As prices keep rising for the cost of healthy foods, students need to understand the importance of budgeting and planning food shops whilst on a limited budget.
Budgeting is an essential part of most peoples’ lives as it ensures that you’re not living beyond what you have whilst it also creates a sustainable and better quality of life.
This concept is especially important for students due to the limited loans and high tuition fees in which they face when attending university.
The nightlife culture surrounding universities can often lead to social pressures to go out clubbing or pubbing which limits the amounts of money that they can spend on essentials such as healthy food. The NatWest Student Living Index Survey 2023 showed that UK students spend an average of £31.10 on nights out, whilst UCAS highlight that students were spending an average of £44 on groceries in 2023.
One student said “I have a part time job outside of university to help me pay for everything, as I do go out drinking a lot which just isn’t sustainable without a job because it really reduces the amount I have to spend on things like food”.
HEPI’s 2023 ‘Student Academic Experience Survey’ showed a 10% increase since 2022 in the number of students in paid employment. Which suggests that many students feel as though they need to work in order to combat the cost-of-living crisis.
One initiative that’s helping students cope with the expensive costs of healthy foods is the Newcastle University student led business ‘Thrifty Chef’.
‘Thrifty Chef’ has the aim of providing affordable and healthy meals for their fellow students whilst also reducing food waste.
The business is run by 2nd year Nutrition students Edward Wilkinson and Peter Kendall on Newcastle Universities campus.
It is a meal kit delivery service which gathers fresh food from local businesses and then creates recipes around these foods for students to buy from them and then cook.
The idea for the business stemmed from an assignment set on their Nutrition course which tasked them to target several of the Sustainable Development Goals that could make a change at the University.
Peter and Edward’s group won the project with the idea of Thrifty Chef and the pair of them decided to make the business idea a reality.
Through the help of Newcastle University’s ‘START UP’ scheme, Thrifty Chef were given the required funding to open the business.
Co-founder Edward Wilkinson said “This is an affordable way for students to eat, it’s also healthy and educates them about how to cook”.
“It’s good to build sustainable habits now before they’ve got a family to feed and other costs to consider”.
To further help in their efforts to provide education on food and budgeting for students. ‘Thrifty Chef’ have also hosted cooking masterclasses for students alongside Newcastle Universities ‘Nutritank’ society.
Customer of ‘Thrifty Chef’, Eliška Janská, said “I think it’s an incredible and amazing business idea, because providing something like Hello Fresh to students for 3 pounds for 2 meals is absolutely amazing”.
“Because of the cost-of-living crisis I went vegan so I don’t buy meat because it’s really expensive and I’m lactose intolerant so I can’t have any dairy products. Thrifty chef helped me find that sort of food and provide new recipes for cheap affordable meals”.
The business has also had thoughts of expansion in the future to other university campuses such as Durham and Northumbria, in order to provide their students with the same products that Newcastle University students have been lucky enough to receive.
Dr Helen Mason, a Nutrition and Dietetics lecturer at Newcastle University who has taught both Edward and Peter said that the business is “absolutely brilliant”.
Dr Mason also offered her own advice for how students could limit the costs of their food shops whilst maintaining a healthy diet.
“One really good idea is to work with the other members of your flat to consolidate ingredients, do group shopping and carry out batch baking”.
Sites such as BBC Good Food also provide recipes for healthy and affordable meals which can be used as a valid resource for students/the public who need to eat on a budget.
‘Which?’ conducted a comparison shop in April of the UK’s top supermarkets and showed that Aldi was the least expensive supermarket whilst Waitrose was the most expensive.
However, one Newcastle University student said “I know Aldi’s the cheapest supermarket but the closest one to me is all the way in Gateshead, so its quite a physically demanding trip going all the way there and back to Jesmond on the metro”.
Universities such as Northumbria, Newcastle and Manchester have also got student pantries. Northumbria and Newcastle’s pantries provide financially struggling students with free food, whilst Manchester additionally provides living supplies and hygiene products.
