A lot of people are aware that students do not have much money during their time at university, and as someone who receives minimum loan, I have some advice on making low budget meals and how to shop on a budget! When it comes to eating on a budget, I would highly recommend ensuring you have plenty of 'cupboard' food, such as pasta and rice! This way you will always have something in that you can eat even if you eat it plain. Other things I'd recommend having stocked in your cupboard are tins of soup and beans, and cereal or granola to make easy meals. Shopping on a budget is hard especially if you are not used to cooking for yourself yet, so here are some of my must haves when food shopping, and what I do with them. Greek yogurt! It is great for breakfast and having it with granola, and you can also search for many recipes online to see what else you can do with it! I usually purchase 1kg per week from Lidl!! The cover image of this post is an example of my usual breakfast! Meat/protein! This can be expensive and it is usually the most expensive thing in my food shop, but you want to make sure you're eating as well as possible even on a budget! So it's worth spending £5-£10 on proteins to add to meals! Some examples that I purchase are: beef mince, chicken and eggs! All of these are not too expensive and there is a lot you can make with these! Vegetables! These are down to preference but personally I always make sure to buy broccoli and potatoes every week. Broccoli I like to have as a side to my meals. Potatoes are great to have in because there is so much you can do with them, such as making chips, mashed potatoes and one of my personal favourites is jacket potato with cheese and beans! They are very affordable (Less than £2 for a 2kg bag at Lidl) and will definitely keep you fed through the week. Little treats! For me this includes chocolate, ice cream or pastries. These can be expensive however it is important to me to have these in to motivate me. For example, I like to have some ice cream after a long week and it gives me something to look forward to! Anything that you know you eat a lot during the week, such as bread. Personally I don't usually eat bread so I don't buy it, however I do tend to have wraps for lunch, so I'll always purchase wraps. This varies from person to person and sometimes week to week. Some ways I keep my food shop price low: Shopping at Lidl or Aldi Loyalty schemes (e.g. Lidl Plus) Not buying anything branded and opting for the off-brand version I hope this helps those of you worried about budgeting at uni and gives you some ideas! I always recommend searching for recipes online and seeing how you can make them on your specific budget. I have a budget of £20 per week for food shopping and still have meals that are filling, healthy and taste nice! Prior to university, I'd recommend trying to learn how to cook some basic meals so that you are ready to do so at university! Please feel free to ask any questions about budgeting or how to keep food shops low cost!