Student Shopping & Eating...Quick

[ListerS]

OK so this is probably more of a topic that needs starting in a couple of months when the new semesters start, and parents are packing their kiddies off to uni...but
Hows this for a topic. Student Meals and shopping to save money and Quickly

Reason..I was a student up until sept 03 and couldnt believe how much rubbish people I knew lived on (let alone how few knew how to cook!!!!!!!! )

Also your student loan (note I didnt say grant) doesnt go very far with all the socialising you have to do..
So basically the challenge is this..Shopping for one, for a week, fully balanced diet(PLEASE!!!) with each meal recipie taking no more than 20min to prepare.

and your budget is £20 or less (yes this is realistic! and dont expect them to go to a grocers or a real butchers either..think major supermarket only!)

Reason for time limit..pub opening time..or neighbours on TV..trust me cooking will take second or third or fouth place to these events :confused:

This is a subject close to my heart..one of my friends lived on nothing but cheese and ham toasties and golden Grahams for a year......Students need your HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[xbox]

Oh dear, brings back too many memories

[yanda]

Aaah, student meals..brings back the good old days of deep fried everything with a 4 pack of fosters for dessert..Here's my go at a week on £20, with the secret being that you make enough to eat for lunch the next day and always buy value brand.


Monday

breakfast : toast
- toast
- butter
- jam

lunch : cheese on toast
-toast
-cheese

dinner: Spag bol
- small portion of mince
- cheap tin of tomatoes
- tesco value pasta sauce
- garlic paste
- 2 onions
- portion of pasta

Tuesday

breakfast : toast
- toast
- butter
- jam

lunch: leftover spag bol

dinner: chilli
- small portion of mince
- cheap tin of tomatoes
- tesco chilli beans in sauce
- garlic paste
- 1 onion
- portion of rice

Wednesday

breakfast : toast
- toast
- butter
- jam

lunch: chilli

dinner: tuna and pasta bake
- tin of tuna
- cheap tin of tomatoes
- cheese
- 1 pepper
- 1 onion
- portion of pasta

Thursday

breakfast : toast
- toast
- butter
- jam

lunch: sausage sandwich
bread
sandwich

Dinner: Fahitas
- cheap turkey steak
- pepper
- onion
- wraps
- garlic paste
- chili sauce

Friday

breakfast : toast
- toast
- butter
- jam

lunch: wrap

dinner: stir fry
- cheap turkey steak
- pepper
- onion
- soy sauce
- chilli sauce
- honey
- rice

Saterday

breakfast : toast
- toast
- butter
- jam

lunch: cheese on toast

dinner:tuna and jacket potato
- tin of tuna
- mayo
- cheese
- jacket potato

sunday

breakfast : toast
- toast
- butter
- jam

lunch: cheese on toast

dinner: bangers and mash
- sausages
- potatos
- milk
- butter
- gravy granules

well, thats it! breakfast is a bit samey but I never used to eat brekkie every day anyway, so this can be avoided if wanted. Costwise it works out at the following which isn't too bad as some ingredients are used on more than one meal

bread (2 loaves) 2 x 40p = 80p
butter = 60p
jam = 60p
mince (2 small portions) = £1.80
cheese = £1.50
tin of tomamtos (3) = 90P
Garlic paste £80p
bag of peppers = £1.20
turkey steaks = £2.00
bag of onions = £1.00
wraps = 99p
big bag of pasta = 80p
rice = 99p
sausages = £1.30
bag of potatos = £1.00
chilli sauce = £1.00
gravy granules = 70p
pasta sauce = 60p
tin of tuna (2) = £1.20
chilli beans = 50p

comes to £20.28! you might have to nick someone elses soy sauce and honey, but then thats the advantage of shared living

[Lucie]

Oh Blimey! Long time since I did any student cooking, but we did used to eat reasonably well in our house. Most of the time we cooked & ate together (4 of us), which probably did save quite a bit of cash.
Moneysavers:
1) Get your Mum to buy all you essentials before you go back - basically anything that won't go off. Ketchup, salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, tobasco, sugar, dried pasta, rice, cooking oil, soy sauce, tea bags, coffee, tins of baked beans, tomatoes, kidney beans etc. Plus foil, clingfilm, freezer bags, washing up liquid & kitchen roll.

2) Use turkey breast rather than chicken, it's much cheaper & if you're drowning it in curry sauce or similar you won't be able to tell the difference.

3) All the other usual moneysavig tips - shop for BOGOFs, meal plan, pad dishes out with cheap lentils/beans/veg, rubber chicken & the like.

