Celebrate the best of British
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On a Budget
Make “Buy British” the new motto for your shopping!
Not only is British food normally fresher, filling your body with all the right minerals and nutrients to look and feel great, it is also potentially cheaper, allowing you to save those few extra pounds for pints down the pub!
Moreover, the right kind of food can boost your energy and keep stress levels down - so instead of junk food why not try cooking a home-made meal? It's also a great socialising activity.
And remember to celebrate British Food Fortnight with your friends and family! For ideas on how to get involved click here.
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On a Budget
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Buy British and seasonal! If you buy strawberries in December from California you will be paying more for them. When food is in season there is usually an abundance of supply and therefore seasonal produce is often on special offer. To see what’s in season please [click here]. For seasonal recipes click here
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You don't have to shop in Waitrose to enjoy great British produce. Morrisons, Asda, The Co-operative and Aldi, for example, all have great British ranges – you just need to know what to look for! Click here for a list of all the supermarkets and their British produce.
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Supermarkets are convenient, but it can be cheaper to shop for other ingredients elsewhere. If you live near a street market or small independent shops it may be cheaper to buy from them. For the best deals, shop often and look for reduced produce or end-of-the-day specials.
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Buy loose ingredients rather than pre-packed. A couple of loose carrots cost around 10p but a pre-pack can cost up to 90p!
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If you have fruit in the house that’s due to expire, cut it up and put in a zip-lock in the freezer – you can then use it to make smoothies later on… waste not, want not!
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Did you know that canned fruit and vegetables count towards your 5 A DAY and can potentially be cheaper than the fresh variety.
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Buy joints or full carcasses of meat and use all of it imaginatively. Buy a whole chicken rather than chicken breasts - use the bones to make stock for soups and the left-over meat in sandwiches, curries and stews. And remember, the brown chicken meat is as delicious as the white.
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Buy from your nearest Community Food Co-op: there are Community Food Co-operative Programmes across Britain providing quality, affordable fruit and vegetables to communities through sustainable local food distribution networks. For information on opening a food co-op, supplying a food co-op or finding your local food co-op [click here].
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Use a can of tinned tomatoes as a pasta sauce base opposed to pre-made sauce as it is not only cheaper but also healthier.
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King Edward potatoes are the only variety you’ll need. They do everything from chips to mash, and they’re easy to find in the shops.
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Become a Feastarian - feastarians only eat meat or fish as a treat or a 'feast' two to three times a week. Eating this way means you can save money (as meat tends to be more expensive) and focus on the quality of food you are eating.
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If you're living in student accommodation think about communally shopping some, if not all, your weekly food. Bigger packs last longer and cost a lot less when shared and it also means you can make the most of offers such as ‘Buy two get one free’ without feeling as if you're spending a fortune.
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Plan ahead! If you only have the ingredients for meals you plan on making, you'll throw less away.
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Making your food in batches at the start of the week is cheap and convenient. If you cook Sunday night's pasta dish for three, you can save and store two for later in the week. Not only is a jar of sauce for three cheaper than three individual ones, but you won't spend unnecessarily on lunch if it's already made.
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Shopping lists are essential for avoiding costly and unnecessary purchases when in the shop.
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Make sure you use up your leftovers! That stale loaf of bread could be used to make bread and butter pudding, that beef from your Sunday Roast could be used to make cottage pie and that leftover roast potatoes can make gnocchi. For more leftover ideas and recipes [click here].
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Be savvy - never order fish on a Monday as there's no market on Sunday and the fish will have been sitting in the fridge all weekend. Moreover, when ordering beef opt for the rib-eye (instead of fillet) as it has the best value for money and the best flavour.
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Order expensive - as cheaper dishes are overpriced! Chefs pay the most for expensive items (e.g. venison) however for fear of appearing too expensive they often do not pass on the resulting price hike. It's the vegetarian dishes, side orders and desserts that they make the money on.
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Beware of extras - some places can charge £5 a coffee because it is served with chocolate. Check how much a cup of coffee is, if they charge for bread, if you can have free tap water etc. before you order.
