[illy123]

(Original post by affinity89)
I don't spend a lot [between £10 and £20 a week at most] and yet buy enough fresh fruit and veg to live off that alone if I wished and prepare filling, tasty and healthy meals from scratch - even with a limited budget I am able to try new things.

It is nice if you are able to "take a loan" from parents - a lot of people are not in that situation. [Self included - my parents paid my deposit for my accommodation and that is all but to be honest, I wouldn't personally feel right accepting it so have learnt to live within my means.] It is about knowing where you can go for budget brand products etc as some are just as good as the main brands but half or even a third of the price.

I won't go on about the baked beans thing as you've already posted to say you know they are actually a healthy food choice.

I think we all have our own little calorie bracket. On average boys need more calories than girls; also 4 gym sessions per week along with 3/4 HIIT cardio really do burn through all the calories!

[affinity89]

(Original post by there's too much love)
damn, I was hoping for a very different answer , I'll presume that you not buying a shed load of meat has something to do with the low spending budget at least.

Sorry lol. I probably spend a max of £3/£4 a week on meat and dairy with the odd added £1.50/£2 for a nice piece of lamb from the butchers.

I do have sort of "shopping free weeks" though - never tend to go for the last two or even three weeks of term as I have stocks in the freezer and cupboard so just get vegetables from the shop on campus spending a couple of quid.

[forsaken_earth]

(Original post by illy123)
Thanks for your reply. I have to say, I only agree with your comment about tuna, I agree that it is worth me doing some research to confirm that a) it does indeed have such toxins and b) that toxins are present in a significant amount to cause damage when consumed x times per week.

Consuming more smaller portions more frequently has been proven to increase the basic metabolic rate and this results in the person feeling more energetic (beneficial for the gym and cardio later on) and then it is more efficient for protein synthesis - hence the 5/6 portions along with snacking on fruit.

I disagree that olive oil is full of empty calories; it contains antioxidants and monounsaturated fats which have been reported to have numerous health benefits. Also, if I were to consider other oils such as sunflower and palm - that is where the unhealthy food really starts to set it.

I feel offended about your comments on eggs lol - yes I agree free range are healthier than normal; yet normal are still better than nothing. Full of vitamins and a complete set of amino acid which are probably only second to whey protein. It would be nice if I could afford free range eggs - if not for the health factor then for ethical reasons.

Potatoes and bread are empty calories and do not have anything beneficial in them. I am trying to substitute animal protein however I don't think I can afford to eat fish everyday as I do at home hence the chicken breast.

I think consuming a greater variety of fruit and veg gives you a great balance of different minerals and vitamins as each has its own strong points - however I will have to balance that with the (financial) advantage of buying one particular item in bulk

I dont actually have bread or potatoes myself, I live off fish, greens and youghurt. But that's not good so I didn't advocate it! Anyway I wish you luck in your financial managements.

[forsaken_earth]

(Original post by there's too much love)


It depends what you want to spend your money on. Cheap foods can be great, but they can also be ****, it depends exactly what you're getting. The same can be said of frozen, although if it's veg I think that tends to retain it's nutritional value.

I don't drink much, I don't buy much apart from food. I have enough clothes (not many, but enough), a bed, shelter, books would be the other thing, and I usually just us the uni library. None ofthat makes me a) a snob/someone with a snobby mind set b) someone with unlimted funds. I, like many other students, although admittedly not all, just know how to conserve spending money. Everyone has their own habits, mine dictates that once a week my current account sends my student account £35, if I need a bit extra I'll just have to go into my current account, but I'm very aware of when I do that. Now obviously we all have different cash flows, and food prices, in fact almost all products, vary in price depending on where you are in the country.

clear out your inbox, it wont let me message you
heres the message anyway

Oh thank you! Nutrition is a hobby of mine, I study it in my spare time. I changed to pescatarian because my proteins levels dropped dramatically. Also at the time I was in hospital and my doctors and parents advocated it strongly. However, if I went about veganism in a healthy way I would not have had this problem. I think you're fine as long as you include all the food groups. What about you, how are you finding it?

[Persipan]

OP, I find if I don't pay attention to my spending it's easy for it to get out of control, and there are a few things I can suggest which might help.

The first money-saving advice I'd give you echoes what everyone else has said - don't buy sandwiches. They're massively overpriced, plus when you go to buy one you end up buying a drink, and maybe a bag of crisps or a bar of chocolate, and before you know where you are, you've spent £5 (or more). Do that every day and it soon adds up. Make your own sandwich (which isn't exactly a taxing cooking challenge), refill a bottle with water or squash, take a piece of fruit, and buy multipacks of crisps/snacks/cereal bars/whatever (as they're much cheaper bought this way than individually) and you'll save a lot.

Next up, try to do a big shop rather than getting more food every day or two. It's easy to drift round the supermarket thinking 'ooh, that looks nice' and buying things you fancy eating for dinner, when actually you had enough food in the house already. And possibly that food needed eating and will end up going to waste. Try to shop once a week, and just top up things like milk or bread if you have to. Equally, never go food shopping when you're hungry; you'll just be tempred to buy all sorts of things because you want to eat them right now.

