a few ideas for saving student pennies

When money is tight there are several things you can do to make food go further e.g. mince -

Add breadcrumbs, grated courgette, carrot, and/or marrow. Rice, pasta, onion, green pepper, dried peas, beans or lentils.
Fill canelloni tubes with a mince mixture.
Put mince mixture into a pie dish and top with mashed potatoes.
Make pancakes, fill with mince mixture and roll up.
Make circles out of pastry, put mince mixture in centre, brush edges with egg or milk and fold over (in half form a semi-circle). Bake in oven.
Fry onion, add mince, add boiling water, stock and then to thicken add some porridge oats (oatmeal). These oats absorb the flavours of the gravy and take on the same consistency of the meat, also adding an interesting nutty taste. It also reduces the amount of meat required.

Also there is no need to buy expensive cleaning materials, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and white vinegar will do most cleaning jobs. Other suggestions on how to make living away from home a little easier, can be seen at
http://www.hintsandthings.com/spareroom/survival.htm