Weekly Shopping at Uni

[akindrat18]

So far now i have been trying to cut down less and less on my food shopping at uni from £30 - £40 a week and i wanna know if anyone at uni who has diabetes has a weekly food shopping budget of £20 as i wanna cut down my spending.

 

[twinkle1980]

I'm a student, type 1 and lone parent to boot. My weekly shopping budget is £60, however remember that is to feed 3 people, and run the whole household (1-2 washing loads daily, cleaning products etc etc)

So...

My first suggestion is that you menu plan. Work out your main meals so that ingredients compliment each other so you can bulk buy. E.g roast chicken one night, chicken salad next day, chicken curry day 3, and pick bones clean and freeze leftovers for fajitas (in lettuce wraps) another day.

2nd suggestion is to shop around. Collect the coupons from free ads & get a daily bus pass and spend 1 day a month stocking on cupboard and freezer essentials. I did this yesterday and spent £15 in farmfoods ( 10 sirloin steaks, 15 chicken thighs, 10 pork loin steaks, 10 hot & spicy seasoned [not breadcrumbed] chicken breasts, 8 lamb chops), £8 in Iceland (2 bags prawns, 8 Pollack fillets, chicken breast nuggets & fish fingers for kids). £22 in Tesco on cupboard foods (tins, jars, packets, spices, breakfast cereals for kids etc), £5 Chinese market for rice sack (kids aren't low carbing) and spices, £6 on market for washing liquids and cleaning stuff (inc a massive bottle whit vinegar which I use for cleaning).

So far total is £56...but for the month, for 3 people.

Next suggestion is oops shopping for things, Thursday night's most supermarkets reduce a lot more of their fresh fruit and veg and meat (than the rest of the week) in order to prepare for the weekend shoppers... So go then!

Bulk cook if you have things with a short date and freeze, I bulk cook minced beef and onions then freeze in portions. I can use it for Bolognese, chilli, etc. I also bulk cook a basic tomato based sauce. Oops veggies, passata, onions, and oops herbs...blitz in blender and my kids don't know just how many veggies their getting. Freeze in bags and you have a basic sauce for loads of dishes (chilli, Spanish chicken, moussaka, Bolognese- you get the idea).

If you have menu planned you can pick up your veg daily (root veg weekly through oops shopping) and keep well within budget.

 

[hanadr]

I'm not at Uni. gradduateed in 1970!, but I do have a method for keeping shopping costs DOWN.
Once a week, I write out menus for the following wweek and make my shopping list from those menus. that way, nothing goes to waste.
I do sometimes check on-line to see if what I want is in stock. I use almost no ready prepared food and watch out with snacks as I'm low carb.
there are some foods, which are innately inexpensive, such as veggies.
Useful stuff for students includsd pulses and frankfurters and cheap cuts of meat like pork belly or skirt steak[which need long slow cooking. A slow cooker might be a worthwhile investment or ask for one when someone is offering a gift]
quicklty prepared foods, other than eggy stuff tends to be more expensive than those which take prepaaration and slow cooking.
Some of my recipes might suit you. Canny shoppingg helps too. eg. using LIDL or ALDI
If you pm me and let me know whqat you have in the way of cooking facilities, I'll send you a couple.
Hana
PS I also saw my daughter through uni

 

[anna29]

So far now i have been trying to cut down less and less on my food shopping at uni from £30 - £40 a week and i wanna know if anyone at uni who has diabetes has a weekly food shopping budget of £20 as i wanna cut down my spending.

Hello .
Try doing your shopping when the major stores have reduced items on shelves to buy ...
Find out the times they pop quite a lot of reduced stock out for shoppers to buy .
Most main stores do this at certain times of the day .
Some stores reduce items 3times a day lowering the prices further each time ...
You can make 'massive savings' shopping at these times :thumbup:

Picking up ideal produce at great reduced prices saving you pounds never mind pence !
Lean minced beef , free range chicken breasts , sausages/bacon , eggs , veggies , fruit ,
salads , tinned tomatoes etc....
Snap these up [store and save the tins] and concoct a meal with them

I did this when my hubby was made redundant - and confess I still do it even now ...
I find its fun , challanging and saves me pounds too

Anna.

 

[akindrat18]

Thank you for the advice given and after a couple of days i decided to go with a £25 - £30 budget for 2 weeks at Asda.

I have created a partial menu plan which is this:

Breakfast:

2 rounds of wholegrain toast/30g bowl of special k with 125g of semi skimmed milk

I thought that i would alternate the breakfast that i should have so that i don't have the same thing to eat everyday

Lunch:

A plate or bowl of pasta in a sweet chilli sauce either on its own or with some meat.

Dinner:

cooked vegetables/chips with meat or chicken.
pasta/rice with minced beef.

Here is my shopping List:

Total: £25.91
CHECKOUT

Savings: £0.60

1
McCain Micro chips
£1.50

2
ASDA Smart... Mixed Vegetable
£1.50
1
Fairy Non Bio Gel
£4.00

2
Warburtons Bread
£2.00
1
Blue Dragon Dipping sauce
£1.87
1
ASDA Fusilli
£0.50
1
ASDA Pasta Shells
£0.50
1
ASDA Milk
£1.00

2
Butchers S... Diced Chicken
£6.00
1
Butchers S... Beef Mince
£3.23
1
ASDA Smart... Bacon
£0.97
1
ASDA Smart... Pork Sausages
£0.84
1
Kelloggs Cereal
£2.00

 

[elainechi]

ok..you can reduce that....chopped tinned toms..buy chillies and garlic.....blitz with a wand for pasta...buy shop brands as they are so much cheaper as are value fruit and buy veg loose...just a few suggetions....a slow cooker sounds good too...value muffins and crumpets are good too...do asda have a loyality card..if so get one xx

 

[akindrat18]

ok..you can reduce that....chopped tinned toms..buy chillies and garlic.....blitz with a wand for pasta...buy shop brands as they are so much cheaper as are value fruit and buy veg loose...just a few suggetions....a slow cooker sounds good too...value muffins and crumpets are good too...do asda have a loyality card..if so get one xx

Well i can certainly try blending my sweet chilli sauce ingredients, i can buy fruit & veg weekly from my university as they have a fruit & veg stall every wednesday, i don't think that i can use a slow cooker and asda don't have a loyalty card.

 

[ewelina]

For my the easiest way to save on food is to buy what I actually need. The biggest mistake is to go shopping without a plan and buy some random things that go for waste. The best solution for me is to shop as often as possible but buy food that I need for that day (or next one) only. I cook everything from scratch and eat lots of pulses. Lentils, chickpea and soybean my favorite. i also love pot barley (a bit forgotten nowadays) which is very cheap.

 

[akindrat18]

Well i could do what you do, as i have a bargain booze and a best one shop down the road from where i live and they sell food brands such as euro shopper, happy shopper, farm fresh and butchers market. They are really cheap and i bought 2 peppered steaks for £2, 2 packs of chicken fillets for £5, Pepsi Max or Coke Zero for a £1, tins of food under 75p and frozen foods at a £2 or less.