Before you call me a liar for spending only £1.2k on food and struggle to think how to limit your groceries spending, have you considered: Â
* Buying off-brand? Â
* Buying in bulk and meal prepping? Â
* Shopping at cheaper stores (Aldi, Lidl)? Â
* Taking advantage of deals and price reductions? Â
* Taking advantage of cashback offers (e.g. Nectar)?Â
* Going for cheaper alternatives (e.g. £2 vegetable oil over £8 olive oil)? Â
* Wasting less food? Â
If you answered yes to all of the above and still remain unconvinced, below is an example self-contained weekly grocery shop that you might see me doing. Hopefully, it may be also useful as an inspiration to those that struggle to further reduce their grocery bills. I have omitted the cost of most condiments and spices, as those usually last many months for me. I’ve included calorie count as well as current [tesco.com](http://tesco.com/) prices:Â
For a total cost of **£25.08** for the week and total calories count of **21160 kcal**, or over **3000 kcal per day**, comfortably in excess of the recommended dose of 2500 kcal for a single adult male of my age, so you will end up with leftover food. Cooking oil in particular lasts me multiple weeks and skews the calories count above; I would buy other foods in other weeks instead. Please let me know if there are any mistakes in the above and I will try to correct them. Needless to say, last year’s prices were generally lower, as are the prices at cheaper stores such as Lidl where I shop regularly (if memory serves me right, you can get e.g. 200g of Alesto pistachios for £1.99 at Lidl, effectively 33% cheaper than Tesco). I was also living at my parent’s place for over a month last year where I hardly bought any groceries.
Below are also some example basic meal ideas from the above ingredients:Â
* CurryÂ
* StewÂ
* Tomato pasta with chickpeas and basilÂ
* Rice and beansÂ
* Egg-fried rice with vegetablesÂ
* Potatoes with chicken filletsÂ
* Pan-fried potatoes and beansÂ
* Bruschetta (but use olive oil instead)Â
* Pasta/potatoes with spinachÂ
* Vegan chickpea and potato casseroleÂ
* Peppers and eggsÂ
The above meals are easy and quick to prepare, and highly-flexible (curries, stews, casseroles and all other rice, potato, and pasta dishes can be combined with almost anything), perfect for a student. Having grown up rather poor, this is more than enough food variety for me, so I can totally imagine repeating the above grocery shop multiple times with little deviation each time. Obviously, if you desire more variety in your diet or are very active and require more calories, it would be difficult to stay within a ~£1k budget.Â
PS: If you have ideas how I can spend more money to improve my productivity, I would really like to read them as I have credit card spending bonuses to hit.
You spend more on an iPhone than on food. You spend ~20% of your total annual savings on a phone.
You…. Spent £10 eating out *all year*? And paid £4.50 a month for your phone plan?
I find it hard to believe you have eaten out once all year.
As a doctoral student in Boston in the last half of the 80’s and early 90’s., I’m laughing at anyone that has ‘savings’. I managed to keep a few hundred dollars in my bank account ‘for emergencies’ the entire time and that was without really spending money on vacations or anything. Didn’t really leave the city much unless my parents sprung me out at Christmas or something.
Wondering what the £8.65 misc was?
Jesus, it was not long ago I was paying what you pay for a flat share for a small 1 bed of my own in a nice but not super central area. Also I guess you can buy some nice stuff when one of the biggest chunks isn’t “Pints”
This is insane… like well done, but how are you spending so little on food? That’s almost my monthly food budget you’re eating annually!
I mean I do have a wife and son to feed, but still! Incredibly frugal – what’s your diet like? Teach me your ways!
Absolutely wild budget and prioritization. I could not imagine spending more on a phone than on food for a year. But congrats if it works for you.
You spend less than $3.75 a month in your launderette? Do you also have a machine in your flat?
The average instant access savings rate in the UK is 2.59%, so you have about $51K savings.
Being able to contribute to savings on a PhD stipend is insane but it seems you are doing well all things considered
Stop saving and go partying.
Seriously.
You are in your 20s only once and you will make at least 5 times more in your 30s if you got enough self discipline and intellect to do a PhD.
Does your rent include council tax/bills?