[raeble]

Where are you shopping? Buy more stuff in the value range sainsburys & tescos have a big range as do somerfield, you could spend about £10 a week on all that lot. With the chilli beans - I would assume that they were just kidney beans - you can buy these dried which usually works out cheaper than tin, soak overnight and cook without salt, then add salt when you are cooking your chilli.
For example value spread instead of butter - sainsbury's is 24p for 500g, value tinned tomatos around 20p. Frozen sliced peppers, cheaper than fresh - in sainsbury's these are 65p for 750g. I assume that the others would have them at similar prices. Tuna fish - I never pay more than 40p for a can in brine.

[Lillibet]

Hows this? Vaguely healthy & avoiding value lines where possible so could come in chaper for the less fussy/less organically concious etc


Prices from Tesco web site :

X1 Colmans Sausage Casserole Mix 40g0.64
X7 Granny Smith Apples Class 1 Loose 1.12
X7 Loose oranges 1.33
X7 Bananas 1.05

X1 Tesco Value Sweetcorn 325g 0.21
X1 Tesco Pink Salmon 212g 0.60
X1 Tesco Cooked Sandwich Ham 125g 10 Slices 0.74
X1 Courgette Loose Class 1 0.32
X1 Colmans Four Cheese Sauce Mix 35g 0.37
X1 Tesco Tuna Steaks In Oil 198g 0.67
X2 Tesco Healthy Living Baked Beans 220g 0.38
X1 Green Pepper Loose Each Class 1 0.63
X1 Tesco Value Pasta Quills 500g 0.19
X1 Tesco Value Chopped Tomatoes 400g 0.17
X1 Beef Steak Mince 250g0.97
X1 Tesco Pasta Sauce Tomato & Onion 120g 0.51
X1 Tesco Value 2 Pizza Bases 600g 0.99
X1 Tesco Value Long Grain Rice 1kg 0.52
X1 Colmans Turkey Casserole Mix 50g 0.48
X1 Tesco Organic 6 Pork Sausages 300g 1.69
X1 Tesco Organic Mushrooms 200g 0.74
X1 Tesco Onions Loose Class 2 0.26
X2 Tomatoes Loose Class 1 0.22
X1 Tesco Medium Mature Cheddar Small 1.39
X1 Tesco Free Range Eggs Medium Box Of 6 0.84
X1 Tesco Organic Thick Sliced Wholemeal Bread 800g 0.53
X2 T Healthy Eating Longlife Semi Skimmed Milk With Vitamin A+D1ltr 1.10
X1 Tesco Hi Fibre Bran Breakfast Cereal 750g 0.96Total Cost : £20.46

To produce the following meals :

Breakfast (daily) :
Hi-Fibre bran with semi-skimmed milk

Lunches :
Cheese on Toast with 2 slices toast & 1/2 grilled tomato OR 2 cheese & tomato toasties
2 poached eggs on 2 slices toast & 1/2 grilled tomato
Mushroom & Onion omlette using 1/2 pack mushrooms, 1/2 onion & 3 eggs
Cheese & Tomato sandwich using 2 slices bread & 1/2 tomato
1 tin baked beans on 2 slices toast
Sausage & egg sandwich using 2 sausages & 1 egg on 2 slices bread
Ham & tomato sandwich using 1/2 pack sandwich ham , 1/2 tomato & 2 slices bread

Dinners :
Sausage casserol made using 3 sausages, 1/2 onion, 1/4 pack mushrooms, sausage casserol mix & served with rice
Cottage pie made using mash from hollowed out jacket potatos, mince, 1/2 onion & tinned tomatos
Pasta served with 1/2 jar pasta sauce & roasted green pepper
Pizza made using ready made pizza base topped with 1/2 jar pasta sauce, 1/2 onion, 1/4 pack mushrooms & 1 sliced sausage
Stuffed potato skins (saved from cottage pie mash) with 1 tin tuna & 1 tin baked beans
Potao bake made using par-boiled sliced potatos, 1 sliced courgette & 1/2 pack sandwich ham baked in cheese sauce mix
Pasta bake made using 1 tin salmon & puree sweetcorn

Daily Snacks :
1 apple, 1 orange & 1 banana

Leftover for next week! :
3/4 bag rice
1/3 bag pasta
1 pizza base
4 slices bread
? Potatos

[r.mac]

I graduated three years ago, but in September I am returning to full time education as a post graduate for three years - Think I am mad. So far this site has really helped me and so here are some tips I already knew and some I have picked up along the way.

Breakfasts:
Toast and butter and jam
porridge

lunches:
tuna pasta salad (tuna, pasta, mayo and pepper)
cheese on toast
cheese/jam/tuna/ham etc sandwich
baked potato with filling such as cheese/tuna/butter etc

*NB take advantage of going back to your residence at lunchtime if it's close by. A good excuse for a break fromt he library. Alternatively make packed lunches. I've been doing this for work recently and it's saved me heaps (and more than halved my food bill believe it or not!)

