Good Food, Student Budget: Making the Most of Kimchi This Term

Student life has a funny way of making money disappear faster than expected.

At the start of term, the student loan lands and everything feels fairly comfortable. Then rent goes out, the food shop costs more than you remembered, somebody suggests a night out, you buy a couple of coffees between lectures and suddenly you’re checking your banking app before agreeing to dinner.

We get it.

Eating out when you’re a student can sometimes feel like something you should save for birthdays, celebrations or the few glorious days immediately after your loan arrives. But having a good meal with your friends doesn’t always need to be a big spend. A little thought about what you order, who you go with and how you share the table can make a real difference.

At Kimchi in Selly Oak, Korean food already lends itself well to this way of eating. Sharing dishes, splitting plates and trying different things together are all part of the experience. Add our 10% student discount with a valid student ID, and there are plenty of ways to make Kimchi part of your term without treating every visit like a special occasion.

First things first, remember your student ID

This sounds obvious, but it is very easy to remember your student discount about five minutes after you have left your ID at home.

Students can get 10% off at Kimchi with a valid student ID, so make sure you have it with you when you visit. One discount might not feel life-changing, but if you come back a few times during the term, those savings start to matter.

Think about a quick meal after lectures, a catch-up with your housemates, a society dinner or a Friday night when nobody wants to cook. If Kimchi becomes one of those places you come back to, remembering your ID each time is an easy win.

The point is not to spend more because there is a discount. It is simply to make the meal you were already planning work a little better for your budget.

Sharing is your friend

One of the nicest things about Korean food is that it works naturally around a shared table.

You do not always need everyone ordering a separate dish and sticking to it. A group can choose a few things together, put them in the middle and let everyone try a bit of everything.

That is good for the budget, but it also makes dinner more fun.

Instead of four people ordering four separate meals and wondering whether someone else made the better choice, you can share. Maybe there is some mandu on the table, something spicy alongside it and a plate of Korean fried chicken that everyone keeps going back to.

It also gives you more variety. If you are new to Korean food, sharing means you can try something without making it your entire meal. Take a bite, see what you think and then move on to the next plate.

There is much less pressure to choose the perfect dish when the table is ordering together.

And, importantly, it also reduces one of the great problems of eating out with friends. Main-course envy.

If your mate’s food looks better, it does not matter. You are sharing it anyway.

Ramen makes sense on those simpler days

Not every trip to Kimchi needs to turn into a huge group dinner.

Some days you have finished lectures, the weather is miserable and you just want something hot without spending half an hour discussing what everyone should order.

That is when a bowl of ramen can make a lot of sense.

It is warm, filling and straightforward. You can come in with a friend, grab something comforting and carry on with your evening without turning dinner into a major event.

That matters when you are trying to make eating out fit into normal student life.

A meal does not always need to be a celebration. Sometimes you are simply hungry, tired of cooking and want something that feels like proper food.

On a cold Birmingham afternoon, a hot bowl of ramen after lectures can feel like a very good decision.

Keep Korean BBQ for the nights when you want to make more of it

Then there are the evenings when you do want dinner to feel like part of the occasion.

That is where Korean BBQ comes in.

Getting everyone around the grill changes the feel of the meal. You are cooking together, passing things around and staying at the table longer. It becomes part of the night rather than simply somewhere you stop for food.

That makes Korean BBQ a great choice when you have something worth getting the group together for.

It might be a birthday. It might be the end of a difficult week. Maybe someone has finally submitted the assignment they have been complaining about for the last month. Or maybe the entire house has managed to find one evening when everyone is free.

Whatever the reason, going as a group means you can choose dishes for the table and share the experience together.

You do not need Korean BBQ every time you visit. Save it for those evenings when you want dinner to feel like a bigger part of the plan.

You do not need to order half the menu

There is a particular danger when a group of hungry students sits down without discussing the order first.

Someone picks a dish. Somebody adds a side. Then another person spots something else. Before long, the table looks like you are feeding twelve people instead of four.

A very small amount of planning helps.

You do not need spreadsheets, calculators or a nominated treasurer. Just work out what kind of meal you want before you start ordering.

Are you sharing a few smaller plates? Is everyone having ramen? Are you making a night of the Korean BBQ? Are there two or three things the whole table wants to try?

Once you know that, ordering becomes much easier.

It also helps to mix familiar dishes with something new. If you already know everyone wants Korean fried chicken, start there and add something different alongside it. If you know you like ramen but want to try tteokbokki, split a portion with someone.

That way, you still get to try new Korean food without making the whole meal a gamble.

Midweek dinners deserve more credit

Eating out does not have to mean Friday or Saturday night.

For students, the middle of the week can actually be a great time to get everyone together.

Maybe Wednesday is the one evening when nobody has a society meeting. Maybe you have all finished lectures earlier than usual. Maybe everyone has reached the point in the week where another plate of pasta at home is not going to improve morale.

A midweek meal can be as simple as meeting in Selly Oak, having something good to eat and heading home afterwards.

It does not need to turn into a full night out.

That can make it much easier to fit into both your schedule and your budget.

Sometimes having one proper meal with friends in the middle of the week is exactly what you need to break up lectures, deadlines and library sessions.

Going with friends gives you more options

Going with a group does not automatically mean spending more.

In fact, if everyone is happy to share, it can give you more choices.

Four people around the table can try several dishes without each person needing to order every item for themselves.

That is especially useful if you are still getting to know Korean food.

You might have seen tteokbokki online but never tried it. Share one with the table. Curious about mandu? Add some dumplings. Somebody wants fried chicken? Get a plate for everyone.

The more people who are happy to share, the easier it becomes to try different things without over-ordering.

And once your group has found the dishes everyone loves, future visits become even easier.

Good food does not need to be saved for payday

There can be a tendency during university to divide meals into two categories.

There is the food you eat because you need to eat, and then there is the food you save for a special occasion.

It does not always have to work like that.

Sometimes you have had a good day and want to catch up with your mates. Sometimes you have had a terrible day and definitely want to catch up with your mates. Sometimes nobody can face cooking. Sometimes you have simply walked past Kimchi and decided that ramen sounds better than whatever is waiting in the fridge.

Those are all perfectly good reasons.

The trick is making the meal fit the budget you have, rather than feeling that every visit needs to be a huge night.

One time might be ramen after lectures. Another might be a few shared plates. Then, when there is something to celebrate, you get everyone around the Korean BBQ grill.

Different visits can work for different budgets.

Make your 10% student discount part of the routine

If there is one thing worth remembering this term, apart from your deadlines, it is your student ID.

Bring a valid student ID to Kimchi and you can enjoy 10% off.

Use it when you grab ramen after class. Use it when the housemates come along. Use it when you finally organise that Korean BBQ night everyone has been talking about.

Over a whole term, it all helps.

More importantly, it means you do not have to think of Kimchi as somewhere you can only visit when you have a special occasion.

We are right here in Selly Oak, serving Korean BBQ, ramen, sharing dishes and plenty of food that works well when you bring people together.

So come with the housemates, bring your course friends, remember your student ID and order in a way that works for you.

Good food and student budgets do not have to be enemies.

Good food. Student budget. Better dinner plans.

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