Eating well on a tight budget: a worked week

Many students worry that eating healthily is expensive. With a plan, pulses, frozen vegetables and a few cheaper cuts, it does not have to be. This lesson walks through a full illustrative week of food for one person and how to stretch it further.

Set a weekly food budget

• Decide a weekly amount for food shopping and a separate amount for eating out and delivery, so one does not eat the other (see Money Basics for budgeting).
• Love Food Hate Waste suggests setting a food budget before you write your shopping list.
• Pay for food shopping with a card or account you check, so you can see your weekly total.
• If you share some staples with flatmates, agree a small weekly kitty and keep receipts.

Cheap foods that do a lot of work

• Pulses: the NHS budget leaflet suggests using more vegetables and pulses (beans, peas, lentils) to make meals go further. Red lentils, chickpeas and beans add protein and fibre for little money.
• Frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables count towards your 5 A Day (NHS); choose tins in water or juice without added sugar or salt.
• Cheaper cuts: chicken thighs and drumsticks or minced beef rather than breast fillets or steak (NHS budget leaflet).
• Eggs, oats, rice, pasta, potatoes, bananas, carrots, onions and cabbage are usually among the cheapest foods per portion.
• Cook from scratch and keep recipes simple, so you do not buy ingredients for one dish only (NHS budget leaflet).

Worked example: one week's shop for one (illustrative prices)

• Cupboard: 1 kg porridge oats 0.95, 1 kg rice 1.50, 500 g pasta 0.75, 500 g red lentils 1.20, 2 tins chopped tomatoes 1.10, 1 tin chickpeas 0.65, 2 tins tuna 1.60. Subtotal 7.75.
• Fresh: 12 eggs 2.40, 2 litres milk 1.60, 500 g plain yoghurt 0.90, wholemeal loaf 1.10, 500 g halal chicken thighs 3.50. Subtotal 9.50.
• Fruit and vegetables: 6 bananas 0.90, 6 apples 1.30, 1 kg onions 0.90, 1 kg carrots 0.60, 1 bulb garlic 0.25, 1 bag spinach 1.00, 1 kg frozen mixed vegetables 1.40. Subtotal 6.35.
• Total: 7.75 + 9.50 + 6.35 = 23.60, which is about 3.37 a day. The oats, rice, lentils and some pasta will last into next week, so the real weekly cost is lower.
• These prices are invented to show the method, not real prices in any country. Do the same sum with your local supermarket's app or receipts.

What that shop becomes

• Breakfasts: porridge with banana, or eggs on toast.
• Lunches: tuna and sweetcorn pasta salad, lentil soup with bread, egg and spinach wraps (add a few wraps to the list if you prefer them to bread).
• Dinners: red lentil dal with rice (3 portions), chicken thigh tray bake with carrots and onions (2 portions), chickpea and tomato stew with frozen vegetables (2 portions).
• Snacks: apples, yoghurt, toast.
• Each day can reach 5 A Day: for example a banana, a portion of tomatoes, a portion of spinach, a portion of frozen vegetables and an apple.

Stretching it further, and when money is really tight

• Bulk out mince or chicken with lentils or beans: half the meat plus a tin of lentils still makes a filling bolognese or curry.
• Cooking beats buying: Staffordshire University gives the example of a supermarket pizza costing about 3 pounds compared with 8 pounds from a takeaway.
• Batch cook in a slow cooker or one big pot; the NHS budget leaflet notes slow cookers use less energy than an oven.
• If you cannot afford enough food, tell someone early. Universities have student support or money advice teams, and the NHS leaflet notes that food banks can help in a short-term crisis. See the Money Basics module and talk to your family.