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After doing a bit of research last week I was surprised to find that students have only £124 pound a month to spent on food shopping.

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Knowing how a good diet affects mood, concentration, sleep and general health we wanted to see if we could help, by seeing what we could buy for £124 a month.

Below is a online shop i’ve done which came to £123.60, this shopping list would give an individual roughly 2000 calories a day for 30 days, it also boasts around 100g of protein.

There are obviously a few sacrifices I had to make which I will go into below the list, along with some top tips to saving £’s when food shopping on a budget.

 

31 items: £123.60

Tins, Jars & CookingGuide price in £

4x

Essential Waitrose Red Kidney Beans in Water (400g)

£2.00

Buy any 4 FOR £2.00

1x

Schwartz Hot Chilli Powder (38g)

£1.50

1x

Heinz Baked Beanz in Tomato Sauce (6x415g)

£3.00

was £3.85

1x

East End Paprika Powder (100g)

99p

2x

Meridian Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter (1Kg)

£10.98

1x

The Groovy Food Company Organic Virgin Coconut Oil (283ml)

£4.49

was £5.99

2x

John West Tuna Chunks in Spring Water (4x160g)

£6.00

Buy any 2 FOR £6.00

1x

Ocado Ground Cumin (41g)

81p

Frozen

2x

Essential Waitrose Whole Green Beans (1Kg)

£2.40

4x

Essential Waitrose Broccoli Florets (1Kg)

£4.00

Buy any 2 FOR £2.00

2x

Essential Waitrose Winter Vegetable Mix (1Kg)

£2.00

Buy any 2 FOR £2.00

2x

Essential Waitrose British Chicken Mini Fillets (1Kg)

£13.00

2x

Essential Waitrose Berries (450g)

£4.00

Buy any 2 FOR £4.00

2x

Ocado Frozen Wild Alaskan Pink Salmon Fillets (400g)

£6.00

Buy any 2 FOR £6.00

Dairy & Eggs

1x

Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter (250g)

£1.60

2x

Yeo Valley Organic Whole Milk (2L)

£3.80

2x

Fage Total Authentic Greek Yoghurt (1Kg)

£8.50

4x

Ocado Medium Free Range Eggs (12)

£7.00

3x

Alpro Almond Coconut Milk (1L)

£5.40

Fruit & Vegetables

1x

Essential Waitrose Onions (1Kg)

52p

was 70p

1x

Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients Garlic (3)

89p

1x

Ocado Carrots (1Kg)

59p

1x

Essential Waitrose Fairtrade Bananas (6)

96p

2x

Essential Waitrose Sweet Potato (1.25Kg)

£3.00

1x

Ocado Organic Garlic (4)

£1.20

Packets & Cereals

3x

Essential Waitrose Porridge Oats with Wheatbran (1Kg)

£3.60

1x

Akash Basmati Rice (5Kg)

£8.00

Bakery

1x

Ocado Plain Wraps – Large (8)

89p

Snacks & Sweets

2x

Kallo Corn Cakes (130g)

£2.58

Meat, Fish & Poultry

2x

Ocado Turkey Thigh Mince (500g)

£4.90

3x

Ocado Exclusive Angus Beef Mince – 15% Fat (500g)

£9.00

was £4.00

Prices and special offers reflect those of the online grocery websites, and are correct as of 5 August 2016.

Prices may vary in different in-store locations.

I feel this is a pretty solid attempt at creating a months worth of meals from only £124, the fact that it creates that many meals alone will have health benefits as it will stop students buying big meal deals from fast food chains as they are big and cheap, but they obviously last nutrition.

My main problem with this shopping list is the quality of the meat, obviously this is not a problem if you are vegetarian or vegan you would just substitute this, but for those who eat meat you really want to be sourcing it from organic grass fed sources. Unfortunately this comes with a price tag, but it’s not always as bad as you may think. We actually did a deal with the local organic butchers and our gym which means members get discount and the family run butchers gets business. So it’s always worth talking to local business and trying to do a deal, it’s actually cheaper for us to buy organic meat than in the supermarket now!

Failing that find a family friend who has a whole sale card for somewhere like Makro as you can get 5kg of chicken breast for £20, while not as good as the organic sourced poultry it is better than budget supermarket standards. It’s what you will find in most restaurants.

I would also like better quality or at least more variety in the vegetable department, peppers, kale and things of this nature.

Some things on the list will last longer than one month leaving spare cash next month such as coconut oil and spices, so i’d suggest buying some whey protein from somewhere such as www.awesomesupplemets.co.uk as protein is expensive and this is a easy way to increase your intake if building maximal amounts of muscle is a goal. It’s also very versatile in smoothies or things like protein pancakes.

Here’s our top tips to eat well on a budge

1.Shop Around

Don’t be afraid to go online or shop around the shops to find a good deals, there is always deals to be had!

2. Buy in BULK

Bulk buying saves a lot of money especially when your mates chip in as the more you buy the more you save! Look out for offers when buying multiple things too.

3. Buy Frozen Veg & Berries

Frozen veg and berries are super cheap when compared to non frozen, they are also frozen very fast by the farmers which helps lock in the goodness.

4. Beans beans the magical fruit

High in fiber, protein and they are cheap! Be sure to add these into your basket, they go great in a chilli too.

5. Bargain Hunt

Check the bargain isle for dented cans and damaged products as you will get them much cheaper!

6. Best before dates.

Often items of food get reduced even though they are still good for many days or even weeks, this is because they have a display until date as well as a best before date. We are only concerned with the later.

7. Buy versatile foods

Try to buy food in which you know can be use in many ways, for example greek yoghurt is great by itself with nuts and berries or on protein pancakes but it’s also great as a creamy sauce for pasta or curries.

Try chopping up some onions and tomatoes and adding them to a pan with hot oil, fry with some chicken chunks and add curry spices. Then take the pan off the heat and stir in greek yoghurt, BOOM instant healthy curry.

We hope this blog helps and feel free to leave a comments and head over to our youtube channel to watch our full video https://youtu.be/xg7XH0Rkfts

Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a comment or question.

John Chapman

Join the discussion 12 Comments

  • Matthäus says:

    One question…. why do not worry about glycamic index. Is it not worth it with whole wheat?

    • admin says:

      I just feel it scares people off things like white potato etc, I concentrate more on total daily calories as my goal & total macronutrient goals. Obviously that doesn’t mean i’ll eat lot’s of sweets but I won’t just eat low GI foods.

  • Nik Aarre says:

    Hi, Is there a way of getting notified when you upload to the blog?
    I don’t want to miss anything you guys put out!!

    Love your work!

  • Meg B says:

    This is really amazing for a student!
    I was wondering if you had any suggestions for a female rugby player at University – trying to maintain a diet whilst playing at a top level on a budget is so incredibly difficult, any ideas would be welcomed!

    • admin says:

      Not much will change in terms of budget, however I would certainly look at setting up meals around training to aid performance, i.e carbs for the most part. I’d make calorie intake a big goal as well as with rugby loss of weight may not always be ideal, especially when it comes to taking impacts from tackles.

  • Martin Day says:

    “but they obviously last nutrition.” – should that of been “but they obviously lack nutrition. Great selection for those on a budget.

  • Marloes says:

    Looks like you did not make a very good deal on the last item of the list 😉
    £9.00; was £4.00

    Thanks for the tips! Really helpful in making better choices when grocery shopping.

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