fighting fit: eating healthy on a student budget

If you’ve been raised on high quality cooking from the Michelin-star kitchen of mum and dad, the idea of going out into the world (and supermarket) on your own might be a scary one. With a little bit of planning and some help from your pals at Push, it really doesn’t have to be.​

The diet of a student or young person living away from home doesn't need to be all about takeaways and meal deals. For one, that’s pretty damn expensive on the regular, even with student discount and Two for Tuesdays. It’s also not too kind on your insides.

There are some great healthy living life hacks to stay fit and well-fed on a student budget, and it doesn’t involve getting the train home every weekend for a roast and a week’s worth of frozen meals.

Try…

1. Buying long-lasting products in bulk for big discounts. This can be all sorts of things, from big bags of rice, pasta, lentils, oats, to giant tubs of almond or peanut butter and dried fruit to satisfy those late night study session cravings.
2. It might seem painful to part with more cash upfront, but trust us, it’ll save you loads in the long run and you’ll never worry about empty cupboards.
3. Looking out for sales in health food stores. These are great places to buy healthy snacks, supplements, nuts, fruit and sweet treats. They can be expensive on a regular basis, but some places do frequent BOGOF or buy one, get one for a penny sales that can save you buckets. Scoping out local fruit and veg markets rather than heading straight for your local supermarket. These are great places for freshly picked bargains - think produce that would put Asda’s to shame at a fraction of the price.
4. If you shop in supermarkets, heading there in the evenings. This is when all the fresh food is reduced down to crazy prices to shift it before it goes off.
5. It’s a great time to buy things like packets of stir fry vegetables, mixed salad bags and prepared fruit that would normally cost you an arm and a leg.
6. Buying frozen. Think good stuff like veggies and berries, which you’ll get not only at a great price but that will last you ages. No more being forced to eat blueberries on everything because they went off five days ago and you can’t bear to let them go to waste when they cost £4.
7. An extra bonus for this one is that frozen veg often comes chopped or sliced, meaning less prep time and less waste.
8. Investing in (or borrowing) freezable Tupperware for batch cooking. Yep, we’re talking budget-friendly meal prep.
9. Lots of simple, student friendly meals are really easy to double or triple up on, meaning you cook enough for a week’s worth of meals and stick individual portions in the freezer for when you can’t be bothered to cook/haven’t been shopping/are running low on food cash.

This way of cooking is so much cheaper than buying and cooking for a single meal, and will save you loads of time, too.
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Author

LUCY HARDING is the Editorial manager for Push. She is an English Literature grad and an MA Publishing student at UCL. She is passionate about international relations and cultural diversity, having worked closely with her university’s Erasmus society to support European students. She also spent a year abroad studying at California State University: Long Beach

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