How do you get that much savings interest on only 4.5k?
Well tracked and visualised data.
I was curious about what do you do for entertainment?
The meal prep is amazing and respect for the discipline of not eating out ever. I lived off 12k a year including rent but it was 2018 and it was in Aberdeen. But my lifestyle was basically yours but instead of buying an Iphone I drank a lot of beer 🤣
As a PhD student, I guess you don’t have to pay your student loan back yet (assuming you have one)? £21k (tax and NI free) stipend is pretty good, works out about £30k equivalent gross salary. But London…
the same PhD in Scotland would be around £1600-1900 I would imagine. still not great though considering where you are.
I’m sorry what was your annual spend on groceries?
10 pounds eating out and 140 on clothing and no drinking.
Do you ever leave the house?
Congrats on being the only person in London to save anything on a 22k income though.
OP this is fantastic. But do you really need to save that much money in your PHD? Is not this level of frugality detrimental of successfully completing your PHD to a high standard and doing well in the job market afterward.
Because for me, this would have a large mental health toll. Obviously the PHD stipend is fuck all – but I assume your earning potential (give you have solid savings from a previous job) is increasing post-PHD because of the PHD (and just a vibe from how well thought out this all is).
Also, your travel expenses seems insanely low – do you never leave the university? You are clearly walking there from your flatshare.
I find it crazy to spend 1/6 of your food bill on a barber every year. You seem to be immune to trying to save money in that realm? Surely you could make that £50 or even nothing by cutting your own hair.
What do you do your PHD work on? Use the PC’s at the university or are writing thesis on your iphone? 😛
180 for TFL is what I spend in a month. How do you do that?
I’d save the £1200 and get a used phone instead with that kind of budget. Cheap 5GB sim card plan I’d be good.
You must have a shitload of savings
May this type of ‘saving’ never find me
Can’t believe the number of people in these comments trying to say someone who managed to save 4 and a half grand as a PhD student in London is being irresponsible with their money.
Well done! Gives me inspiration. Hope to do my Law PhD in a few years. Want to build up savings and get more work experience first though!
Wow, interesting. When I did my PhD, back in the late 1980s, the beer budget was significant. However, no iPhone costs, little to no health costs, etc, so plenty there to play with. Mind you, I should have gone to the dentist as my teeth resemble those of a horse that’s been given sugar every day of its life. Heck, no one would buy me at a horse fair once they opened my mouth up.
Glassesdirect or another online supplier will reduce your spend on glasses
I’m so impressed by you. I did my PhD in Paris on a similar stipend amount, and felt like I had no mental space at the end of the day l to budget and save. I thought I was doing good if I could save 50€ a month.
1.300 in interest in savings? How?!?
Those Amazon gift cards putting in work.
how much savings do you have to get 1300 in interest. Did you have a job before starting?
100 pounds a month for groceries is ridiculous, it’s not like you eat out either… what do you eat on a daily basis?
As a PhD student in the US, I have a similar budget too. We are paid way too less for the amount of work we put in.
Didn’t you already post this?
Is this a typical London based uni stipend? Been looking at applying to several PhD programs in the UK most in the London area
Get your glasses on zenni or another low cost online brand next time. Will save you roughly £300
200 ,quid for the barber… I’m confused
Internet people are whining about how hard it is to live on $200,000 per year. Meanwhile, you’re thriving on maybe 15% of that *in London*. Impressive.
didn’t you post this like, a month ago? why the repost?
TFL, 180$/year?