Dinners:
pasta with tomatoe sauce (tinned toms, onion, extra veg - does two portions)
pasta with cream sauce (onion, creme fraich, extra veg, possibly some nuts or splash of wine)
spag bol
chilli
stroganof (meat or veg, creme friach, onions)

*If you have a freezer, make good use of it by freezing extra portions. If not, try teaming up with a friend or flatmate a couple of nights a week - particularly a good option at weekends with a botle of wine as well!

snacks:
piece of fruit - supermarkets often sell bags of smaller apples/tangerines, approx £1.50 for about 8 -10 pieces
basics range of biscuits are as good as branded. Empty into tuperware if feeling shy about packaging and to keep for longer
toast

drink squash and/or water instead of fruit juice
I like a white wine spritzers in nice weather - use some cheap sparkling water to make a bottle of white wine go further.

*For things like foil etc buy the supermarkets basic range. It really is as good as the branded stuff.

If you have the opportunity to buy things in bulk and share with friends that's also a good idea. i.e. a BOGOF might not keep if it is on fresh fruit for example, but if you pool with a friend you can still benefit and not waste food.

Price wise:
Porridge oats - approx 60p a kilo - does lots of bowls at least 2 -3 weeks worth
mince - approx 75p for several meals worth.
bread - cheaper brands are fine for toast approx 40p a loaf
tinned toms - value range are just fine approx 17p a can
oinions - buy in 500g or kilo bags as keep well in fridge/cool place. approx 70p
creme fraich - sm tub does three/four portions of pasta approx 60p

*home baking is also a great snack and doesn't cost too much to produce. It is also a fun activity to get your friends involved in. You will also become very popular!

HTH

[Galtizz]

Not quite what you're looking for but I made THIS for a christmas present for a lad who had just moved into his own home but it would make a great gift to give someone going to Uni in September. I'm sure there are more recipes that could be added now.

[squeaky]

I've PM'd the Student Board Guide with the address of this thread because I'm sure he'd like to add it to his sticky which points at Old Style

[juno]

Stuff in freezers had a tendency to go missing in our halls. Especially pies. But whoever ate them was nice enough to leave the empty box!

And there wasn't mush freezer space anyway.

I mainly ate pasta, and one of the other girls mainly ate something and mashed potato.

And instead of getting parents to buy you things, get them to give you an Asda (or other local supermarket) gift voucher/card. And then raid the cupboards when they're not looking. And send off for all coupons, try me frees etc to both addresses!

[catznine]

Try to get together with the others for a shared meal. My daughter and her friends used to do this for their Sunday dinner and either each bought an ingredient (meat, veg, wine, pud) or put equal amount of money in the kitty.

[pavlovs_dog]

never shop on an empty stomach, you end up buying twice as much, and it tends to be rubbish, because you just want something to take the hunger away.

shop at the end of the day, and look out for bargains in reduced to clear etc

dont be too proud to shop at lidls/aldis if you have access to one, your money will stretch a lot further, giving you more money for important things like books...or beer

stock up to staples like bread, pasta, potatoes, pasta, rice - rich in carbs, and will leave you feeling filled.

pot noodles, frozen ready meals and take aways, whilst convenient, are EXPENSIVE. avoid them. if you insist on eating out, go to places that offer 2 meals for £x amount, places that give student discount (pizza hut(go at lunch time, all you can eat buffet stlye lunch for just over a fiver)), and eat out on weeknights - you dont get as many places offering student discount/promos on weekends.

disguise your food, and make it look as unappetising as possible to stop it mysteriously eating itself in the middle of the night.

keep all biscuits/sweets/crisps type stuff in your room, it will go walkies quicker than you can say 'stop thief'.

a lot of students hate cooking because it means washing up. look out for recipes for one pot dishes. also, double up portions - leftovers from tonights tea are tomorrow's lunch etc

eat 3 square meals a day, and you shouldnt feel hungry inbetween.

[squeaky]

Originally Posted by pavlovs_dog

disguise your food, and make it look as unappetising as possible to stop it mysteriously eating itself in the middle of the night.

Everything said in pavlov's post was spot on.

But I have to say that the quoted bit here is absolutely and by a good country mile the best advice so far given

[pavlovs_dog]

for more cunning ways of food preservation, there's a nice little thread running HERE on the student board including some interesting uses for blue/green food dye.....

[megsykins]

Originally Posted by juno

And instead of getting parents to buy you things, get them to give you an Asda (or other local supermarket) gift voucher/card. And then raid the cupboards when they're not looking. And send off for all coupons, try me frees etc to both addresses!

