Rant ****ing banks and overdrafts :@

Ahh, sorry about the wild goose chase with Natwest then - didn't realise/forgot all of the nitty gritty involved.

Good luck anyway!

 

Bloody hell! Think I'm going to have to start that. just realised I have this Sainsbury's gift card my mum got me, has £50 on it, spend that on food if **** really goes south.

No worries, thanks for the help

 

My bank refuses to give me an overdraft for sum reason, but they did give me a credit card with a 16k limit >.>

 

Right, quick food shop:



That'd actually be just over £15, because the tomatoes haven't been reduced in price there.

Onions will last for ages in a dark, dry place. Potatoes - after a week, if they're not used, chip them. Pepper and chilli powder to add flavour to bland foods (will last AGES), rigatoni's an all-purpose pasta (very good with meat), frozen mixed mince for a proper meat dish. Rice and pasta are student staples. Oil for cooking, medium-sliced bread to make it last longer. Chips are another staple, but I'm going to guess freezer space is low, hence not much frozen stuff. Soups are practically snack food.

I learnt from a painful lesson, that it's always sound to spend extra on bog roll.

Get your soft drinks from Netto - their diet coke costs 17p per 2l bottle, diet lemonade 18p per 2l. Both taste identical to any other store brand. 10 bottles of pop for less than 2 quid, and they'll last weeks.

If you're after a few beers, Asda's Biere De Luxe comes in cases of 20 stubby bottles (250ml), tastes like Kronenbourg, and costs £6. Avoid the Belgian one - it's not like Stella at all. It's crap.

 

Time to change bank, methinks.

 

Jaw has just hit the floor. That's damn impressive man! Think I'll make that a weekly shopping list! There's a Lidl on the Uni bus route (which is freeeeee!!), so I can get cheap cola from there, tastes alright as well. More a fruit juice fan though.

 

Don't forget, it's always nice to chop and change. If you could splurge a bit more, you could probably bag some frozen chicken breasts and some Indian/Chinese sauces.

The soft drinks are just there to be consumed as/when - it'll have a best-before date sometime in 2012. Go great with vodka, too! Plus, fruit juice is pricey as a student. Get some cheap concentrated cordial and make up empty bottles with the stuff, then stick it in the fridge. Plus, in the (let's be honest, it's uni) likely event of bringing a laydee back, you've got more to offer her than just *ahem*.

The only reason I went for Napolina tomatoes is the price. For that much, they're SO cheap, and there's plenty of thick juice in the tin. If the store-brand tomatoes are 10p cheaper per tin or more, just grab them - there's not too much difference. Avoid the el-cheapo Basic/Smart-Price/Value ones if you can - you'll find there's about 20p in it compared to the normal in-store brand, and you'll have to sort through them to make sure there's not too many nasty end-bits in them.

Eggs keep fairly well too, though not a fan myself. Fresh fruit and veg is going to be a bit of a luxury till after Christmas, I'd wager, so stick to basic stuff. Little bag of carrots doesn't cost too much if you want to add them in.

Milk goes off quicker than anything else you'll have. Get your calcium from butter, spreads, maybe cheese.

A wok's useful if you can get hold of one. Make sure it's fairly solid, though - doesn't have to be non-stick, but if it flexes a lot, don't bother.

And now, my own 20-minute bolognese (serves 2 really hungry people, 3 normal):

500g mince
Tin tomatoes
2 small onions
Ground (black) pepper
Chilli powder
Oil

1 - Stick pan on medium heat, add small amount of oil.
2 - Dice onions into small pieces, toss in pan.
3 - Add pinch (1/4 teaspoon) of chilli powder, just over 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper.
4 - Once they start browning, add mince, turn heat up to high.
5 - Stir continuously until mince is cooked, add tomatoes, turn back down to medium heat.
6 - Once hot, serve.

If you've got a pan of water boiling alongside that, you can stick your pasta in just before adding the mince, and it should be done around the same time. I've got the recipe down to about 13 minutes with a bit of practice, but I know my way around the kitchen, and I've got a good set of knives. Admittedly, it's a fairly basic recipe, but even using fresh ingredients, doesn't cost more than £3-4 to make, and will probably run you about £1.60 using the ones from that list above. Chuck in some dried herbs if you like - basil, oregano, garlic, etc (supermarkets often do an "Italian Herb Mix"). Freeze what's left over, and it can last you a couple of days.

Oh, and welcome to doing uni properly.

 

Jaw's now on the second floor.

I've got quite a bit of stuff frozen from my first food shop, mince and chicken etc. Got a wok as well, used it once with 3 day out of date noodles, wasn't brillaint.

