Living on a student budget often means watching what you spend. But shopping for food on a smaller budget does not mean sacrificing your favourite meals or eating less. Here is how to get the most out of your weekly food budget.
Make a shopping list
This simple but easily forgotten tip is key to sticking to your budget. Having a shopping list in the notes app on your phone will mean you are less tempted by the heaps of products marketed to get you to spend more. Of course, treating yourself once in a while is necessary. But, if you have a list of the ingredients needed for the week’s meals, you will not get too much food, or forget anything. The shopping list does not need to be a detailed meal plan, just a few meals you can pick from each day.
Pick a cheaper supermarket
Is it really true that more expensive supermarkets ‘are better quality’? It’s not fooling me. The most obvious way to stretch your budget is to go to the cheapest supermarket in your area. You will be amazed at how much you can save. So, it’s goodbye M&S, hello Aldi.
Try not to buy branded items
Getting out of the habit of buying familiar brands is a difficult one. Knowing that now, beans means… own-brand tins, will save a few pennies here and there, and they all add up. If you prefer certain branded products for the taste, try to cut down on others and use supermarket own produce or cheaper alternatives. Most of the time you can’t tell the difference when the packaging is removed.
Batch cook
Batch cooking is a sure-fire way to make sure no fresh vegetables go to waste, and you have a few decent meals to heat up when you really can’t be bothered to cook. Making around four portions of a meal is worth a try, and does not mean you will be having the same tea each evening. Freeze some portions to have in the future, and keep some in the fridge for the next few days after cooking.
Buy freezer food to avoid waste
Frozen veg, frozen meats, frozen anything. Put your freezer draw to good use! Freezing sliced bread is also a winning tactic as it can be defrosted in the toaster. All in all, freezing the shopping that you can, will make sure your food does not go off before it can be eaten, so will provide you with meals for longer. Just don’t forget to take tomorrow’s meal out to defrost in the fridge.
Share essentials
No one is going to use a whole tub of butter or a big carton of milk to themselves before it reaches the sell by date and stinks out the fridge. An ideal solution is to take turns with your housemates to buy larger, communal items, rather than having six of the same things that will not last. In my house, we share sriracha, what will you share?
Don’t shop when you are hungry
Perhaps the most important tip in this article is to absolutely not shop when you are hungry. Mark my words, you will want to pick up everything that you see and not be able to have the same level of self-control as normal. Eat before you shop so you only buy what you actually need.
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