How come, even for students it’s around 120£ a month
42 comments
Before you call me a liar for spending only £1.2k on food and struggle to think how to limit your groceries spending, have you considered: Â
* Buying off-brand? Â
* Buying in bulk and meal prepping? Â
* Shopping at cheaper stores (Aldi, Lidl)? Â
* Taking advantage of deals and price reductions? Â
* Taking advantage of cashback offers (e.g. Nectar)?Â
* Going for cheaper alternatives (e.g. £2 vegetable oil over £8 olive oil)? Â
* Wasting less food? Â
If you answered yes to all of the above and still remain unconvinced, below is an example self-contained weekly grocery shop that you might see me doing. Hopefully, it may be also useful as an inspiration to those that struggle to further reduce their grocery bills. I have omitted the cost of most condiments and spices, as those usually last many months for me. I’ve included calorie count as well as current [tesco.com](http://tesco.com/) prices:Â
|| || |Item|Quantity|Calories (kcal)|Price (£)| |Fresh broccoli|375g|130|0.82| |Fresh baby spinach|250g|60|1.15| |Fresh bell peppers|3x|130|1.79| |Fresh brown onions|1kg|400|0.99| |Garlic|1 large|120|0.55| |Fresh basil|30g|0|0.52| |Frozen mixed vegetables|1kg|600|0.99| |Pure apple juice|1L|450|0.99| |Baby potatoes|1kg|800|1.2| |Wholegrain pasta|500g|1750|0.75| |White rice|1kg|1400|1.25| |Wholewheat bread|400g|1060|0.99| |Baguette||650|0.99| |Vegetable oil|1L|8800|1.99| |Can of chickpeas|1 can|280|0.49| |Cans of beans|4 cans|1600|1.5| |Tomato puree|200g|200|0.65| |Chicken breast|300g|670|2.25| |Tinned sardines|120g|200|0.47| |Sweet yoghurt|750g|540|0.85| |Eggs|6 eggs|420|1.65| |Pistachios|150g|900|2.25|
(Reddit doesn’t let me format a table)
For a total cost of **£25.08** for the week and total calories count of **21160 kcal**, or over **3000 kcal per day**, comfortably in excess of the recommended dose of 2500 kcal for a single adult male of my age, so you will end up with leftover food. Cooking oil in particular lasts me multiple weeks and skews the calories count above; I would buy other foods in other weeks instead. Please let me know if there are any mistakes in the above and I will try to correct them. Needless to say, last year’s prices were generally lower, as are the prices at cheaper stores such as Lidl where I shop regularly (if memory serves me right, you can get e.g. 200g of Alesto pistachios for £1.99 at Lidl, effectively 33% cheaper than Tesco). I was also living at my parent’s place for over a month last year where I hardly bought any groceries.
Below are also some example basic meal ideas from the above ingredients:Â
* CurryÂ
* StewÂ
* Tomato pasta with chickpeas and basilÂ
* Rice and beansÂ
* Egg-fried rice with vegetablesÂ
* Potatoes with chicken filletsÂ
* Pan-fried potatoes and beansÂ
* Bruschetta (but use olive oil instead)Â
* Pasta/potatoes with spinachÂ
* Vegan chickpea and potato casseroleÂ
* Peppers and eggsÂ
The above meals are easy and quick to prepare, and highly-flexible (curries, stews, casseroles and all other rice, potato, and pasta dishes can be combined with almost anything), perfect for a student. Having grown up rather poor, this is more than enough food variety for me, so I can totally imagine repeating the above grocery shop multiple times with little deviation each time. Obviously, if you desire more variety in your diet or are very active and require more calories, it would be difficult to stay within a ~£1k budget.Â
Tools used: excel and [sankeymatic.com](http://sankeymatic.com)
PS: If you have ideas how I can spend more money to improve my productivity, I would really like to read them as I have credit card spending bonuses to hit.
You spend more on an iPhone than on food. You spend ~20% of your total annual savings on a phone.
You…. Spent £10 eating out *all year*? And paid £4.50 a month for your phone plan?
I find it hard to believe you have eaten out once all year.
As a doctoral student in Boston in the last half of the 80’s and early 90’s., I’m laughing at anyone that has ‘savings’. I managed to keep a few hundred dollars in my bank account ‘for emergencies’ the entire time and that was without really spending money on vacations or anything. Didn’t really leave the city much unless my parents sprung me out at Christmas or something.
Wondering what the £8.65 misc was?
Jesus, it was not long ago I was paying what you pay for a flat share for a small 1 bed of my own in a nice but not super central area. Also I guess you can buy some nice stuff when one of the biggest chunks isn’t “Pints”
This is insane… like well done, but how are you spending so little on food? That’s almost my monthly food budget you’re eating annually!
