It’s doable! 
A few tips off the top of my head……
- Go to food markets to get your fruit. You can get huuuuge fruit baskets for £1.
- Get your food in big supermarkets where they have the value ranges (e.g. Tesco Value Noodles, 37p per pack, fine for dinner!).
- If you can get to places like Macro or wholesale stores, buy in bulk before you leave for uni. You can get really cheap, massive packs of pasta, couscous, rice, stuff like that.
- Approvedfood has cheap food you can order.
- The Facebook page “10 ways to save money as a student” [hiya] often has free samples. I got a HUGE jar (catering size) of tomato sauce which can last for like 20 or so spag bols.
- Obviously, avoid shopping in small convenience stores, very high mark ups. Likewise try to resist the temptation of takeaways, can be an expensive habit.
- Pre-drink cheaply before you go out to avoid spending loads on nights out.
- Do your food shopping at about 10pm, in time for the discount labels to come out on bread and stuff like that.
- Learn to love Primark and similar cheap-but-cheerful stores (pound stores etc).
- As for how to budget – get a little notebook, and for each month/week, list all of your income and expenditure. Helps keep you on track.
Hope this helps 🙂
Originally posted on http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2403372
