What a beautiful day to think of how you are going to survive your current school year at university.
Don’t you worry no more the help is near, in fact, you are already reading it?
Let’s set the record straight, you just became a university student and don’t have enough money to live like a king/ queen. Now, the fact that you don’t have material security doesn’t have to be bad. Let’s make the most of it!
Last year, I studied the South Wales university in the UK and was in a similar situation yet it couldn’t be said that I would have to eke out my existence on canned food or ramen pots.
You don’t save money by eating ready meals in the plastic containers which are being sold by Tesco, Marks and Spencer or Sainsbury's. One of these meals cost about 2 pounds and consider the amount that you would have to purchase to have lunch and dinner every day.
Being aware of my limited finances, I spent some time creating meal plans, cookbooks and gathering useful tips. I know well how it feels like to say no to most of the things you would normally want to buy such as chocolate, crisps, treats.
The money-saving way for me was cooking. I believe that everyone can learn how to be a master chef as you know what you like and how the food should be prepared.
Expel the fearful imaginary of charcoal burned trays or burning pots, nothing this bad is likely to happen to you if you only learn a few basics which you will adhere to.
If you are a complete beginner in cooking or baking I recommend you to ask your parents for some of their tricks and tips. Chances are that they have useful experience up in the sleeve which will save you from failure. I spent my childhood helping out my grandma with food preparation, therefore, the transfer to becoming a cook myself was not hard at all. However, if you did not have the luxury of having the first-hand cooking experience do not think of giving up. There are several YouTube videos or written recipes you can simply follow and learn along the way.
Everyone has a different taste which is determined by taste buds thus I do not expect everyone to closely follow every single food that I have listed here. I am not a nutritionist or food coach so do not judge the type of food or whether it is a healthy diet. I just kept cooking whatever I ate at home and what I was used to eating. What should also be mentioned is that I come from the central part of Europe where people cook differently than let’s say in southern parts of the world or overseas.
Getting to the core of this article, I will try to describe how to save money and what is worth buying so that you wouldn’t starve or become vitamin deprived.
Imagine the following, you have just moved to the UK for the first time and don’t know where to go for food that wouldn’t ruin you. Firstly, I want you to forget all the fast foods, restaurants and food deliveries. These cost way too much and won’t feed you in long term.
Instead, sit down and open up a map. Look at what stores are nearby. Chances are that there might be a Tesco, Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer, Lidl, Aldi, Asda, Iceland or Morrisons somewhere. Although I can’t select one store into which you should go, I can give out a few tips on what to get and where. Be careful, not every store is well supplied and may often even have an assortment of different quality goods. This could be observed especially on the condition of fruit and vegetables.
I only had about £15-18 per week to spend for shopping. Being here now, you can see that it is possible and I wasn’t having a bad time while being on a budget.
Heading to the store
Your first shopping will be big so prepare yourself to spend some money on cupboard staples :
· Multipurpose flour
· Cornflakes
· Sugar (brown optional)
· Icing sugar
· Basic seasoning (salt, pepper, curry, basil, oregano, thyme, stew herbs, parsley, paprika,…)
· Honey
· Peanut butter
· Oil
· Vinegar
· Rice
· Pasta (is cheap and part of many delicious recipes)
· Couscous
· Musli
· Onions
· Garlic
· Potatoes
· Canned soup (for the worst times 2x)
· Canned chickpeas
· Canned maize/corn
· Canned peas
· Soups in powder (get many of them, they are easy and fast to prepare)
· Toast bread
· Baking powder
· Plain tea (PG or Tetley), Chamomile tea, Fruit tea
· Ginger root
* chopped tomatoes canned
· Coffee/matcha
· Dark soy sauce
· A bottle of fruit squash (if you don't feel like drinking plain water every day. Such a bottle can last up to two months)
Now let’s move to what you should have in the fridge:
· Milk (whole/ semi-skimmed/ almond/ coconut, lactose-free)
· Apple or Orange juice (the cloudy apple juice sold in tetra pack in Lidl is yummy and costs £1, it usually lasted me for a week too!)
