A frugal university student has revealed how she saves money - including making her own oat milk.
Isabella Drake, 22, is in her third year of her business management and marketing degree at Leeds University.
To ease the burden of her university costs - which sees her rake out £9,250-a-year for her course and £650-a-month on her accommodation and bills - Isabella has adopted some money saving hacks.
As well as batch cooking all of her meals to last the week, she shops around for the best prices per item and goes to multiple supermarkets when it comes to doing her grocery shop.
Isabella Drake, 22, is in her third year of her business management and marketing degree at Leeds University.
To ease the burden of her university costs - which sees her rake out £9,250-a-year for her course and £650-a-month on her accommodation and bills - Isabella has adopted some money saving hacks.
As well as batch cooking all of her meals to last the week, she shops around for the best prices per item and goes to multiple supermarkets when it comes to doing her grocery shop.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Ways that I save money when I'm a student and when I'm broke.
00:04 I mean, I don't even just do this when I'm a student because...
00:08 Cost of living crisis.
00:09 Firstly, I don't buy milk. I make my own oat milk.
00:13 I'm not vegan, I don't regularly drink oat milk. I do drink dairy, but...
00:17 Cost of living crisis.
00:19 Secondly, I just don't buy fruit, really.
00:22 Thirdly, I don't really buy bread. I feel like it just goes mouldy.
00:26 Or I do buy bread, but I freeze it straight away.
00:28 Thirdly, I bulk make meals.
00:32 So I make a meal and it'll serve four, but I'll just put three portions in the freezer or the fridge.
00:37 Also on the dairy front, I wouldn't really buy yogurts or anything.
00:40 I do buy butter, but I won't buy spread. I buy real butter.
00:46 You can also make your own butter if you buy cream, but I think they're the same price.
00:50 Also, I buy frozen vegetables instead of fresh ones.
00:53 Because peppers and stuff to put in meals bulk it out.
00:57 Ways that I save money when I'm at uni, part two.
01:00 Last one was kind of food, this is more general stuff.
01:04 Firstly, if you're one to travel home a lot or in a long distance relationship, this is a really good tip.
01:09 Book your train three months in advance.
01:11 I know it's hard to plan that in advance, but I booked my train for September to go back to uni in July, and it was only £10.
01:19 And that's from London to Leeds, so it's definitely worth it, because normally it's like £40-50.
01:23 Second tip is looking out for free stuff at your university union.
01:26 My first year, me and my housemates all got free plants.
01:29 So just look out on their website for stuff that's coming up, because they love to give out free stuff.
01:33 This one's kind of obvious, but just pre-at-home, use vodka and squash, that kind of thing.
01:37 Because pre-ing out actually costs you so much more money.
01:41 This is such a cheap thing that I sometimes do.
01:43 I bring tea bags with me to the library and stuff, and then get them to just give me a cup with hot water to save money on tea.
01:50 Making tortilla chips out of tortillas that are leftover.
01:53 Having an air fryer saves so much electricity.
01:56 This video did so well, and I'm so surprised, because I just thought these things were quite common-sensey.
02:01 But then I also thought, maybe people don't think of these things.
02:04 Meals that I make for this kind of thing is things like shepherd's pie, chilli con carne, spaghetti bolognese, curries.
02:10 Another way I save money is buying a whole chicken instead of little bits of chicken.
02:14 I cook the whole chicken, and then I use the rest of the chicken for different meals, like curries.
02:19 My favourite kind of chicken is to buy spatchcock chickens, because they cook in under an hour, and they're normally already seasoned.
02:25 And they're like £4-7.
02:27 I'm trying to think of meals I also make.
02:29 Pastitsio, which is like a Greek dish, but it's like pasta, kind of like lasagna.
02:34 You could make lasagna.
02:35 If you like fish, I guess you could make fish pie, but I don't like fish.
02:38 One meal I liked to make last year was birria tacos, because it is kind of more pricey, but you can, like, the meat can go a long way.
02:46 You can put it in jacket potatoes and stuff.
02:48 And jacket potatoes is also a really good meal if you're poor, because you literally just make, like, baked potato, add a filling.
02:54 It's great.