How much to live on per week

Dunroamin

looby75 wrote: »

I'm honestly not trying to show off here but my daughter feeds herself on about £15 a week (sometimes slightly more, often less). I have been batch cooking for years now so it's just normal for her to see me make a meals and bulk them out with veg (mushrooms are the biggest bulker here because we all love them) then freeze the left overs. So thats what shes gone to uni expecting to do and was over the moon to find that Grainger Market was even cheaper than all the big supermarkets and she can get meat and veg really cheaply.

She's been at uni for just over 2 months now and she's got so many frozen meals in the communal freezer she's running out of room in her bit. I've suggested shes should offer to sell them for £1 a meal to her flat mates lol

It's a major advantage of coming from a low income family that you learn to eat frugally. I can remember sharing a flat in my twenties with a couple of girls from wealthy backgrounds and I ate far better than they did as the only meat they'd come across was chops and roasts while I was happily eating cheaper cuts, offal and other cheap delights.

V_Chic_Chick

Bear in mind that food has gone up quite a lot recently. In Sept 2011 when I started uni, pasta was 65p a bag in my local supermarket. The exact same stuff is now 95p a bag.

I spend about £22pw on food. I don't eat meat, and I only eat a small amount of fish. I do, however, opt for more ethical fresh dairy products (organic milk, free range eggs). I cook from scratch most days, and often (but not always) shop in various ethnic grocers.

I don't know anyone who manages to live off £15 nowadays!

looby75

V_Chic_Chick wrote: »

Bear in mind that food has gone up quite a lot recently. In Sept 2011 when I started uni, pasta was 65p a bag in my local supermarket. The exact same stuff is now 95p a bag.

I spend about £22pw on food. I don't eat meat, and I only eat a small amount of fish. I do, however, opt for more ethical fresh dairy products (organic milk, free range eggs). I cook from scratch most days, and often (but not always) shop in various ethnic grocers.

I don't know anyone who manages to live off £15 nowadays!

My daughter is living in halls so doesn't have to worry about paying for utilities right now which helps. As I mentioned before she lives within walking distance to a market that sells good quality meat/poultry and vegetables. She also lives fairly close to a few Asian supermarkets so can buy rice and the student stand-by (noodles lol) for pennies per meal too.

wintersunshine

looby75 wrote: »

My daughter is living in halls so doesn't have to worry about paying for utilities right now which helps. As I mentioned before she lives within walking distance to a market that sells good quality meat/poultry and vegetables. She also lives fairly close to a few Asian supermarkets so can buy rice and the student stand-by (noodles lol) for pennies per meal too.

She's also presumably a girl who tends to eat little (most 18 year old girls are anorexic ) and probably isn't involved in sport - try feeding hungry males who get a decent amount of exercise on £15 and it's a whole different story....

I know I could feed myself on £15 per week (less probably) because I'm almost permanently on a diet - but I have 3 healthy weight sporty males to feed and trust me they eat a lot!!!!

BACKFRMTHEEDGE

sortika wrote: »

Food for a student never has to be over £15.

I'd love to see a break down of a £15 per week budget. Please include tea, coffee and milk.

Oh and I'm a healthy male who needs a hearty breakfast, lunch and dinner - I work out 3 times a week and I'm also in the football team. I'm guessing I need about 3500 calories per day - but it might be 4000.

BACKFRMTHEEDGE

wintersunshine wrote: »

She's also presumably a girl

Yes, I've noticed that too. Girls don't eat much - who knew?

(Sorry I didn't mean that to sound sarcastic lol.)

wintersunshine

BACKFRMTHEEDGE wrote: »

Yes, I've noticed that too. Girls don't eat much - who knew?

(Sorry I didn't mean that to sound sarcastic lol.)

....they'll spend much more on toiletries, make up and clothes.....

wintersunshine

BACKFRMTHEEDGE wrote: »

Yes, I've noticed that too. Girls don't eat much - who knew?

(Sorry I didn't mean that to sound sarcastic lol.)

Yesterday I had about 1400 calories - it cost me about £2 to £3.

My boys, however, completely different matter

I_Wanna_Retire_Someday

Dunroamin wrote: »

It's a major advantage of coming from a low income family that you learn to eat frugally. I can remember sharing a flat in my twenties with a couple of girls from wealthy backgrounds and I ate far better than they did as the only meat they'd come across was chops and roasts while I was happily eating cheaper cuts, offal and other cheap delights.

My working class flat mate at uni had no money so she never used to eat (banks wouldn't give you loans and there were no jobs to be had). Her weight fell below 7 stone and her periods stopped. She was so thin that the blood tranfusion service refused to take blood from her. Years later she started to get really bad pains in her stomach and her GP told her she had damaged her stomach lining. Luckily, after a round of some tablets she was fine.

I never could understand how her parents let her live like that?

Dunroamin

I_Wanna_Retire_Someday wrote: »

My working class flat mate at uni had no money so she never used to eat (banks wouldn't give you loans and there were no jobs to be had). Her weight fell below 7 stone and her periods stopped. She was so thin that the blood tranfusion service refused to take blood from her. Years later she started to get really bad pains in her stomach and her GP told her she had damaged her stomach lining. Luckily, after a round of some tablets she was fine.

I never could understand how her parents let her live like that?

As students' from low income backgrounds (which is what I expect you mean) are quite well supported financially, I imagine that she must have had an eating disorder. This is a difficult situation for a parent to help with even when the sufferer is living in the parental home, when living away it must be impossible.

I'm surprised her flat mates didn't encourage her to get help.