's reduced the amount I spend throughout the week as I'm not constantly running into little local shops. I guess it means you're more aware of your meals so it could be a gateway for a healthier lifestyle.

2. Offers

I eat a lot of fish, which of course can be rather expensive. So what I tend to do is be wary of the reduced counters at supermarkets and see if there are any reduced priced meat or fish.

I will buy anything that I think is a good deal and chuck it in the freezer when I get home because they're usually going out of date at this point. Trust me, this is a great tip for those of you who like a nice crispy skinned fillet of sea bass for a Tuesday night dinner like me.

Additionally, just learn to be aware of deals when you're shopping in supermarkets. It can act as an incentive for trying out new things so when the red pepper hummus is on offer, grab that one instead of your ordinary hummus that you always go for.

3. Where to shop

If you decide to take the meal planning on board, browse your area for different food shops and learn to recognise which ones provide the best value for money. It may be that you prefer one supermarket for your meat and another for you vegetables.

In fact, I tend to go to Lidl for ingredients such as my nuts, oats and pestos, then Tesco provide great meat and fish and finally get my fresh fruit and veg from a local street market. That leads me onto my next point, markets.

You can pick up some great stuff for such incredible prices at street markets and the food is lovely and fresh! I love my local fruit and veg market because you can fill up a bowl choosing any mixture of vegetables. It means you don't have to buy a pack of 4 courgettes, which is really annoying when you're only cooking for one.

So there we have it, my top tips for buying nice food at low costs. This is just what I do and obviously it doesn't work for everyone but I thought some of you might be interested and hopefully it can help some of you out!

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