It’s a well-established fact that 99.999% of university students are
living on limited money and trying to save wherever possible. I know there
are millions of money saving tips but I wanted to throw my hat into the ring
and write about some of the things that I’ve done.
The way I manage to spend the least and get the most varied meals is by doing a big shop every 2 weeks and planning meals. I write a list of about 5 different dinners, a few lunch ideas and a few breakfasts, then I make a detailed list based on the plan. Try to plan meals that use similar ingredients so things don't get wasted! For example, if I am using mash potato in some of my dinners, I will have jacket potatoes for lunch some days so I can buy a bigger bag of potatoes which is much more cost efficient. I spend about £30 and stretch it over 2 weeks, splitting the money over a weekly budget so £15 on food and drink each week.
Meat is the expensive bit! If you can, challenge yourself to go veggie or even vegan a couple of days a week. I know veganism is growing but availability and budget friendly options aren't really there yet. However going vegetarian a few days a week has cut my food shop prices and it’s a lot healthier. Replacing meat with beans, lentils, substitutes is a fab way to cut down costs and still maintain the correct nutrition. When I do buy meat, I stick to chicken and turkey mince which is (1) cheaper than red meat, (2) healthier than red meat and (3) better for the environment than red meat!
Freeze all food that can be frozen: veg, bread, meat etc… Anything to stop it from going off and having to chuck things away. If I buy a loaf of bread just for me, I will normally stick it straight in the freezer as I could never get through that much bread in a few days. Also freeze portions! I make a large batch of whatever I am cooking (chilli, pasta, stir fry) and freeze left overs in handy portion sizes. This stops me from having to eat chilli for 4 days in a row, and makes dinner a bit easier on days you have a lot on!
That's some of my biggest food tips, now here are some non-food related tips for budgeting while at university...
If you want to go out for dinner, which is definitely something nice to do every once in a while, check uni days or student discount before you go! In Leeds, there are absolutely tons of restaurants that do student discount or offers, sometimes as much as 50% off, which means everyone can afford to go out for a meal every now and then.
Food is my biggest (but clearly most necessary) cost each
week. I’m planning on doing a big post on eating at uni, because, if I do say
so myself, I eat quite well. But for now, here are some of my top tips on saving money on food:
- BIG SHOPS AND MEAL PLANNING
The way I manage to spend the least and get the most varied meals is by doing a big shop every 2 weeks and planning meals. I write a list of about 5 different dinners, a few lunch ideas and a few breakfasts, then I make a detailed list based on the plan. Try to plan meals that use similar ingredients so things don't get wasted! For example, if I am using mash potato in some of my dinners, I will have jacket potatoes for lunch some days so I can buy a bigger bag of potatoes which is much more cost efficient. I spend about £30 and stretch it over 2 weeks, splitting the money over a weekly budget so £15 on food and drink each week.
- REDUCE MEAT
Meat is the expensive bit! If you can, challenge yourself to go veggie or even vegan a couple of days a week. I know veganism is growing but availability and budget friendly options aren't really there yet. However going vegetarian a few days a week has cut my food shop prices and it’s a lot healthier. Replacing meat with beans, lentils, substitutes is a fab way to cut down costs and still maintain the correct nutrition. When I do buy meat, I stick to chicken and turkey mince which is (1) cheaper than red meat, (2) healthier than red meat and (3) better for the environment than red meat!
- FREEZE, FREEZE, FREEZE!
Freeze all food that can be frozen: veg, bread, meat etc… Anything to stop it from going off and having to chuck things away. If I buy a loaf of bread just for me, I will normally stick it straight in the freezer as I could never get through that much bread in a few days. Also freeze portions! I make a large batch of whatever I am cooking (chilli, pasta, stir fry) and freeze left overs in handy portion sizes. This stops me from having to eat chilli for 4 days in a row, and makes dinner a bit easier on days you have a lot on!
That's some of my biggest food tips, now here are some non-food related tips for budgeting while at university...
- BUY TICKETS EARLY!