· Butter (salted + unsalted)
· Ham (always look for the amount of meat in the ingredients – ideally a ham should have around 89-98% meat inside)
· Cheese (Edam/ Gouda/ cheddar)
· Cream cheese
· Single cream
· Eggs (look for free-range or bio, nobody wants to support caged chicken)
· Ketchup or BBQ sauce
The freezer saver:
· Fries
· Frozen vegetable mix
· 2x pizzas (they have budget pizzas for £1)
· Battered fish – cod or haddock (Iceland 4 pcs for around £ 1.5-2)
· Chicken pieces (Birdseye is quite good)
· Chicken breasts (500g)
· Ice-cream (for bad times)
· Frozen fruit of your preference– blueberries, raspberries
Fruit and Veggies:
Always try to have 2-3 types of fruit in your basket so you wouldn’t eat just one thing all the time.
I recommend having bananas, apples, oranges as all of them are good for a snack.
Have 1-2 lemons and ginger root in case you felt a bit ill.
It is trickier with vegetables though- it depends on your meal plan. Generally, I always had 1-2 kg of potatoes, 2 sweet potatoes, garlic, onions, carrots, spring onions.
Now when you have bought yourself all the necessary things, let’s get into the meal prep.
We are not only about to save money but also save time. That’s why I recommend writing a meal plan for the whole week so that you don’t have to lose time by thinking of what you are going to eat or cook on the second day of the week.
Moreover, it is better to buy things in bulk. For instance, I and my flatmates have gathered some money and bought a 10kg of rice and it lasted us all for the whole year. Bigger packages usually end up being cheaper in the long run.
I do not want to patronise you in any way but have yourself breakfast, snack, lunch, snack vol 2, dinner.
It is so important to eat, especially when you are a student! Another thing which I would recommend is to have a herbal syrup for immunity or vitamin pills or those C tablets dissolvable in water (they cost around 1 pound). Vitamins keep your body from being ill don’t forget to make sure you eat fruit or vitamins!
In case you struggle with low blood pressure like me (weakness, headache, a feeling of fainting) get yourself a cup of coffee. If you are not fond of coffee, try out matcha tea instead it has a similar effect.
Morning tips
My breakfasts could have been classified as monotonous. I always switched between >
a) cornflakes, milk, slices of banana, a spoon of honey on top
b) strawberry Musli, slices of apple, milk
c) PBJ (peanut butter and jelly)
d) yoghurt (buy the sets of 6-7 yoghurts, this way you can have one cup a day and save money too)
Only occasionally I gave myself a treat by having leftover pancakes from the other day or croissant with whatever fruit I had left.
Snacks
Now the frozen fruit comes handy. As I look back I never purchased a pack of crisps in the UK. Not because it was expensive too and wrapped in plastic but because I simply never had the need.
I prefer fruit and nuts. Yes, nuts are fairly expensive but if you buy the packaged nut mix in Lidl it can last you for a week if you eat just a handful every day.
Look for sales
This is self-explanatory. Always look for the deals, especially with fruit and veggies or meat and then try to make the weekly meal plan accordingly.
Grow your greens
- make a green friend and purchase one basil. Basil as a plat can be grown and proliferated easily, it won't take a while and you will have lots of it!
Parsley can be grown from seeds or use cuts from vegetables to grow some bits that you can eat.
Check the net for more info how to do that.
Hope you find some of these tips helpful 😊. You can see some of the meal plans that I made below this article together with other inspirational photos.
1. dumplings with spinach and chicken drumstick
2. homemade burger
3. tortilla de patatas
1. chicken nuggets with chips and curry sauce
2. rice and chickpeas with curry, paprika and spring onion sauce *I will post the recipe later.
3. fish and chips
1. tea, toast bread with butter ham and spinach
2. ginger tea, sourdough bread slices with butter, spinach and tomato
3. grilled / fried meat, cooked potatoes, spinach, tomato
Something I called "Cookbook for three months"
-even though it was for only two months
January
week 1.
-Goulash (a dish made out of cooked potatoes, onion, paprika seasoning, salt and fried sausages + once cooked thickened with a spoon or two of plain flour. (two-three portions)
-soup 1 (canned or powder soup, usually makes two portions)
-soup 2
-potatoes + salt, pepper, steak seasoned fried meat + some veggies on the side like cucumber or tomato (two-three portions)
-gnocchi + spinach cream sauce ( 1x packed gnocchi, spinach leaves (fresh or frozen), 1x cream, 2 cloves of garlic, melt some cheese in it -cheddar is good-salt + optional seasoning)
*snacks - celery, beetroot crisps (cut the vegetables into fine slices and put it into the oven)
week 2.
