Along with harmonisation of tax rates, crippling sovereign debt and an easier inter-railing holiday, the E.U and its single currency have given this country some rather delightful, functional and affordable supermarkets. Our nearest neighbour has even chipped in on this front with a magnificent supermarket called Tesco. 800 years of colonisation, infiltration and obstruction in exchange for Tesco; every little helps.

Starting to budget your weekly food allowance can be a natural progression for those who had highlighted and laminated their Leaving Cert study timetables. It’s a chance to use rulers, different coloured pens, even calculators; things one might have long chucked out in the post-Leaving Cert cull that ignites a desire to burn everything you did over the previous two years. 

Even if stationary isn’t your thing, any way of remembering the money you have spent, and the money you will spend, is vital; you can probably even get an app for it. Aldi, Lidl and Tesco are providing quality food at good prices, sometimes even great prices, but then sometimes not always quality food: Fresh chicken and fish in the reduced section of Tesco’s, even within the best before date, should be approached with care.

Monday/Tuesday are good days to shop the reduced section in Tesco if you’re a lover of ready meals, meat and fresh cakes. If it's a quiet weekend trade the 3-4 day shelf life stock is up then. Tesco normally do three price reductions in the day, so in theory the same product can get reduced three times in the same day. 

A good piece of advice when shopping is to make sure to never do it when hungry, because you will always buy more than you need, or want: In such circumstances, the shopping bag can quickly turn into the sick bag. Also, a nice clear shopping list means you will stick to your budget and not waste any time or money.

Along with the supermarkets, local markets are brimming with fresh and healthy produce of meat, fish, fruit and veg. With some old school haggling and conversation, you can find yourself leaving these markets with friends as well as food. In Dublin, you have the Harcourt Street Market every Thursday 10am-4pm at the corner of Harcourt St. and Hatch St. Station Buildings. The Temple Bar Food Market runs every Saturday from 10am-4.30pm; with three different stall locations: Up-town at Cows Lane, Mid-town at East Essex Street and Down-town at Curved Street. 

Also every Saturday from 9.30am-9.30pm is The SuperNatural Food Market, St Andrew’s Resource Centre, Pearse St. The fresher’s stone is the term used to describe the weight put on by freshers as they finally escape mammy’s clutches and realise they can eat as much hot chicken rolls as they want and party every night. Hopefully you will ‘grow’ in all the right ways in college and not just around the waist. But hopefully by living by yourself and cooking for yourself, you can impress mother just enough to let her keep giving you that pocket money.