Cash-strapped students are being offered a crash course in supermarket bargain-hunting to prepare them for university life.
About 30 teenagers have already completed workshops at Morrisons, in Brentford High Street, designed to show them how to shop and cook on a budget.
The 90-minute sessions are the brainchild of economics teacher Lucy Timms and marketer Hilary Thomson, who recognised the need after taking her eldest son Owen to stock up before he began his engineering degree at the University of Southampton two years ago.
"When I took him shopping before he left he was adding all these things to the trolley without really thinking," said Mrs Thomson, 57, of Twickenham.
"There are skills you take for granted as an adult, like deciding whether it's worth spending the extra on brands and judging whether the special offers really are that special, which I realised young people heading to university don't necessarily have."
As well as helping students slash their grocery bills, the 'smart shopping' workshops are designed to give them practical advice on preparing healthy meals with limited equipment.
Participants go behind the scenes at the supermarket, where they are talked through the basics of savvy shopping before being let loose in the aisles to complete a series of fun Supermarket Sweep-style challenges.
"An awful lot of cookery books marketed at students aren't terribly practical. They don't take into account the fact students have very few implements, a shortage of fridge and freezer space and often quite limited cookery skills," said Mrs Thomson, who has three children.
"We have something called the 10 meal trick, which shows students how to prepare 10 quick and simple meals using a basic list of ingredients."
The shopping sessions typically cost £45 per person, though discounts are available for group bookings and schools.
They are part of a series of workshops run by Headstart Uni, the consultancy firm set up by Mrs Thompson and her business partner to help students and their parents manage their finances.
As well as tips on cooking, undergraduates can learn how to get the best deal on accommodation and bank accounts, and how to find summer work to help pay their tuition fees, which now cost up to £9,000 a year.
* For more about the courses available, visit www.headstartuni.co.uk
