Food budget...

WhiteHorse

Kilty wrote: »

So if you're living in a student flat - what's your food budget and how far does it get you?

Well I'm not living in a student flat (that was a long time ago, thanks for reminding me), but the same imperatives still apply.

Buy a £4 chicken. That should last 3-4 days, depending on size.
Day 1: Hot. Day 2: Cold or another Hot dish. Day 3: Really good soup (boil the carcass and strip it thoroughly).

Plenty of cheap veg and rice. Reductions at shops early mornings/evenings.

You should be able to eat pretty well for £25. No junk food, soft drinks, alcohol or smoking though.

slowlyfading

Between £10-£20 for 1 person

ultimatedingbat

In the spirit of making things Macaroni and cheese! I used to make one big !!! one and then it'd last 3 days. Sherpards pie 2-3 depending on how big I made it. I always had a few ready meals in just in case cause some days you really don't want to cook and feel BLEUGH!

The cooked chickens from Morrisons are awesome. 2 for £6 does you nearly a whole week, although you'll be sick of chicken! (To break it down, chicken soup x2, chicken sandwhiches, chicken legs with some mash and gravy *nom!* etc)

piratefairy

WHen i was in a student house, i'd spend average £8/wk on food / groceries..inc. cleaning stuff etc..and ate v happily and plenty on it. I was happy to cook from scratch though, and a vegetarian which puts total cost down a bit..

savvystudent

Best way to budget on food shopping is either shop at the supermarkets around 7-8pm (after most have bought their dinner) for all the heavily reduced items. Then freeze lots of it. Freezers are a money saving machine! Plus think about sharing meals, cooking for yourself can often result in leftovers anyway.

sapphireeye

I'm a first year student and spend about £20 a week and I do maybe one or two 'big' dishes a week when I feel like cooking to make multiple portions and then on the other days I'll just make something which I can just stick in the oven or my grill like burger and chips. I tend to have toast for lunch as it's quick and cereal for breakfast and have a few snacky bits to satisfy my sweet tooth! You'll find that if you learn to freeze some things can last you multiple weeks like sausages, burgers and also cupboard food like flour. I've discovered that toad in the hole is pretty easy and apart from the eggs and milk, most of the other ingredients (of which there aren't many) are cupboard or frozen so will last, and my dish can make me two or three portions of it.

Rebekah24

I was a university student now an OU student, so have lived in digs and now not!

£10 a week is plenty, £1 a day and then a few quid spare for emergency or toiltries basically - loo roll, or maybe laundry powder or doing laundry etc etc

Old style forum is fantastic

Making soup and hunting down the marked down stuff at the end of the day is the way to go!! "Whoopsies" as they call them

Hope this helps

Kilty_2

Thanks everyone, some really helpful advice so far :T

I'm going to need to sit down and work out a proper budget with meal plans and stuff, money's going to be tight.

ahdor2010

We shared food money, spend only 5 pounds per week each person to buy chicken, beef, rice, pork, onion, vege, eggs and so on. Try local market for vege and egg. meat and beef buy in morrison or tesco, cause it's cheaper.

Kilty_2

Actually looks like I'm moving into a 1 bed flat by myself, so cooking for one :rotfl: