£5 dinners | Spiced pumpkin soup

We have started a new series of posts on Instagram called £5 Dinners where we will be sharing some of our favourite budget friendly meals. Follow us @savingscotts to keep updated with the series.
We have also decided to post all the recipes on here and there is now an easy to use tab on the navigation bar just for £5 dinners. So you can find all your favourite, easy to cook, low cost dinners in one place. 
Plus save money on your food shop using approved discount gift cards with Zeek. 

This weeks recipe is the perfect way to use up left over pumpkins after halloween and is vegetarian, vegan and dairy free friendly. It is the perfect winter warmer and is less than £3 for 4 portions. It is best served with fresh bread to dip into the soup. It can be made in batches, frozen and reheated when required. 

• 1kg of pumpkin- peeled and cubed (50p)
• 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (20p)
• 1 onion chopped (10p)
• 2 cm of fresh root ginger- peeled and finely chopped (10p)
• 4 tsp red thai curry paste (50p)
• 450 ml vegetable stock (5p)
• 400 ml of coconut milk (£1)
• 20g fresh basil (10p)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and cook the pumpkin in a roasting tin for 30 minutes until soft.

2. Meanwhile in a pan soften the onion and finer in the oil for 10 minutes

3. Add the red curry pasta and stir for 2 minutes

4. Add the vegetable stock and coconut milk and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

6. Add to a blender the pumpkin and then the liquid and blend until smooth. 

7. Add the fresh basil and serve.

We love to keep all the meal plans and recipes we create in one easy to use binder. 
Plus, by keeping the recipes in sheet protecters means we can re-use them time and time again and saves us printing out several copies. 

   

Make money decluttering with Ziffit

It's human nature to hoard and collect; we've all done it at some point. But having a good clear out can be good for both the mind and the bank balance. When Chris and I got married in January, the best man made a 'prenup' for us, and one of the clauses was about Chris not bringing his mass of DVDs and Games to our small city apartment.

Despite this far more than I would have liked found their way into our new home. After months of asking, I finally convinced him to part ways with at least of few of his older games (that haven't been used in years). Rather than throwing them away we hoped to sell them and make some extra money.

In the past, we have used other selling methods including auction sites, Facebook pages and trade-in apps but have never been fully happy with the process with many reasons and so with nothing to lose decided to give Ziffit a try and we were pleasantly surprise with the experience.

Their selling system was easy to use and only took a couple of steps (and minutes).  Firstly, we downloaded the app on my phone. We then made an account and scanned in the barcodes of the games we were selling. You then choose your payment method from bank transfer, cheque or Paypal (we chose Paypal for the added level of security it always adds).

Ziffit will then email (or post you) a package label for you to attach to the box your are putting your DVDs, games or books in. All you have to do is pack up the items you are selling and take them to your nearest free collection point (ours was less than a mile from our home). You can drop the parcel off at any Collect+ point, you can find these all over the country from post offices, supermarkets to petrol stations. The app will advise you where your nearest collection point, however you can see on Collect+ site  there are so many locations that you could drop them off on the way to work or picking up the kids. Once Ziffit receive your goods you then get paid by your nominated method.

Apart from being a way to declutter and make cash from items lying around the home. Ziffit it much quicker and more efficient than selling on buying pages and on auction sites, you don't get messed around by buyers or stung with selling fees. You see how much you will actually get straight away and the only 'costs' you need to factor in for is the box to pack up what your selling and your trip to the Collect+ point. We were also pleasantly surprised how much our stuff sold for having expected to make much less.

Overall our experience was really positive, and it is definitely an app we would use again and recommend to others as a great way to quickly make money decluttering.

Exclusively for our readers Ziffit is offering a special 15% extra cash on all trade ins so that you can make even more money decluttering your home. Simply use the promo code SCOTTS15.

How do you make money decluttering? Have you used Ziffit, let us know your thoughts. 

Although this post is sponsored all opinions are our own. Sponsored posts help to keep SavingScotts running so we can continue to share financial freedom enabling advice. 

How to find UK scholarships

Finding scholarships to help with the costs of being a student can be a little tricky, but being able to get scholarships during your degree can be such a huge help. Scholarships are not as prevalent in the UK and there are far fewer "full ride" scholarships but they do exist and knowing where to look is the trick to success. 
Even a few hours work in searching and applying for scholarships can pay of hugely and scholarships are great to include on job applications as it shows that institutions are willing to invest in your potential.  
We have both been fortunate to receive several scholarships during our degrees and it has been of such a benefit to us. To date between the two of us we have received £17,000 in scholarship awards, and we are still applying for more whilst we are completing our degrees. That is why we are sharing how you too can find some amazing scholarships to help with the cost of university education. 

The Scholarship Hub is one of our favourite sites for searching for scholarships. We use the free option and have found it to be great, but there is a premium option that offers additional features. The Scholarship Hub allows you to search for scholarships based on subject, university or universal generic scholarships. They have a comprehensive easy to use database for many UK scholarships.

If you are already enrolled in a degree, or know where you are going to apply to the first thing to do is check your university for the scholarships on The Scholarship Hub, while not an exhaustive database it is a good start. If you are unable to find any scholarships on the site specifically for your university's course,  then move to searching your individual university's website.   There may be some more generic scholarships for those who are first generation students or care leavers. You may also find that a department offers specific scholarships, sometimes sponsored by a company. It is also worthies contacting your department office, as there may be scholarships which are not publicly advertised.  In my first year, I managed to pick up a scholarship, which was offered departmentally and not publicly advertised because I asked the school office if there was anything available. Also keep an eye out for posters on campus and emails advertising scholarships.