I'll try the bolognese at one point, I've got a cheese sauce down, which is awesome. I've got more pasta than an Italian restaurant as well, so I'll be fine there! I'll have a stab at some other things as well eventually. Give me the ingredients and I'll make you as many Big Macs as you like, make stuff up on the spot? No hope. May dig out one of the cook books I got given last xmas.

Thanks Will!

 

ARE YOU ****ING ME

Had the exact same convo with Barclays today.

i wanted to extend my £200 overdraft to the full £500 as im coming up short this month and after an hour on the phone she refused to give it to me... even though I have far more than £500 passing through my account each month..

Also, ive learn't, never be honest. When they ask you if you have a savings account elsewhere, for the love of god dont say yes. It makes everything impossible, and seeing as i found out afterwards, if i'd have lied, everything would have been ok.

 

And i dont care how poor I get, my ass deserves Andrex.

 

Bigger rolls, still very soft stuff. Just as good, blah, blah, blah...

 

Gentle pink bathroom tissue? Hmmm...

john

 

I have the opposite with Baclays every time I look they have increased mine, They have just put my CC upto 20k And I keep telling them I dont want it.

 

This is very close to my weekly shop. Except I buy rice in 10kg bags and pasta in 5kg bags. Also I get veggies from the local market(1 bowl of veg-£1, deal). I do tend to buy a lot more meat than that though, and some fish.

 

Think Barclays are doing a nationwide "**** YOU", to students today?

 

right you've got student living all wrong, enough said.

Most uni libraries are open pretty much 24/7 or the very minimum they shut at midnight, no worries there. Its a big fat building housing all the information you could ever need for your course with free access.

YOUR TUITION FEES PAY FOR THE USE AND UPKEEP OF THE LIBRARY, SO USE IT!

The reading list isn't for you to run out to blackwell's/Amazon and blow a load on books, its a reading list, reading being the key word.

2nd, food need not be expensive but you need nutrition, living on chilli or spag bowl will fill you but you'll soon get malnourished, find yourself getting fatigued and sick a lot.

Drinking as a student is a god given right, so if you wish to partake in being a true student make the most of £1 pint nights if possible, not the crap student nights the clubs run as there just wanting to custom.

sensible planning meant I got my week food bill down to £15, allowing £5 a week for £1 pint night. Doesn't sound amazing, but i went to uni to study after all.

WORK HARD, PLAY HARDER

 

In terms of overdrafts I'm with the Royal Bank of Scotland. I started out on the £500 overdraft in first year and have slowly but surely increasing it in small increments over the last 3 and a bit years.

It's now up to £1200 but I might have to move it to £1400 in a few weeks =/

I asked what I could take it up to and they told me since I'm in 4th year now I could have a £2600 overdraft if I wanted to.

I know if I have a £2600 overdraft I'll spend more than I should so I try keep it tight. I've even gone in before and lowered my overdraft once. I think it was from £1000 to £750. The woman behind the counter just looked at me like I was crazy. If I can't spend it I wont spend it, then if I really need it enough to go in and raise the limit I wont have any issues.

 

I had this problem when I was at uni. I was in a small town and there were no jobs at all, all the ones there were seemed to be handed down as students left to their friends, who apparently I didn't know!

Anyway, Barclays refused to up my overdraft when I really needed it. I did'nt want to borrow from my parents as they were in an unusual tough spell too, but I had to in the end. Seems like the banks don't like you to be in your overdraft consistantly! Then again, why would you ask for an extention if you did'nt need it?

To be honest they screwed me over a few times. My rent came out which was £900, and they put a block on my card for 'unreasonable spending'. Even after several phone calls and explanations it took a few months before I got a new card. I had to transfer money to friends accounts online who would then get it out for me, not nice!

But hey, that's what Uni is about! You learn to deal with money and banks and surviving on £10-15 worth of food a week, which can be done easily! Cheap frozen chicken breasts taste fine when you have a sauce over them, and mince-related dishes are great.

Egg fried rice was a staple of mine, we had a rice cooker. scramble some eggs in a pan with some soy sauce and oil, add some cooked rice and stir fry for a bit. A handfull of frozen peas is amazing in it if you have them. Just bung them in frozen, 2 or 3 mins in the pan cooks them fine. Add some more soy sauce if you like and chow down! We used to love a massive pan of this when we came back from a night out and it's cheap as hell too.

We even had a challenge week once.... the 'Special offer aisle end only' challenge. See if you can survive a week on food bought ONLY from the ends of the aisles, where they have all the special offers. Honestly you don't actually save any money, but it's a laugh when you're on your seventh curry of the week purely because the sauce was on BOGOF

And like someone else said..... don't be picky when you're drinking. If it's on special, drink it! Cheap is good. I was never a fan of vodka, but when it was £1 for a vodka and orange, I was all over it like a hooker on cheap blow.

Enjoy!