A THIRFTY student has revealed how she's slashed her food bill to just £5 a month and still gets to enjoy fancy meals.
After starting university, Daisy Berrington had to keep to a tight budget, but managed to keep costs low thanks to her neighbours.
The 19-year-old gets to dine on fancy meals like asparagus bake and cream cheese tagliatelle with fresh herbs and wine, which are all leftovers from her neighbours.
She downloaded an app called Olio, where people list food items they are thinking of throwing away for others in the community to collect for free.
Daisy said: "I've managed to get my shopping down to as little as £5 a month.
"I've found that, combined with the things already in my cupboard and other things I'd collected, that it is more than enough to live off.
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"Now I only really buy the stuff that doesn't come up on the app as much, like eggs, yoghurts or ketchup."
The savvy student explained how the app works, she said: "You just sign up and food and non-food items will be listed near you.
"If you see anything you like, you just send a message to the person offering it in the app saying, 'Can I have this please?' and then they give you a date and time to pick the items up.
"I then cycle over to their house and collect the items. I say thank you, and that's it. It's as simple as that."
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Since using the app, Daisy has got her hands on "lots and lots of food"including Greggs vegan sausage rolls, pineapples and vegetables.
She said: "There's such a wide variety of food so every day is a surprise, really. If there's anything remotely expensive, I think it's so nice of people to list it on the app.
"I've even got more expensive fruit like cherries, as well as gluten-free items, pancakes and good cuts of meat.
"I think I definitely eat better than most students since using Olio – I get a lot of vegetables off there so I'm never short of things like that."
It's always a surprise to find what the app has to offer, with every day being different Daisy has even be able to try new dishes.
"It's challenged me to use ingredients that I wouldn't usually buy. I made an asparagus bake yesterday, and I made a creamy vegetable shortcrust pie earlier in the year, which I've never done before."
Daisy bags essential ingredients Olio, too, saying: "I can always get pasta and veg which are always good to cook with.
"There's always bread on there too, so I cook a lot with that, like homemade garlic bread."
But it's not just food she's picked up through the app, since people also give away clothes, toiletries and other items like dish-drying rack she uses in the flat she shares with seven others.
Daisy said: "There's really everything you can imagine there.
"Olio fills me with a bit of hope knowing that it will minimise food waste and save water – it's quite reassuring," Daisy said.
"By saving food, you also save the water that was used to grow and process that food."
After she had been using the app for three months, Daisy decided to become a 'food waste hero' for Olio, where she works with a Tesco in Manchester and collects any wasted food at the end of the day.
She said: "It's usually at about 9pm, and they give me everything that is going out of date.
"I get to keep up to 10 per cent and choose what I need, which is great.
"I then list the rest on the app and people will request it and they'll pick it up."
Collecting food waste around Manchester four times a week has also led the university student to meet new people in her neighbourhood.
She said: "I've been able to meet people in the community and have some really interesting conversations.
"This one lady is quite old and gets the bus to come to see me and she's always so sweet. I walk her back to the bus stop and she always has some amazing stories to tell.
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"Another lady even kept some of my stuff in her garage over the summer when I had to move out of my student halls, and when I collect it this week we're going to have some tea and cake together to catch up.
"It's so nice to meet people that you wouldn't have normally met."
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