You can also use The Scholarship Hub to search for Degree apprenticeships and sponsored degrees which involve both an educational and vocational element. They typically take longer to complete, but can mean you can study with little or no costs. For example, KPMG offers a six-year programme where all your tuition and accommodation fees are covered for the duration of your degree, and you have a guaranteed job at the end. 

Degree apprenticeships are a "new" government initiative to allow students to graduate debt free and work during their studies allowing you to gain work experience while studying. They are not really new but just bringing back an old concept, in fact, Rebecca's dad obtained his degree through a degree apprenticeship scheme in the early 1980s through Rolls Royce. 

The downside is that you can expect to spend much of your evenings and weekends studying as the week is spend working.  If the 'typical student' experience is important to you, then a degree apprenticeship may not suit you. Also, not every sector is covered by degree apprenticeships, so this is another factor to consider whether they cover the subject you wish to study as the sectors are STEM-heavy.

There are currently 12 different industry sectors offering Degree Apprenticeships.

• Aerospace Engineering
• Aerospace Software Development
• Automotive Engineering
• Banking Relationship Manager
• Business & Finance
• Chartered Surveying
• Construction
• Defence Systems Engineering
• IT/Digital
• Electronic Systems Engineering
• Laboratory Science
• Nuclear Science

The NHS sponsorship scheme can help those studying accredited Medicine and Dentistry courses.  For those on the usual five-years undergraduate programme, the NHS will assist in the 5th year of study. While those on the accelerated four-year graduate programs the NHS Bursary Scheme will pay £3464 towards the cost of tuition in years 2 through 4. 

Did you have any scholarships whilst at university? How did you find and apply for them? 

£5 dinners | Gnocchi bake

We have started a new series of posts on Instagram called £5 Dinners where we will be sharing some of our favourite budget friendly meals. Follow us @savingscotts to keep updated with the series.
We have also decided to post all the recipes on here and there is now an easy to use tab on the navigation bar just for £5 dinners. So you can find all your favourite, easy to cook, low cost dinners in one place. 
Save money on your food shop using approved discount gift cards with Zeek. 

This week's recipe is a Gnocchi bake. If you've never heard of Gnocchi before its a pasta/potato dumplings. In that sense this dish is essentially a pasta bake, but the Gnocchi give it a different flavour. This dish is so quick to make the prep is about 5 minutes then 30 minutes, making it a perfect back to school dinner. We purchased all the ingredients from Tesco apart from the peppers which were part of the wonky veg box and in total it cost little over £3 for a serving of 4.

• 400g fresh Gnocchi 
• 2 small Orange peppers (capsicums) diced
• 400g tinned cherry tomatoes
• 125g mozzarella
• 3 tablespoons Passata (optional) 
• pinch of Salt
• pinch of Pepper
• pinch ofItalian Herbs

• Combine gnocchi, diced pepper and cherry tomatoes in a pyrex dish. Ensuring that the sauce covers all the gnocchi (you may wish to add a bit of pasata if your a bit short on sauce). 
• Top with mozzarella, salt, pepper, and Italian herbs and cover with foil.
• Cook in an over at 180 degrees (Celsius) for 30/40 minutes (until the gnocchi is all cooked through and a soft consistency, not hard or gritty)

Our favourite tools for meal planning

We love to keep all the meal plans and recipes we create in one easy to use binder. 
Plus, by keeping the recipes in sheet protecters means we can re-use them time and time again and saves us printing out several copies. 

   

Wonky veg box review

A while ago ASDA announced that they were introducing wonky veg boxes into their stores. My local was a listed store but despite checking regularly none were being stocked. When doing our shop this week we discovered that they actually had some in the store now so we though we would give it a go and let you guys know our thoughts on the box.

The concept is about encouraging people to buy 'imperfect food' that would otherwise go to waste. In a waste not, want not fashion. A bit like a broken biscuit tin there is no preset combination of veg in a box, but there is a label to say what the box contains on the outside so it is not a surprise.

I would always rather have fresh food thats 'ugly' than pretty frozen veg so we love the concept of a veg box on a budget. Plus because it is veg that would have otherwise gone to waste it is sold at a reduced price, the box was only £3.50 but have about £8 worth of vegetables in it. Being able to source low cost food is a great way to keep costs down so if like us your trying to stick to a budget wonky veg can help you with that.

Ours contained the following

• aubergine
• salad onions
• onions (white)
• orange peppers
• carrots
• cabbage
• lettuce 
• potatoes 

Check out the video below to see what the box contained and our thoughts on the concept.

Overall we are really happy with the box and think it is good value for money. My biggest gripe is that the lettuce was in a plastic bag as other than that it is pretty eco friendly packaging. The blemishes on the vegetables were all very minor (I would hardly consider blemishes) and the unusual shapes weren't that different. The carrots were probably the most 'deformed' but as most of the time we would be chopping them up, you wouldn't notice, plus I'm planning on using them in a soup anyway. 

What do you think of the idea of a wonky veg box, is it something you would buy?