Students can eat healthy too: Bananas and almonds.

A cheap, healthy and tasty snack which has become my saviour over the last few weeks. Not only does it release energy gradually throughout the day, but it's super healthy and you can mix it up with some other ingredients.

 

It's a gluten-free meal, so for me this is perfect and so quick to make as well for when I need a short break from my studies.

 

 

You can always add other ingredients, for example dried fruit or for the days where I feel like I need a sweet pick-me-up, I drizzle some natural honey over with some natural yoghurt and ground cinnamon.

 

Whilst the initial cost of things like cinnamon and natural honey may seem a bit steep, they're cupboard ingredients which do last quite a long time. A medium pot of natural yoghurt only costs on average 65p depending where you shop. I always buy mine from Tesco as they have a medium pot which only costs me 50p, and I tend to get 3/4 servings from it.

 

If you don't like the taste of natural yoghurt or if you find it a bit hard to get used to like I did, then adding things like cinnamon really does help. Cinnamon is nice and festive too, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on any of the Christmas fun!

 

 

My shopping list

Natural Honey:

Rowse Natural Blossom Honey, 340g from Sainsburys, £2.59.

I use this because it's a squeeze-bottle, which means I have less mess in my cupboard and it's easy to take with you if you want to take this to work/lectures.

 

Almonds:

You can buy most dried fruit and nuts from local markets really cheap. I usually buy mine from the Birmingham Indoor markets and I normally end up with a big bag for a couple of pounds. However, out of all the large supermarkets I find Sainsbury's again are best. Flaked Almonds are best as they're not so chunky.

 

Natural Yoghurt:

I live quite far away from major supermarkets, and so I buy my natural yoghurt from a Tesco Express just around the corner. It costs 45p for a medium pot, and as I said earlier I normally end up with a few servings.

 

Bananas:

I love it when my bananas are a bit softer with the black spotted skin because they taste best, and so I always buy my bananas from the Birmingham Indoor Market. Even in supermarkets, you can buy a bunch for £1, so they're very cheap and student-budget friendly!

 

If you don't want to eat bananas, you can always try apples or just mixed fruit with almonds with natural yoghurt. If at the end of the week you find yourself with fruit leftover, then you could always make a fruit salad or even freeze them. I always freeze grapes and pop them into my drinks - lemons, apples, grapes etc. are all brilliant for this!

 

Next week: Sweet potato curry with brown rice.

 

I will eventually be transferring all of these tips to a new blog, but for now I will be posting them here just so I can get a feel for what works and doesn't work.

 

Also, if you have any recommendations or some ideas, let me know and I can always test them out for you :)