Starting school away from home brings many challenges, but perhaps the most difficult is cooking for yourself and managing saving money on food so that you don’t waste it on products that end up damaged in the pantry or fridge.
Moreover, the problem can be compounded when we live so busy that we don’t have time to do a good market or spend in restaurants and food shops. Because we know what this can mean, here are some tips on how you can save money when you live alone and study.
Calculate what you have and what you plan to eat
Let’s start by talking about the budget you have for your meals, because before you think about saving money, you need to plan your expenses.
Set a limit on how much you can afford to spend on food in a week or two, according to your income and the time you have available for shopping, and even plan a small portion for ordering out or eating out, but don’t go beyond your means.
In addition to that, make a list of the groceries you will actually use. Trying to buy things that you can use for several recipes without wasting food. You don’t need a lot of time for this. You can do it while waiting for your transport or while having a coffee, the important thing is to know what you need and how much you have for it.
Become a friend of frozen food
You probably already know that if you freeze your food, it is more likely to last longer. However, it’s not just about storing what’s left over. The trick is to portion your food into portions that you are going to use, such as chopped vegetables or pieces of meat.
When you are going to cook one of these portions, it will defrost faster and you won’t have to take large quantities out of the fridge that you are not going to use. Now, you don’t need to freeze everything, only those foods that you know you won’t use soon and that could be damaged if kept at their natural temperature.
By doing this, you can save money and also a lot of time. As you will prevent many of your meals from expiring before you can make the most of them.
Take advantage of shop discounts
Fortunately, in Spain there are several well-known food shops, such as Carrefour, Mercadona, Grupo Eroski or Auchan Retail that not only offer good food products, but also have offers and discounts on them, which can be well used to save on food.
In addition to this, there are some foods that, due to the season, can be found cheaper. We are talking about some fruit and vegetables which, due to their greater supply at certain times of the year, tend to fall in price. You can plan your recipes accordingly to take advantage of these sales while you eat the best possible food.
Don’t buy what you won’t eat
Sometimes, even if you plan well, you can make the mistake of buying things you don’t need. A useful tip is to keep your shopping bill visible and mark what you have consumed. So that you know which foods you really used and which were an unnecessary expense.
Obviously, those foods that have ended up in the trash should be removed from your list for the next purchase or at least buy them in smaller quantities to save some money or use it to buy other groceries.
Share!
Finally, a useful tip for saving money while enjoying new experiences is to share meals. This means that you can organise meals with your fellow students, where you each bring something different and share a portion for each of you. In the end you will end up eating something substantial without spending too much money.
As these experiences take hold, you will have a different feast every week.
As you can see, there are some tips you can take into account to avoid spending so much money on your meals when you live alone, making the most of your food. Also, don’t forget that there is a diversity of simple recipes that can be prepared and that there are foods that can be very versatile. So you can use the same product for several preparations.
Finally, saving money doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat healthily, so keep your portions up to date with your dietary requirements. Which is important if you are studying and putting a lot of energy into something.
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