Meal Plan for £20 Eat Clean Shopping List

Now that you the shopping list is ready to go, here's what I will be making for the weeks meals:

The difficulty with eating on a budget (particularly only £20) is that there is going to be a lot of repetition of meals, so its about splitting them up throughout the week and being a little inventive.

I have also created the meal plan using JUST what was on the shopping list and nothing else, normally I would usually use a lot of items which I already have in my 'Essential Store Cupboard Items' (post to be written shortly). However, I understand that not all students would have this already and so created this meal plan which would allow them to eat purely on £20 a week.

Please understand that I am not a nutritionist or professional in anyway, I am merely trying to give some Healthy Eating inspiration to those that are wanting it and only able to do it on a budget.

A Little Explanation of The Meal Plan

Porridge- I do overnight oats so that's 1/2 Cup of oats to 1 Cup of Milk in a bowl overnight (speeds the cooking process up in the morning, great for when in a hurry)

Yogurt & Fruit Bowl- This is 1/2 cup of Yogurt and 1/2 cup of frozen berries (defrosted the night before) or make into a smoothie to mix things up

Omelette- This is 2 eggs and a splash of milk 

Salad- Each lunch Salad also includes 1 hard boiled egg and the egg salad on Tuesday is 2

Veg- This works out at just over a 1/4 of a bag each meal 

Sweet Potato- I was a little disappointed with the size of these as normally they are able to be used individually however for 69p I cant complain. Just divide how many you have by 3 for the meals.

So here goes a week of Eating Clean on a £20 budget, I will post at the end of the week how it went :)

Please post any comments below or tweet me @YourMBC 

Remember It's Your Mind, Your Body, Your Choice

£20 Shopping List

Well I did it, I managed to create a Weekly Meal Plan and a Shopping list with ALL ingredients costing just £20.26

All thanks to +AldiUK 

I manged this with a number of different resources and an evening of planning (quite enjoyable as i was watching Magic Mike at the time as-well).

 I chose Aldi as it is my closest supermarket, within walking distance so I don't have to think about transport. Not only saving the pennies but also a good bit of exercise as well.

I was aware of a blog post by @TheKitchenShed which had managed to do a weekly family budget shop for £60 from Aldi 

http://thekitchenshed.co.uk/clean-eating-shopping-list-uk-aldi/

This was really useful as it allowed me to see certain food items that Aldi stocked which are Clean-eating and would allow me to stick to a budget.

I also used a website to check prices of products

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/

Finally, I used AldiUK website to see what their Super 6 fruit and veg and their meat offers for the week.
This is a really great way for you to try lots of different fruits and veg whilst being able to stick to a budget.

So here it is, the shopping list for a weeks meals @ £20

Shopping List

Fresh
Plums £0.69
Apples £0.69
Sweet Potatoes £0.69
Cucumber £0.45
Iceberg Lettuce £0.45
Mixed Peppers £0.89
Chestnut Mushrooms £0.69

Dairy
2 x Yogurt 500ml £0.90
S.Skimmed Milk 4pint £0.95
2x 6pack Eggs £1.78

Meat
British Diced Chicken £1.99
Turkey Steaks £2.59

StoreCupboard
Porridge Oats £0.75
Tinned Tuna in Brine £0.49

Frozen

Tuna Steaks £2.99
2x Vegetable Medley 1kg Bag £1.78
Mixed Berries £1.49



Okay, so it totals £20.26 but i'd say that's near enough!


Have fun shopping and the meal plan will be posted shortly :)

Remember It's Your Mind, Your Body, Your Choice

£20 shopping list - Preperation

Being a student, as you are aware i'm sure, means that i'm on a strict budget. I did a little research and was shocked to see some of the statistics from a recent study looking at how increasing student debt is affecting their lifestyles. 

This study below found that students on average spend £20 a week on food, 74% saying they only cook from scratch for one meal a week.

http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/news/2014-student-lifestyle-survey-shows-how-increased-debt-is-changing-student-attitudes/

This is a scary statistic in my present eyes, but in my past undergraduate eyes i'd say this probably looked surprising but for the opposite reasons. I don't think I even cooked one meal from scratch each week. From my experience this was due to laziness, lack of knowledge and convenience. I'm here now to try and provide other students who need a little helping hand the resources to eat clean and healthy on a budget.

