Rough idea of weekly student food budget?

thriftwizard

I have two new students of my own & I'm involved in supporting a third, whose financial arrangements have become totally unstuck through no fault of his own. A bunch of us have set up a fund to help tide him over until the mess is sorted out but we're having trouble agreeing just how much he "needs" for food. He's well-sorted for clothes, he lives in Hall (uncatered) in one of the cheaper areas of the UK and his tuition, rent & books are sorted out for now. My own two are managing on £30 or less a week for food, books & entertainment and aren't having any problems - in fact, going by their Facebook pics & requests for items like kitchen scales, they're having a great time & learning a lot - but the other members of the "Rescue Squad" seem to think that's miserly & he *needs* a minimum of £50 pw. I suspect that quite a lot of that won't go on food & that we're depriving him of an opportunity to learn to manage his resources effectively if we give him too much. So I'm keen to get some idea of what is the "average" student spend on food & related items like shampoo & cleaning stuff? Hunting around the web, the bank websites do seem to suggest that £50 is about right, but I could keep a family of 5 for a week on that without struggling!
So knowing roughly what other people are allowing would be very helpful, please. TIA!

glider3560

A similar question on food budget was asked a few days ago. There were some pretty good suggestions, so take a look: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2818768

thriftwizard

Thanks for that, but I'm looking more for an idea of the average budget than the minimum he could survive on; he's fairly clueless as yet! My suspicion is that £50 pw (just for food etc) is a fair bit more than most people around him will have and that's what I need to point out to these other ladies, kindhearted & generous though they are.

minerva_windsong

You're going to be shocked at this, but my weekly budget for food, going out, bits and bobs etc was £70 a week (broken down as £25 for food, £30 for going out including transport, and £15 for 'stuff'). However it was very rare that I spent all of that and most of it went into next week's budget (ie if I'd taken £70 out at the start of the week but only spent £50 then I'd only take £50 out the week after) and eventually ended up as savings.

Most people I knew had about £30-50 a week, but I don't know if it was the demographic of my uni (York) as there was a fairly large crowd that seemed to have ridiculously high budgets. But then there are going to be people like that at every uni.

I would start him on £30 for a few weeks, and then consider upping it if he's still struggling but spending the money wisely. If he's struggling but not spending it properly (ie it's being spent on things he wants rather than needs) I'd leave it as it is.

glider3560

This is all my weekly spending from one term last year (note that I live to a very strict budget):

£41.06
£36.78
£41.51
£26.51
£59.46
£28.10
£18.77
£50.15
£36.23
£45.17
£34.97
£27.62

Averages at about £37. I'm in Bristol (with Sainsburys, Co-op and Waitrose as my only accessible supermarkets), so things can be quite expensive round here. Also, one of the weeks includes a train fare to a conference in London (about £30) plus drinks/food at quite an expensive bar, so this could bring things down slightly. My figures also excludes utilities, mobile phone, books, etc.

I would say that £30-40 per week should be enough for nearly all students. £50 is a little on the high side.

angelofmel

i'd stick with £30. a minimum budget will teach him that takeaways and lunch in the union are not affordable, and tesco value range is as good and cheeper than the brand name foods.
if he needs other things, say cleaning products or a new utensil for something or struggling still then he could put a request in to the help squad in advance and you could adjust the budget accordingly perhaps?

piratefairy

When I was a student, my weekly grocery budget (inc. all food and also household/ cleaning products/ toiletries as and when necessary) came to about £8/week average. This was thru choice not necessity, as I had a part-time job through all of my uni experience.
£30 / week for all food / expenses isn't miserly!

On a well-paid job atm, my weekly grocery spend has crept up to £12-15 / week, again including all household etc.
Getting him out of the "takeaway" mindset is a good thing. Cooking from scratch can still be v cheap, as well as being healthy.

ultimatedingbat

In total I suspect I spend around £100 a month so around £25 a week.

Broken down looking at it it's £10-£15 on food £5-10 on toilitaries, £5 on a 'treat' and £5 on stuff. My treat is either a take away or a meal out at the local pub (£5 beer and burger!) and even that doesn't happen every week. £5 on stuff includes magazines (I like to buy Kerrang, SFX, Empire, Metal Hammer and Total Film on the odd occasions) or books for pleasure.

savvystudent

I typically will spend about £30 a week at the supermarket, though we only have Sainsbury's in Fallowfield (Manchester) which is apparently the most expensive store they have in the UK!

ThinkingOfLinking

I've been on jobseekers allowance before so know how to survive on a very small budget. Even as a student, I spend about £15 a week on food, if that. I am currently eating my way through a load of frozen and dry goods I've stockpiled and don't have to shop every week as a result. I also batch cook and freeze.

Oldernotwiser

How about £30 per week plus help with learning how to manage food on a budget? Far more useful than just chucking money at him.