The amount of money we’ve spent as a group on club tickets is
ridiculous. For the first few weeks there’s probably no way of getting around
it. But once you start to figure out which events you like and which you want to go to, buy them when they’re early bird. You can normally get pretty good
events for a couple of pounds rather than £10. (Obviously this one varies where
you live and how much you go out!)
The other tickets that I always end up spending lots of
unnecessary money on is train tickets. Whether you get a bus or a train home
& to visit friends, they’re SOOO much cheaper if you book them in advance. My
train home at Christmas was £8.80 (bought 2 months in advance). Compared that to my train ticket
home this weekend, booked 4 days before, it was £25.20. So yeah, book early lads.
- TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LEAFLETS/OFFERS AND DISCOUNTS
During freshers week, people are stood just about everywhere around universities, handing out flyers/leaflets to try and attract your business. A lot of the time, people just ignore them, but don't!! In Leeds, they were handing out vouchers for
students for a £1 burrito at bar burrito. People were just walking past. Huh?! £1?! They’re normally about £7. So Sam and I took 2 and headed there for lunch.` Every
time you buy something, look for a discount or an alternative. Never
pay full price for a dinner out, there are ALWAYS offers! Perks of being a
student and in £1000’s worth of debt, I guess?
If you want to go out for dinner, which is definitely something nice to do every once in a while, check uni days or student discount before you go! In Leeds, there are absolutely tons of restaurants that do student discount or offers, sometimes as much as 50% off, which means everyone can afford to go out for a meal every now and then.
 |
| These coffees were bought with a student code so cost us absoutely nothing :) And of course I bought my own packed lunch... |
- CARRY A TRAVEL MUG EVERYWHERE
So many coffee shops are now doing money off if you use
your own cup. It’s good for the environment, but also means that if you and a
friend want to go for a coffee after a lecture, you can order
something other than water without feeling guilty. Win, win, win.
- SHOP SECOND HAND
Whether this is charity shops, Depop or Ebay, buying second hand is a great way to save money. I
absolutely love browsing Depop for clothes, they normally have some pretty cool
stuff. Check Ebay or student Facebook pages for people selling textbooks. This
is again my principle of never buying anything full price. If it's not
discounted, someone must be selling it.
- PITCH IN WITH YOUR FLAT MATES
It doesn't matter whether you're in first year or studying for
your doctorate, chances are, if you're at university you're probably not living on
your own. It also doesn't matter whether everyone in your flat gets along,
everyone uses washing up liquid. (Hopefully.) Try starting a little 'kitty' and
buy things that the whole group would use, as a group. Cleaning stuff,
kitchenware, decorations and maybe some basic food.
If not everyone wants to get involved, that's fine. But it's then
very acceptable to not let them use the washing up liquid everyone else has paid
for. There's a bit of a fear of upsetting people, and I'm not saying be mean,
but it's your money and if people don't want to be involved then that's on
them! (Can you tell that I've had a bad experience in this department?!)
- HAVE DRINKS/DINNER IN
University, especially first year, can be hard and it’s nice to go out for drinks or
dinner to have a nice evening with your friends every so often. While this is great, to save money, suggest getting some drinks in and watching a film/playing cards in your flat. Organise a fajita night where you will all cook and eat together without
eating out. Organise a football match or a Nintendo Wii night. Anything that you can do as a group, for low costs, rather than all paying for food at a restaurant (when you probably have enough at home!) Obviously sometimes it’s nice to go out, but if moneys a bit tight
then these night are soooo fun and inclusive.
That was everything for now, although I'm sure I could very easily write a lot more! I wanted to get this out as I've been super busy and fallen behind with blogging. But I hope these were helpful, I plan to upload a lot more on the theme of student budgeting and personal finance in general!!
As always, thanks for reading!
Laura x
That was everything for now, although I'm sure I could very easily write a lot more! I wanted to get this out as I've been super busy and fallen behind with blogging. But I hope these were helpful, I plan to upload a lot more on the theme of student budgeting and personal finance in general!!
As always, thanks for reading!
Laura x
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