University students will know the difficulties that come with learning to budget and eat healthy meals while they are away studying at university.
Luckily, one savvy paramedic student has shared how she manages to cook up nutritious well-balanced meals for her and her flatmates for as little as just 68p a portion. Alisha Hynes, who studies at the University of Cumbria in Lancaster, has been combatting the cost of living crisis by dishing up healthy meals with the help of a £59 value hamper from MuscleFood.com.
The online food retailer began selling budget-friendly food hampers from £45 and £59 in a bid to help cash-strapped customers who were worried about soaring food costs.
The 19-year-old, who has been cooking since the age of 10, says that she also shops around the discount retailers and world food aisles for other budget ingredients that help her stretch her student budget.
She says: "Living on a student budget is tough but you can make the cash stretch further if you think about what you want to eat and shop around to find the cheapest ingredients.
The thrifty paramedic says that she batch cooks her meals to help share with her flatmates, and to eat-on-the-go during her 12 hour placement shifts.
"I’ve been cooking for years and am really into fitness so balanced, healthy meals are important to me. I began cooking for me and my housemates last year and they loved it. I’d batch cook meals, store them in containers in the fridge and people would help themselves. It meant we had healthy food to eat every evening and something to take into Uni too", she added.
Alisha says that her sausage pasta bake works out at just 78p a portion, while her well-balanced tandoori thighs, rice & green beans is only 68p. She also says that family-favourites such as Chilli Con Carne work out at £1.21 per portion, Hunters Chicken & Homemade Chips is £1.91 a portion, while Pork Black Bean Noodle Stir Fry works out as 81p each.
Alisha continued: “Fitness is an important part of my life and that combined with my full on course, means eating nutritionally balanced meals gives me energy and keeps me mentally alert.
“As part of the course I do four week blocks of 12 hour shifts with paramedic teams. I love the shifts but there’s barely time to eat so taking food with me means I always have something balanced to enjoy. I see other people grab takeaways on night shifts which can leave them feeling sluggish and drowsy.
“Eating on a budget is really important for everyone, not just students and making sure those meals are nutritionally balanced means you’ll have more energy and feel better too.
To help other students, and anyone struggling to eat well on a budget, Alisha has put together a few tips that can help you stretch your pennies that bit further.
Alisha's top tips for budget student cooking
- Buy in bulk - essentials like pasta, rice and chicken can all be bought in bulk which helps keep costs down.
- Meal plan - plan your meals ahead of time so you always have something healthy to eat. Each needs to include a protein like chicken or lean meat, a carb, so rice, pasta or potato, a fat which could be the oil you cook in or avocado and a micronutrient which is your veg or salad.
- Write down a list of the foods you like and incorporate them into your meal plan. You’ll then be eating foods you know you enjoy.
- Batch cook - cook lots of extra portions of each meal, store in plastic tubs and freeze or keep in your fridge. That way, you have meals to take to uni or on a shift and something tasty to eat when you get home.
- Check out discount retailers and world food aisles. You’ll find lots of budget ingredients you can use.
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