In order to do a proper shop, you need to have some sort of plan of what you're going to be eating throughout the week. Buying loads of different foods without planning how they'll go together as meals will, as above, end in you wasting things. I'm not saying you have to have the week's menu planned like a military campaign, but if, say, you're buying a bag of potatoes, you might think "I can use one or two as baked potatoes - so I should buy a tin of beans - and then I can mash some for the top of a pie, and cut the rest up into wedges and cook them in the oven - they'd go nicely with those chicken pieces which are on offer," or something like that. That way, you've got three or more meals thought through and you can be sure to get what you need, and not lots of stuff you don't.

I personally keep a sortof running total in my head of how much money I've spent in the week, with a maximum figure in mind, so I know if I'm being at all extravagant.

You've said you tend to get hungry and eat several ready meals rather than just one - the best trick I can suggest there is to fill up on cheaper, bulkier food so you don't spend as much on the expensive things. At its simplest, that could mean eating a slice of bread and butter with your meal, or you could do things like add extra vegetables or pulses to bulk things out.

On the subject of ready meals, although the very cheap ones can be an inexpensive way of getting a meal in front of you quickly, they're generally going to cost you more than making a meal for yourself. I do occasionally eat a ready meal, but I point-blank refuse to eat most of them (especially the pasta ones) on the grounds that I could make them myself so easily.

You've said you don't cook - the thing to know about cooking is that, although it can be involved and complicated (and I personally quite enjoy that,) there is a middle ground between eating nothing but ready meals and turning out three-course meals from scratch, and I would encourage you to explore it. Basically, lots of meals can be prepared without you having to do anything complicated at all, and you can take advantage of some prepared ingredients to make it even easier.

Pasta, for instance, is super-easy. You put it in a pan, pour a kettleful of boiling water over it, and boil it for as long as the packet tells you. For something to go with it, there's nothing wrong with buying sauce in a jar, if you aren't confident making it yourself. Get a cheapo one, heat it up in a pan, and maybe chuck in a few extra ingredients if you want to jazz it up a bit - a couple of chopped fresh tomatoes and some frozen peas, say. Put the pasta on a plate, put the sauce on top, and grate on a bit of cheese - you've made a meal, in probably not much more than 10 minutes. And there's lots of things that are just as simple to make, while you get more confident with cooking.

[Jmzie-Coupe]

My girlfriend & I spend around £70 a week for the both of us. Over £100 a week for just one person is ludicrious

[Slender Loris]

£10-15/week. Includes toiletries, free-range/organic/fairtrade products where applicable, no meat/fish/alcohol.

[Treben]

(Original post by destination unknown)
I spend 110-130quid on average per week on supermarket food. (thank god I've got a part-time job )

That's like my entire family's weekly shopping budget (4 people) and it's not limited, we just spend that much because it's all we need!

How the heck!?

For the benefit of the thread I intend on spending £50 a week on living, not including buying clothes or other interesting objects. I think it's possible.

[Spud_Hutson]

My plan involved farm foods and lidl, lol.
I'm planning on buying cheap chicken from farm foods (its the only meat I eat) and then just buying lots of veg and various sauces etc.
It's so much cheaper, if you're able, to cook one big meal, ie. stew, shepards pie etc and then either eating it all week or freezing the rest in portions.

[Prowan]

When I just stick to buying food from Supermarket/ shops I spend anything from £15 - £30. But last week I had two meals out and a couple of cafe visits which meant I spent £50 on food whoops! You just have to be careful to cook properly from scratch. Take a list to the Supermarket and stick to it, but also look out for good deals. I usually just write "fruit/ veg" on my list and then see which ones have good deals. For example I picked up a big bag of oranges from Sainsburys the other day for 10p just because the next day was the "best before" but of course they lasted another 5 days or so after that!

[Lucyyy]

I've been fairly sporadic with my food shopping, did a £20 shop in the 3rd week and £30 in the 5th week, but then I'll pick up bits and pieces from the little Tesco and shop on campus as and when. It probably comes in at something like £15-20 a week, ish. I thought I'd spend more than that but I haven't even budgeted really, it's just how it's gone.

[grape:)]

(Original post by destination unknown)
I read on average that a student spend 30-40quid per week on food!

How they manage to spend so few money?

I spend 110-130quid on average per week on supermarket food. (thank god I've got a part-time job )

Can you help me cut down my spending? give me some advice please on how you manage to eat for 40quid per week?

Any specials places to find student/discount prices?

btw, i don't cook: i buy sandwiches and ready meals

Cheers

You've answered your own question.

[Sorani]

I spend about £20-25 currently, and it's all good food.

[Blueflare]

How the hell do you spend that much?
My average is £19 at the moment, and it's going down each week as I never spend as much in any given week as I did on the big shop I did when I first got here.

[microfatcat]

(Original post by gummers)
I dont know
I thought it was Evanna Lynch but I've been told it's not here soo!!

she doesn't look anything like evanna lynch

[M1F2R3]

£40 usually.

[gummers]

(Original post by microfatcat)
she doesn't look anything like evanna lynch

I changed that picture a long time ago

http://judao.mtv.uol.com.br/wp-conte...nalovegood.jpg < that was the image I used to have in it

[DaniLou17]

like under £10 im living 40 mins from home my mum has still been paying for it for me i love my mum !

[Dude Where's My Username]

£5. With ease. And I eat like a pig

[microfatcat]

(Original post by gummers)
I changed that picture a long time ago

http://judao.mtv.uol.com.br/wp-conte...nalovegood.jpg < that was the image I used to have in it

Ooh right! No, that's definitely not her, it was just a rumour going round.