When it comes to eating healthy this can be a challenge in itself, but when it comes to eating clean i'm beginning to realise its more challenging than I had originally thought. However, with a little help from the ever growing Eat Clean online community i'm getting there and actually rather enjoying myself.  

So I have decided to take on the challenge and create a meal plan, shopping list and eat a weeks worth of meals for the student budget of £20.

It's evident that shopping for a week on £20 is not going to be easy, so firstly i'm going to have to do a bit of preparation:

1. Plan my weeks meals.

2. Make a shopping list

3. Go shopping and STICK to the shopping list

4. Make sure I ave enough containers/jars/tubs/foodbags to freeze extra portions.

It's a Sunday evening and Magic Mike is on Channel 4 so this seems like the perfect time to plan my meals for the week and write my shopping list. I will post both of these tomorrow once I have successfully (said with everything crossed) been shopping and purchased my weeks food.

Wish me Luck :)

Remember It's Your Mind, Your Body, Your Choice

Nakd Bar Recipe 25p Each

I have been following an Eat Clean diet since around May 2014, however I have been gradually progressing towards this for the last 4 years. 

This was a subconscious decision to start with as it began with trying to work out what it was that was causing my stomach to give me so much grief on a daily basis. I did so by progressively cutting certain foods out of my diet 

I'm still not sure what the cause of my stomach grief is, however I am enjoying were this has taken my diet and lifestyle. In the pursuit of this I found potentially one of the great loves of my life, Nakd Bars. 

These little bars of heaven are delicious and are classed as Clean in the food world!!!

They can now be found in most of the Free From sections in all leading supermarkets and in many of the health food stores or via their website 

http://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/nakd/

These bars can usually be bought for a reasonable £0.75 a bar, which when you compare to how much most would happily spend on a chocolate bar is money well spent.

As a student I am like the majority living on a very tight budget, and as many will say this does not lend it self easily to eating a healthy diet, let alone eating clean. This has caused me to find cheaper alternatives to foods that I love, which resulted in the following homemade recipe ;)

Cocoa, Vanilla, Date and Cashew Bars

Ingredients

1 Bag of Dates  

1 Bag of Cashew Nuts

1 1/2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1/2 tbsp of Cacao Powder

2 tbsp Vanilla Extract

Makes 18 bars

Method

Put all ingredients into a food processor on high speed for around 5 minutes or until they come together.

In a clingfilm lined tray press the mixture in (i found using my hands instead of a spoon worked best).

Place into the fridge for 30 minutes.

Take out when chilled and cut into bars (or whatever you fancy).

Store in an airtight container in the fridge/freezer.

Unsure of a use by date, I doubt mine will last long enough to worry!

I worked them out to be around 25/30p a bar, but you could make them cheaper by replacing the Cacao powder with Cocoa Powder.

Enjoy :)

Remember its Your Mind, Your Body, Your Choice

Im Going Back To University...As A Mature Student eeeekkk!!!!!!

So, I'm off to University again to study my MSc and it's a daunting thought for so many reasons; but particularly because of the massive changes in my lifestyle since I was an undergraduate!!!

I am going from a full time (well paid) job to being a full time (no pay) student...without my car!!!!

This is possibly the weirdest feeling in the world.

 I am now 25, and haven't been a student for 3 years. I haven't had to budget for food, drinks, clothes, mobile, books and everything else that comes along with the student lifestyle.

Of all the daunting things that comes with going back to university (meeting new people, finding somewhere to live, am I actually still able to write an essay, how do I enroll) one of the thoughts that is at the forefront is 'how will  I afford to continue to eat clean???' 

This is possibly going to be more of a challenge than completing the MSc itself, however I am determined to continue to make the healthy choices I have grown to love.

Back in my Undergraduate days this was definitely NOT a concern, I did not care what I was putting in my body as long as it was something satisfying and easy on the purse strings.

My health definitely showed this.

I've got a few tricks up my sleeve and one of them is this blog, motivation and all that shizzle.

I'll be posting on here and twitter @YourMBC the ways and means I use throughout my time as a Postgraduate Student trying to eat clean, hopefully I can inspire you to do the same.

Remember it's Your Mind, Your Body, Your Choice