Go one better, get them to chuck out their loyalty card, and use yours (you usually get two, plus key-fobby things), that way, you get the points from your entire family's weekly shop!!
(note, if parents are too stingy for this, either, a) ask the nicer parents - we all know one parents is more of a pushover than the other!! or b) sneakily swap the cards anyway when they're not looking )

[catznine]

A really quick and cheap meal:

Corned beef chaos

1 tin corned beef
1 tin potatoes
1 tin baked beans
Some cheese (if you have it)

Tip out corned beef and cut into large cubes put into a casserole dish. Open tin potatoes, drain water and put potatoes into casserole dish. Open tin beans and add to casserole. Mix up and if you have some cheese top with some slices. Pop into oven 180C/gas 5 until heated through and cheese melted and golden. Will feed 4 with some bread and butter or 2 very generously.

[jw1096]

Originally Posted by megsykins

Go one better, get them to chuck out their loyalty card, and use yours (you usually get two, plus key-fobby things), that way, you get the points from your entire family's weekly shop!!
(note, if parents are too stingy for this, either, a) ask the nicer parents - we all know one parents is more of a pushover than the other!! or b) sneakily swap the cards anyway when they're not looking )

We did that!! We used to have the card and the parents had the key fobs, and the points could be spent by us!

Another idea is to have an online food shopping account - I would do the actual shopping, email parents, who would then log in and pay with thier cards - it helps when you are buying big stuff too as many students dont have cars and it is a nightmare to walk back with so many bags!

Meal sharing is also a good idea, in our halls there were 12 of us, and would take it in turns of teams of 2 to cook a meal on sunday for everyone within an allotted budget, usually £1.50 or so - and that usually bought enough food for a massive dinner for us all, with no waste, and had roasts, a 'kids birthday party' with alphabet spagetti jelly & ice cream etc, and a big taco night. Also, if you and a few friends dont have much food in, then cook together, all donating an item or two of similar value, which should feed you all!

Another good tip would be - when you go home for the holidays - do a big shop at the supermarket of mum and dad - the kitchen is food, the bathroom is the chemists etc etc, I used to come back with masses of stuff, and parents would buy bogofs if they were on toothpaste and jars of stuff, so I could take one back with me.

As booze is an important part of being a student, source one of the wine warehouses, such as 'Great Western Wine Company' and buy in bulk with your mates so there is always a stash in the building (but hide it - booze cruises through halls by the drunk and wanting more's is fairly common unfortunately).

And definately, definately, learn the value of clever shopping, obtaining vouchers for discounts on shopping, and learn to cook before you even go there!

Jo xx

[nabowla]

When I was at uni I had a cookbook called 'Grub on a Grant'. It had quite a few quick, cheap and healthy meals, including a section on how to throw a dinner party for virtually no money at all. I've seen a few copies in charity shops recently: it's worth picking one up if you happen to see it.

As for moneysaving, never ever do a batch of cooking for the freezer just before the lads come back from rugby. I well remember making a huge lasagne that I was going to cut up and freeze into 10 portions so that I'd have some instant food for the times when I couldn't be bothered to cook. Trouble was that the lads came back from rugby 10 mins after I'd taken it out of the oven. "Oooh, that smells fantastic, do you mind if I just try a small corner?" Mysteriously the whole thing disappeared within five minutes :-) Mind you, I was a bit of a soft touch when it came to feeding the lads - and there was always a free drink or two in it for me!

[eenu]

Just thought i would throw my 2p worth in since i have been viewing these boards for months and read Martin's book over a year ago now. I have always been in and out of budgeting. I have just finished my 4yr Undergraduate Masters and am now doing my 3-4year PhD

With my PhD though i have a small income so i have started making up my budget and planning debt repayments etc in MS Money etc. I went to Sainsburys today to do a weekly shop on a mission having just re read Martins Chapter where he shows the price differences that can be found in the supermarkets.

Sainsburys was regularly taking £35-£40 of my cash a week! My new budget is to aim for £30 per week maximum! I know thats still a bit high but when i start regularly hitting 30 quid i'll knock it down to 25 then 20.

Well the results of my shop! £16.41! I need a few other bits and bobs which i just couldn't get today as i couldn't carry anymore! I even but it on my Egg Card so i get money back! Genius!

This shop even included Shell on Prawns and 2 big steaks! I was even able to treat myself to a pack of Green Tead having saved 50p buying economy tea bags instead of tetleys! Don't know what they will taste like but there you go!

Anyway had to post because i am well chuffed! Going to start using the forums more often now that i have become a sad old PhD man and never go out anymore!

[squeaky]

Way to go! If you need any help or inspiration for recipes for that lot just hit "Indexed Collections" in the blue bar at the top of the page