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The Uni Food Shop- Advice

Tuesday 3 November 2015
I've now been at university for 8 weeks and can happily admit that I have spent a majority of my time meal planning. I've also witnessed so many friends and flatmates not being as smart with their food due to lack of preparation/advice, or pure laziness. With that in mind I thought I would start this series off with some shopping advice, before we get onto the good stuff- recipes!

Little and often- Fruit and veg can go off pretty quickly if there's only one person eating them so I suggest buying these on an individual basis rather than buying lots once a week. I also love using frozen bits as you don't really need to worry about it going off for a few months rather than days.

Stock up in bulk- Certain bits are good to keep stocked up, for example chopped tomatoes for pasta sauce, rice, pasta and other canned items. This way, there are always staples to form a meal from.

Snack drawer- I really recommend having snacks to hand so that when you get a craving, you won't impulsively buy the entire chocolate supply in your local co-op. I find that by having hot chocolate and crisps in the flat I am more likely to not panic buy and can beat those hormonal feels.

Meal plan- This has to be one of the most important things in my schedule as otherwise I'd simply survive on convenience food and not use leftovers. I write out my meals on a Sunday so that I know what to buy each Monday and can rest easy on days when I don't finish lectures until 6pm... yawn!

Don't shop until you scoff- This one's pretty self explanatory, if you want to save your pennies then eat before doing your food shop! Believe me the difference in mind set will be incredible, and you can always pick up some treats (Tiramisu I'm looking at you).

Reduced sections are your best friend- Now this is a tough one because you don't want to end up buying things which won't be eaten so try and steer towards things which can be incorporated into your current meal plan or frozen. I've got about six steak pies for 25p in my freezer for emergencies!

I hope you found these tips useful and will be back with some recipes soon.