“I bet your food shop is a lot every week!”
“how much do you spend on food every week?”
“where do you go food shopping”
These are some of the most regular questions people have asked me or said to me in the 6/7 weeks of having a food blog. I’m sure many people will continue to ask things like this, so todays blog answers this question and proves you can have nice and nutritious meals without breaking the bank!
Most students just grab whatever they can find in the super market without planning meals or anything. So people are surprised when I tell them that my parents give my £30 a week to survive. My flat mates literally almost cried when I told them this but its literally all I need=
£10-£15 food shop
£15-going out=
£5- 2 bottles of rose
-£3 lollipop ticket (if you’re a Bournemouth uni student you’ll know)
But how do I do this?? Budget Super markets. Right so I know so many people turn their noses up to Lidl and Aldi, but I live for them. Not just because I’m a student but because I love good food. Not even joking 95% of the cheeses and fresh fruit n veg I buy from Aldi is probably fresher than anything I ever see on the shelves of Sainsburys or Tescos, and it tastes exactly the same or tastes so much better, and is more than likely to be more than 20% cheaper. I also go for a lot of frozen things such as fish, chicken, sweetcorn/peas and sometimes fruit for smoothies and porridge which also saves me money. This isn’t ideal for everyone but it’s good for me, I save money and also if I don’t use it all in a few days then it won’t go out of date.
You’ve probably seen this on so many adverts but here’s a shop comparison. This is a pretty simple and average shop for me at uni if I’m not looking to make anything extra for my blog and am going to lectures and handing in assignments that week. On a week like this I more or less eat similar things every day then change it up the next week. So this shop below would make me avocados and poached egg on toast every day for breakfast (AVOCADOS ARENT AS EXPENSIVE AS EVERYONE THINKS-argument for another day). For lunch I would have a pasta pesto salad or a tuna salad. If I have a tuna salad, I like to put a hard-boiled egg with it as well. For dinner I will normally have a piece of fish or meat with sweet potato and veg for 2 days, for another 2 days I would have a veggie/chicken stir fry then I would also have a chicken and rice dish like a curry or risotto then something different at the end of the week like courghetti so I can use up all my left overs (see recipe on my Instagram).
ALDI/LIDL
-bread-medium slice white bread -0.36p
-eggs-15 - 1.09p
-avocado- 4 ripen at home- £1.29
-spinach- 200g- 0.63p
-sweetcorn- frozen 1kg- 0.79p
-tomatoes- baby plum 250g- 0.63p
-basa fillets- frozen for 2- £1.89
-sweet potato- 1kg- 0.95
-broccoli- 500g-0.64
-noodles-0.59p
-pasta-1kg-0.78
-pesto-190g-0.74p
-rice- 1kg- 0.95p
-chicken-fillets 1kg- £3.50
-courgette- 500g- 0.89
£15.72
TESCO
-bread-medium slice white bread – 0.55p
-eggs- 15 -£2.00
-avocado- 4 ripen at home -£1.99
-spinach- 200g £1
-sweetcorn- frozen 1kg- £1.30
-tomaotes- baby plum 250g- 0.69p
-basa- frozen for 2-£4.00
-sweet potato-1kg-£1.00
-broccoli- 500g- 0.78
-noodles-£1.00
-pasta- 1kg-0.95
-pesto-190g-£1.00
-rice- 1kg-£1.60
-chicken- fillets -1kg-£3.50
-courgette- 500g- £1
£22.36
£6.64 savings!!
Doing this comparison, I even surprised myself, I never realised how all the little differences add up. This weekly shop would also mean I have stuff left over for the next week like rice and frozen chicken and sweetcorn which all last me a few weeks. Don’t get me wrong not every week is like this and having a food blog means I buy extra stuff throughout the week to make the cool stuff you guys like the most.
On other weeks I will often have things such as granola and yoghurt, smoothies, tuna salads, veggie Buddha bowls and other spiralized veg which are also cheap and yummy meals.
Reduced isle. First thing I do when I go into a super market is look at the reduce isle cause you kind find some amazingggg stuff. I’ve got bags of mussels for less than 50p, loafs of bread for 20p and mincemeat for less than £1. This is a great thing to do when I have nothing in the fridge and the stuff I buy I cook the same evening!
Another thing I do to keep recipes I find cheap is to substitute or get rid of some of the ingredients. I’ m not a professional chef and this is an unpopular opinion but I’m pretty sure in most of the recipes I read half in the ingredients you don’t even need. I’ve just learnt to simplify so many recipes.
I also use the @onepoundmeals app. I’m obsessed with his Instagram and his app also-Comparasaurus. The app allows you to type in the food you want and it compares all the prices, this is so handy cause sometimes the bigger supermarkets like Asda have multi-buy or deals on so it’s good to check out there as well.
PLAN AHEAD. So I know most people just do the whole ‘we’ll decide when we get there’ when it comes to shopping, and many people just get whatever they like the look of off the shelf at the time without planning meals or writing a list. Writing a list saves me so much money and time, for 10 mins a week I work out what I want to eat and what I need to do it. When I get to the supermarket this saves me time looking down the isles I don’t need and buying things I really don’t need. Another tip is don’t shop hungry. You’ll buy so much stuff you probably don’t need. Don’t get me wrong I do love a browse and I do buy things that aren’t on my list that I can add to meals that I maybe haven’t thought of before. But I always ask myself do I actually need it?? So that’s all my tips on how to shop and eat cheap, look out for my next blog post BIRTHDAY RESTAURANT REVIEWS.
Marbleous Food
xxx