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If you eat fast food, eat it right - it's a well known fact that many students live off fast food and take aways; however some outlets are much better at being honest about the provenance of their food than others. For instance wherever McDonald's goes, it buys all its ingredients locally - which here means 60% from the UK and 40% from Ireland. For a list of your favourite fast food outlets and their sourcing of British produce click here)
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Snack healthy - it is an oft-repeated adage that you should eat little and often. Snack throughout the day on raw vegetables, home-made crisps and 70% cocoa chocolate instead of sweets and biscuits. It's better for you and still satisfies those naughty cravings just as well.
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Eat In! - instead of spending a fortune eating out why not try eating in with a group of friends? Try a ‘Come Dine with Me’ theme - each member learns one recipe e.g. Shepherds Pie, a great Curry, Fish Pie etc. and takes it in turns to cook for the others. For recipe ideas see below.
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Eating Out For Less - For more advice on eating out for less click here
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Work out if it's cheaper to share if you're with friends. Going halves on a large pizza is probably going to save you more than two individuals.
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Explore the area! Don't just stick to the well-known high-street restaurant; there might be a just-as-good cheaper alternative hiding down a back street.
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- Lidl's own label fresh pork, chicken and beef are 100% British and produced to British Farm Assured Standards.
- Asda are strong supporters of local produce and have over 6,500 local lines across the UK.
- Sainsbury's have many British lines. Of particular note is their lamb which from July to December is all British and often from local farms.
- Waitrose views itself as the champion of British and, in particular, speciality produce but it does come at a price, though their Essential range is competitive.
- Morrisons fresh meat is all 100% British (except its offal) and they have their own butchers counters in store so you can easily get advice on buying cheaper cuts.
- Tesco stocks 4,000 local lines across the UK and generally clearly marks in season British fruit, veg and meat with Union Jacks.
- The Co-operative owns farms across the UK and offers 'Grown buy Us' fruit and veg and 'Reared by Us' meat.
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Supermarket giant Morrisons claims that the average weekly food budget for a student is approximately £21 (from a poll of 1,000 students). With this in mind and the fact that most 16-24 year olds do not want to spend more than 35 minutes from start to finish on cooking, here are a few recipe sites that provide cheap, time-efficient examples for you to try.
- Sam Stern (the teenage chef) recipes and tips on cooking click here
- For student recipes, recipe videos and Grub Club packs click here to check out the BBC Grub Club website.
- Leftover Recipes [click here].
- For beginner student recipes, meals for one ideas etc click here.
- For quick, cheap, British dishes from BBC Good Food [click here]
- Jamie Oliver's budget meals click here.
- Cheap meal ideas for British Classics [click here].
- Student recipe ideas click here.
- For tasty, easy to follow and healthy recipes from the DCSF's Real Meal Cookbook click here
- For picnic recipes that feed approximately 8 people for less than £25 click here
- delicious. magazine is on a mission to get teenagers cooking and, with top chef Alan Murchison, has devised five recipes to entice youngsters into the kitchen. Click here for recipes and tips that will give essential skills for life.
- A great cookbook with a huge variety of recipes that are simple, delicious and importantly, because they only use three or four ingredients, cheap! [click here].
A final tip: to make simple gravy - melt a tablespoon of butter, stir in a tablespoon of plain flour and stir in a teaspoon of marmite, bring to the boil and presto! |
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The Beyond Baked Beans website is written by previous students for current students on budget cooking. It goes through leftover tips, cooking tips, shopping tips and healthy recipes. To view the site please click here
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The Recipes4Us website gives guidance on essential kitchen equipment, kitchen tips, hygiene tips and recipe ideas for students. Click here .
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For top tips on how to get your 5 A DAY on a budget please click here
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Food writer Diana Henry's blog post about how to eat fabulously on a budget. Click here
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For some useful links to recipes, tips and articles, be sure to follow these food fans on Twitter: @theBritFFgirls, @ChewOnThat, @guardianfood, @foodimentary
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If you need some visual inspiration, check out this website for easy-to-follow recipes and tips in the form of videos: [click here].
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Don't know what to do with what you have left in the cupboard? Use a recipe maker by searching a combination of ingredients to come up with something tasty: [click here].
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The average student lives on a diet of spaghetti bolognese, jacket potatoes and frozen pizzas. A typical undergraduate eats almost 200 plates of 'spag bol' during college life. Stir-fry came fourth in the survey, with beans on toast in fifth. Survey taken by the Sainsbury's poll.
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One in five university students cannot boil an egg, and 3 per cent do not know how to use a cooker, according to a survey by Dalepak Foods.
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