Food
Learn to cook
The more creative you can be in the kitchen, the better for your pocket. There are lots of cook books and websites that can advise on cheap and easy recipes when living on a student budget. You will also find that you save money due to less waste, planning your meals and sticking to your shopping on your path to becoming the next Delia.
TLC for your fridge-freezer
The biggest food waste is fruit and veg and the culprit can be excess moisture in your fridge. When you have a big group of you living together, your fridge-freezer can struggle to keep up with heavy use. The trick is to make sure it’s not over-loaded, keep an eye on the temperature gage and ensure all your food covered or stored correctly. There’s nothing worse than your freezer packing up over night when you’ve all just done your weekly shop, waking up to melted ice-cream and soggy pizza.
Brand roulette
Trying out a cheaper brand than the ones you’re used to buying at home can help you save a few pounds from your shopping budget each week. Cheaper brands can often taste just as good, or you might even find you weed out some little treasures you haven’t tried before!
Tea and toast club
If you’re living in a house/flat with a big group, you might find clubbing together for essentials (especially those with a short shelf life) will be a good money saver, items like tea, coffee, milk, sugar, bread, cleaning products, toilet paper could be managed with a house kitty.
Deal or no deal?
Supermarket deals can be a real money saver, especially if it’s staple canned goods that are versatile to cook with and have a long shelf life. However, always weigh up what’s on offer with its real benefit to you. That two tonnes of potatoes for a tenner may pose an exciting challenge for the weekend, but could you consume them before they sprout those fungi fingers? Hopefully, but possibly not.
For helpful tips for cooking on a budget, food storage, reducing food waste and doing your bit for the environment visit http://wales.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ for ideas.
Money saving snippet:
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