-soup 1
-soup 2
-chickpeas + rice (as seen in the photo above), (1 can of chickpeas, 2 cups of rice, 2x spring onion, curry seasoning, paprika seasoning, salt, pepper,1x cream)
-baked potatoes with cream and meat ( cut and season pork loins and place them into a baking dish,slice raw potatoes and place them over the meat in layers, add minced garlic here and there, season it a bit more on top (pepper, salt is okay), add cream and place some cheese on top - bake until soft and golden)
-quritto ala KFC (buy tortilla wraps, use the corn you have in your cupboard add bbq sauce or ketchup, use leftover fried chicken if you have if not bake the strips you have in the freezer, see how it makes sense? , put everything inside and fold it, insert it into a toaster or place it carefully onto a hot pan)
* snacks- apple, bananas, yoghurt
week 3.
-soup 1
-soup 2
-potatoes + baked chicken drumsticks (cook potatoes, place seasoned drumsticks (salt, paprika, baked chicken seasoning) into a baking dish with a bit of water so that they were 1/3 in the water) add 2 cut cloves of garlic, thyme, onion slices from 1/3 of the whole onion is fine, bake until golden brown) * tip - use the water from the baking tray as gravy
-gnocchi in creamy tomato sauce ( cook1 packet of gnocchi, fry a bit of pressed garlic until golden then add cream and a bit of tomato paste / freshly chopped tomatoes / premade storebought tomato sauce, melt some cheese in the mixture, add seasoning (salt, pepper is fine) and then add cooked gnocchi)
-broccoli and cheese baked potatoes (this one is a bit tricky but I usually follow this recipe ( https://bakerbynature.com/broccoli-and-cheddar-twice-baked-potatoes/ )
* snacks- roasted chickpeas seasoned, apples, easy peelers
week 4.
-soup 1
-soup 2
-mashed potatoes + chicken in breadcrumbs (cook potatoes, add a spoon or two of butter, add a bit of milk and salt and mix it with a hand mixer or just mash it with fork ) ( slice chicken breasts, sprinkle with salt, repeat this process with every slice of meat - put the meat into a plain flour and make the first layer, then put it into another bowl with 1 beaten egg, then cover it with breadcrumbs and fry)
-pasta salad (cook pasta, sliced cucumber, bell pepper, cut edam cheese into cubes, cut tomatoes, add salt, pepper, *optional salad seasoning), mayo or tartar sauce or even white yoghurt, boil 1-2eggs, cut and add them into the mixture)
-langoš (don't know how to describe it but it is a Hungarian deep-fried flatbread (made of yeast, flour & water) recipe to be found here: https://www.happyfoodstube.com/langos/
*snacks - yoghurt, apples, bananas
February
week 1.
-soup 1
-soup2
-karbanatek + potatoes (minced meat + salt, pepper +marjoram herb + diced onion - make small griddle cakes and fry them) (cook potatoes) *add some vegetable to it like cucumber or tomatoes
-spaghetti
-scrambled eggs
* snacks - blueberries, bananas, nuts
week 2.
-soup 1
-soup 2
-dumplings + meat (baked drumsticks) + cooked spinach (Czech thing... the recipe for dumplings can be found here.: https://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/64/Mashed_Potato_Dumplings38710.shtml or ask some Slav babushka)
-Carbonara Sauce
-potatoes with cottage and veggie (cook or bake potatoes + add cottage cheese)
* snacks- apples, easy peelers / whatever is on sale right now
week 3.
-soup1
-soup2
-Curry and chips
-Pasta with Pesto sauce
-rice and vegetable Rizzotto
* snacks- look what's on sale
week 4.
-soup 1
-soup 2
- cooked potatoes with stewed carrot and fried chicken breasts
-pasta with cream and xx cheese sauce (just melt all cheese you like with salt pepper and pressed garlic in one single cream and pour it over cooked pasta )
* snacks- look what's on sale
March
week 1.
-soup 1
-soup 2
- pizza snails (this is super easy to make ! buy one rolled dough, spread ketchup or tomato puree on it, add basil and pressed garlic, finally place ham and cheese slices on top, roll it and cut it into smaller rolls, use a bit of eggwash on the sides of each individual piece and then bake it until the dough is golden)
- dish no 2
- dish no 3
* snacks- look what's on sale
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You get the idea, just make yourself something alike. It makes you not purchase random stuff hence saves you from making a jigsaw food puzzle later on as you try to figure out what can you cook out of it.
Some of my weekly shopping lists for inspiration:
I wish you the best of luck! :)