I mean I do have a wife and son to feed, but still! Incredibly frugal – what’s your diet like? Teach me your ways!
Absolutely wild budget and prioritization. I could not imagine spending more on a phone than on food for a year. But congrats if it works for you.
You spend less than $3.75 a month in your launderette? Do you also have a machine in your flat?
The average instant access savings rate in the UK is 2.59%, so you have about $51K savings.
Being able to contribute to savings on a PhD stipend is insane but it seems you are doing well all things considered
Stop saving and go partying.
Seriously.
You are in your 20s only once and you will make at least 5 times more in your 30s if you got enough self discipline and intellect to do a PhD.
Does your rent include council tax/bills?
How do you get that much savings interest on only 4.5k?
Well tracked and visualised data.
I was curious about what do you do for entertainment?
The meal prep is amazing and respect for the discipline of not eating out ever. I lived off 12k a year including rent but it was 2018 and it was in Aberdeen. But my lifestyle was basically yours but instead of buying an Iphone I drank a lot of beer 🤣
As a PhD student, I guess you don’t have to pay your student loan back yet (assuming you have one)? £21k (tax and NI free) stipend is pretty good, works out about £30k equivalent gross salary. But London…
the same PhD in Scotland would be around £1600-1900 I would imagine. still not great though considering where you are.
I’m sorry what was your annual spend on groceries?
10 pounds eating out and 140 on clothing and no drinking.
Do you ever leave the house?
Congrats on being the only person in London to save anything on a 22k income though.
OP this is fantastic. But do you really need to save that much money in your PHD? Is not this level of frugality detrimental of successfully completing your PHD to a high standard and doing well in the job market afterward.
Because for me, this would have a large mental health toll. Obviously the PHD stipend is fuck all – but I assume your earning potential (give you have solid savings from a previous job) is increasing post-PHD because of the PHD (and just a vibe from how well thought out this all is).
Also, your travel expenses seems insanely low – do you never leave the university? You are clearly walking there from your flatshare.
I find it crazy to spend 1/6 of your food bill on a barber every year. You seem to be immune to trying to save money in that realm? Surely you could make that £50 or even nothing by cutting your own hair.
What do you do your PHD work on? Use the PC’s at the university or are writing thesis on your iphone? 😛
180 for TFL is what I spend in a month. How do you do that?
I’d save the £1200 and get a used phone instead with that kind of budget. Cheap 5GB sim card plan I’d be good.
You must have a shitload of savings
May this type of ‘saving’ never find me
Can’t believe the number of people in these comments trying to say someone who managed to save 4 and a half grand as a PhD student in London is being irresponsible with their money.
Well done! Gives me inspiration. Hope to do my Law PhD in a few years. Want to build up savings and get more work experience first though!
Wow, interesting. When I did my PhD, back in the late 1980s, the beer budget was significant. However, no iPhone costs, little to no health costs, etc, so plenty there to play with. Mind you, I should have gone to the dentist as my teeth resemble those of a horse that’s been given sugar every day of its life. Heck, no one would buy me at a horse fair once they opened my mouth up.
Glassesdirect or another online supplier will reduce your spend on glasses
I’m so impressed by you. I did my PhD in Paris on a similar stipend amount, and felt like I had no mental space at the end of the day l to budget and save. I thought I was doing good if I could save 50€ a month.
1.300 in interest in savings? How?!?
Those Amazon gift cards putting in work.
how much savings do you have to get 1300 in interest. Did you have a job before starting?
100 pounds a month for groceries is ridiculous, it’s not like you eat out either… what do you eat on a daily basis?
As a PhD student in the US, I have a similar budget too. We are paid way too less for the amount of work we put in.
Didn’t you already post this?
Is this a typical London based uni stipend? Been looking at applying to several PhD programs in the UK most in the London area
Get your glasses on zenni or another low cost online brand next time. Will save you roughly £300
200 ,quid for the barber… I’m confused
Internet people are whining about how hard it is to live on $200,000 per year. Meanwhile, you’re thriving on maybe 15% of that *in London*. Impressive.
didn’t you post this like, a month ago? why the repost?
TFL, 180$/year?
How come, even for students it’s around 120£ a month
Comments are closed.