Too much food!
So I'm finally here, sat in my new flat for the year waiting for uni to begin and I never thought I'd say it but I have food to last me weeks.
I'm six days in and already I have too many options meaning my brain feels like mush, trying to decide what to eat. This mornings options for breakfast consisted of a large variety of sausage, egg, spinach, jam, bean, cheese and toasted products as well as cereal. I went with a sausage sandwich, nom. It's coming up to dinner time now and I have leftover pasta from last nights tea or soup from yesterday's dinner. It's a hard life right?
Most of the food I currently have, luckily, has a long shelf life or can be frozen so it's all good but it gave me the idea to pass on some tips about buying food to survive at uni.
Before I came to uni, people kept asking what I wanted or needed and I couldn't think of much so I told all my family the things I would like for birthdays and things... food, cleaning stuff or train tickets. When I arrived I had with me a huge bag full of food and another full of cleaning products. So I would definitely ask for care packages before you get there, if anyone offers to buy you anything. Tins and jars mostly if you want food.
First of all make a budget for yourself. Being a business student I quite enjoy financey kind of things so it isn't a chore for me and before I came I made a uni cash flow, FOR FUN! cue gasps of shock and disgust. This is something that really helps though, if you know how much you can spend on food it makes shopping so much easier and you buy less unnecessary stuff. I have a £20 a week budget/£80 a month.
Next, write a list. Having a list means you don't forget the things you need and buy random stuff in hope that you've covered all bases and so can help you save money. Spending a little time checking your cupboards and only getting what you need does pay off and helps you stick within that budget and any leftover money you could save or spend treats elsewhere. It also means you can be in and out of the shop much faster meaning you have more time to be a student.
It is also a good idea to check the shelf life of what you buy. Most of what I have comes in tins or jars such as sauces for pasta or curry, soup, jam, beans etc so they're always good to get. Cereal and dry foods such as pasta last a long time too. If you're buying fresh meat, look for long use by dates but if you can't use it all, you can just pop it in the freezer until you're ready for it. For example, I have a 12 pack of sausages and once there use by date comes,if I haven't finished them, they'll be going straight into the freezer. This way if you decide to go out for food you can be assured your food at home won't go to waste, you only have your fresh fruit and veggies to worry about.
My final tip would be to meal plan. Planning your meals for the week really helps with sticking to a budget. You can pick meals that share ingredients to make the most of what you buy or cook in bulk and freeze for meals later on or put in the fridge for dinner the next day. I'f you're a fairly good cook, why not make bulk meals to share with your flatmates and split the cost?
So I think that's about it, hope these tips helped, if you have any of your own please leave them in the comments below.
~ Have fun shopping :) ~
