Mini's Student Survival Guide: GIVE ME DRUUUUGS!

Prescriptions are expensive. £7.40 per item is pretty expensive anyway, but when you're on a student budget it is pretty much breaking the bank.

I needed painkillers for a problem I have with my hands. In fact I'm still taking the very same painkillers right now. £7.40 when I had £5 in my bank account and no milk for breakfast, I thought I would have to struggle through my exam and wait until after my holiday to be able to get them. In the end, I borrowed £5 off a friend to pay for them, and will pay her back out of my next student loan instalment before claiming the money back.

Here's the deal. When you're 18 you can still get them for free as you're in full time education - there's a box on the prescription form to tick; same as the one from when you were in college. Girls, we can get the pill without breaking the bank (condoms as well). If you visit an STI clinic and need antibiotics for that, they're free.

But us students tend to have low income, so from the age of 19 you can apply for a HC2 Certificate. The form is a long as your arm and you'll probably have to send a photocopy of your student loan breakdown and payslips if you have a job - so make sure you know where these things are - but think of how many times you'd rather spend £7.40 on alcohol rather than a prescription. You don't have wait till you are ill, apply at any time.

If you're ill in the meantime, you can also ask for a refund form whenever you pay for a prescription, so if you haven't got the certificate yet, just pay and claim it back when you apply.

So, get ill, get drugs, still be able to eat. Sounds good to me.

Now where did I put my form...

Mini's Student Survival Guide: Don't Waste Food!

Being a student who is seriously strapped for cash, wasting food is something that I try to avoid as best I can. Sometimes you cook more than you can eat. Sometimes you cook and then realise that you're not as hungry as you thought you were. Sometimes you buy things that you cannot possibly use before the use-by date.

With 24 hours before a litre of milk would expire, I couldn't deal with the pound that was about to be wasted when it could be put to good use.

Right now, I present - as a part of what I hope will become a regular feature of 'Mini's Student Survival Guide' - how to use up that milk before it stinks out the kitchen and gets thrown out by a flatmate. Of course, this relies on you having certain other things in to use them with, but it'll be worth it in the long run.

1. Meals to reheat. Some packet mixes require you to use milk to make the sauce, so this is what you need to go with (my personal favourite being chicken supreme, although I use Quorn pieces instead of chicken because I don't eat meat). The packet will probably say three to four servings, but I usually only get two. Either way, you have one for the fridge and one (or more) for the freezer.

Milk used: 425ml

2. Sweet treat. My homesickness food: Angel Delight. I know it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it comes in a range of flavours so you can find something that tickles your fancy. Whip it up with fresh milk, put it in a bowl and leave to stand for 5 minutes (I prefer to stick it in the fridge, but there is no need to). One packet will do 4 servings, but nobody will judge you if you eat it all in one sitting.

Milk used: 300ml

3. Does cooking make you peckish? Grab yourself a bowl of cereal. Cheerios are my 'breakfast-as-midnight-snack' of choice, but whatever you've got in the cupboard, with a generous splash of milk, will sort out those hunger pangs, at least for the time being.

Milk used: 225ml

4. And wash it all down. Get yourself a hot drink. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate; whatever floats your boat. Of course if you like your coffee black then this won't help you, but a nice milky hot chocolate sorts me right out just before bed.

Milk used: Depends on your preference, but hopefully most of the rest.

5. If there's any left, you may as well just drink it straight from the carton. It's only going to start smelling if you leave it.

So don't waste it, allow yourself a midnight snack, a milky drink, a sweet indulgence and at least two meal portions.

1 litre of milk gone in less than 1 hour.

How would you do it?