{"id":9,"date":"2024-05-15T13:37:27","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T12:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/?p=9"},"modified":"2024-05-15T13:37:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T12:37:28","slug":"eating-healthy-on-a-student-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/2024\/05\/15\/eating-healthy-on-a-student-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating healthy on a student budget"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Budgeting is an essential part of most peoples\u2019 lives as it ensures that you\u2019re not living beyond what you have whilst it also creates a sustainable and better quality of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This concept is especially important for students due to the limited loans and high tuition fees in which they face when attending university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> showed that UK students spend an average of \u00a331.10 on nights out, whilst UCAS<\/a> highlight that students were spending an average of \u00a344 on groceries in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One student said \u201cI 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\u2019t sustainable without a job because it really reduces the amount I have to spend on things like food\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEPI\u2019s 2023 \u2018Student Academic Experience Survey\u2019<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0One initiative that\u2019s helping students cope with the expensive costs of healthy foods is the Newcastle University student led business \u2018Thrifty Chef\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Thrifty Chef Logo. Credit: @thriftychefbox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Thrifty Chef\u2019 has the aim of providing affordable and healthy meals for their fellow students whilst also reducing food waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business is run by 2nd<\/sup> year Nutrition students Edward Wilkinson and Peter Kendall on Newcastle Universities campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter and Edward\u2019s group won the project with the idea of Thrifty Chef and the pair of them decided to make the business idea a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the help of Newcastle University\u2019s \u2018START UP\u2019 scheme, Thrifty Chef were given the required funding to open the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-founder Edward Wilkinson said \u201cThis is an affordable way for students to eat, it\u2019s also healthy and educates them about how to cook\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to build sustainable habits now before they\u2019ve got a family to feed and other costs to consider\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To further help in their efforts to provide education on food and budgeting for students. \u2018Thrifty Chef\u2019 have also hosted cooking masterclasses for students alongside Newcastle Universities \u2018Nutritank\u2019 society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer of \u2018Thrifty Chef\u2019, Eli\u0161ka Jansk\u00e1, said \u201cI think it\u2019s an incredible and amazing business idea, because providing something like Hello Fresh to students for 3 pounds for 2 meals is absolutely amazing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of the cost-of-living crisis I went vegan so I don\u2019t buy meat because it\u2019s really expensive and I\u2019m lactose intolerant so I can\u2019t have any dairy products. Thrifty chef helped me find that sort of food and provide new recipes for cheap affordable meals\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Helen Mason, a Nutrition and Dietetics lecturer at Newcastle University who has taught both Edward and Peter said that the business is \u201cabsolutely brilliant\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Mason also offered her own advice for how students could limit the costs of their food shops whilst maintaining a healthy diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne really good idea is to work with the other members of your flat to consolidate ingredients, do group shopping and carry out batch baking\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sites such as BBC Good Food<\/a> 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.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Which?\u2019 conducted a comparison shop in April of the UK\u2019s top supermarkets and showed that Aldi was the least expensive supermarket whilst Waitrose was the most expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, one Newcastle University student said \u201cI know Aldi\u2019s 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\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Universities such as Northumbria, Newcastle and Manchester have also got student pantries. Northumbria and Newcastle\u2019s pantries provide financially struggling students with free food, whilst Manchester additionally provides living supplies and hygiene products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019 lives as it ensures that you\u2019re not living beyond what you have whilst it also creates a sustainable and better … Continue reading “Eating healthy on a student budget”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11773,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11773"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/asymes2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}