Student Budget - Food

funkybob989

I spend about £20-£25. buy mainly own-brand from the supermarkets though so for better quality obviously it would cost more.

Penny-Pincher!!

If living in London, she'll have good access to markets and cheap good quality food.

My DD also starts Uni Sept in Chelsea area so quite expensive, but we've been doing some homework about area and she'll be living in halls but doing her own food. She thinks she can manage on £160pcm to include all food and booze and I believe her. She knows how to cook and double cook for another meal, use leftovers etc. She should also get a meal when she works a shift, so thats good too.

I bought her a book called The essential student cookbook and has some great cheap nutritious easy recipes than can be cooked for 1 person or many. I bought from Play secondhand for £2.50 inc delivery.

PP
xx

bouncydog1

You need to consider how much storage space she will have in fridge/freezer as this will influence whether she can take advantage of 3 for 2 offers etc. I would also suggest teaching her to cook if she can't already and buy her a small slo cooker. On budget side I would work out how much she needs for everything - most of the Uni websites have a budget for the area shown on it. also suggest she joins the student room and looks at the Uni specific threads as info will come from students actually living there.

We give DD c80 per week and out of this she pays her bus pass, share of bills, entertainment and food bills and course books which can be £50 each! She also saves. She works in the summer holidays and this pays for extras like holidays etc.


Others will give their view on this being too much but that is our choice and none of their business! Work out what her total costs are going to be rather than focussing just on the food element and see from there what you can afford to help her out with. also make sure that she applies for any bursaries that may be available if she qualifies.

Fluff15

I've just finished university and in my second and third year I was spending £100 on food and things - that included all meats and healthy veg, sundries etc.

However, in my first year I was spending more - due to the fact that I had to share 8 shelves in a fridge with 10 people, I couldn't buy in bulk and freeze stuff off/people would steal food etc. :mad:

In my first year, my Mum topped up my student loan with £100 a month (only on term time months) which helped out greatly - I think this was a good amount and I was really grateful for it. I asked her to stop in my second and third years because I got a job, and worked all during the summer too. I think £100 should be sufficient.

If that doesn't seem enough, a nice idea might be to occasionally send her food parcels with her favourite foods in? I worked in the student residence and it was really nice to see some parents do that for their kids.

mumonashoestring

What she has available to her in terms of shopping opportunities will make a huge difference - I would recommend doing a bit of research into what supermarkets have outlets nearby but also what markets are available. Colleagues of mine who live in London manage to save hugely by making time to get to the market for their fruit and veg and meat.

I also found when I was a student that 'going in' with a flatmate on things like large sacks of potatoes, onions, apples etc. saved us money compared with what we'd have spent if we both bought smaller bags.

BACKFRMTHEEDGE

rhoda wrote: »

Hi all

My daughter is starting university in London this coming October. I am working on a budget for her and so that I can work out how much money I need to save for my contribution towards her costs. I am not sure how much money to include for her monthly food bill as it is a long time since I shopped/cooked for one person.

Is anyone able to offer any advice on a typical monthly food bill for a student? I am not including any lunches bought from cafes or meals out - I expect her to take packed lunches like she does currently for work; she agrees. Any lunches out or evening meals comes from her socialising budget. However, that aside I want to come up with a realistic figure.

The answer is it varies - a lot! There is another thread on here about this subject - some posters said they could get by on £15 per week for food. One poster said they fed a family of 5 on £5 a week. Me - I couldn't believe any of it (and they all seem to eat way too much mince for me and drink nasty tea and coffee;) )

The truth is blokes seem to eat more than girls - active blokes eat even more again.

My son started uni last September - he knows a few girls who say they live on £15 a week for food but he's in a flat of boys and they all spend more than that.

They are doing great though - they do internet Tesco shops for the flat (4 lads) and he's eating a mix of value stuff (son is happy to eat Tesco value beans for 15p a large can but hated the value coffee) and other stuff - my son cooks and gets plenty of veg, fruit, protein - he needs it as he trains hard 3 or 4 times per week.

He's home for Easter and looks great - obviously eating well and getting plenty of exercise - so worth every penny of whatever it's costing...

...anyways the answer lies somewhere in between £15 to £35 per week for food...though there are some who say they can live on less than £15 pw...

EDIT : FWIW, obviously someone can live on less than £15 a week - I'm just not convinced that their diet is a healthy one - in the UK poor folk live 10 years less than everyone else (though that'S not all be due to diet)...some studies have shown differences as great as 30 years...another here shows differences of 17 years in a disabilty free life...All these studies attribute inadequate diets to these differences in large measure (though not the only factor)...

...Three-quarters of the UK do not have disability-free life expectancy at 68...shocking?

...my point? Is food really an area you want your child to be skimping on?...

HappyMJ

Agree with all the comments so far. As a single male I would spend £25 every week and have no idea how many families on the debtfreewannabe and oldstylemoneysaving boards really only spend £5 a week for a family of 5. My OH eats a bit less so I suppose she could get away with £20 a week. Combined we can usually get the bill down to £40 a week.

mrsbb_2

I'd say to be comfortable you'd need around £30/week. She would need to learn to cook staples (shepherds pie, curry, pasta meals) which would help as they can be frozen for second helpings. I found I wasted a lot at university to start with as I didn't have a "repertoire" of recipes to fall back on and bought things like Smash and ready meals (which was AWFUL - never again). If she could club in with her house mates to buy massive bags of rice, pasta or even a big bag of potatoes that would help too?

Derivative

HappyMJ wrote: »

Agree with all the comments so far. As a single male I would spend £25 every week and have no idea how many families on the debtfreewannabe and oldstylemoneysaving boards really only spend £5 a week for a family of 5. My OH eats a bit less so I suppose she could get away with £20 a week. Combined we can usually get the bill down to £40 a week.

£1/week per person?

Either that's a typo or a lie by omission. Obviously if someone's growing their own or somehow magically only ever buying reduced goods it's not really legitimate.

flea72

Derivative wrote: »

£1/week per person?

Either that's a typo or a lie by omission. Obviously if someone's growing their own or somehow magically only ever buying reduced goods it's not really legitimate.

Its just exageration. Its more like £1 per person per day. But it usually does involve having the freedom/time to shop around for bargains.

Why is buying reduced items or growing your own, not legitimate? You still have to buy seeds, and use your time to grow them, so its not free food. Reduced items for alot of people are a necessity. For me its was getting to the point where i couldnt afford a loaf of bread in the supermarkets, so i had to go at times of the day, when it was reduced and within my budget (thankfully DD nows works for greggs, so the staff discount has been a godsend)

I currently have £200/m to feed a family of 5, so thats roughly £9-£10 a week per person. Yes i do grow my own (may-oct) and keep chickens. So eggs are free (sell surplus to cover feed costs). We eat meat at least 6 days a week and rarely eat c*rp meals (although we do have choc/crisps for ease in pack-up) Most meals are cooked from scratch

although overall we dont spend much, it is labour intensive, so you have to weight up the cost of that. If i factored in the hours i spend bargain hunting, tendng my crops/animals, and preparing food then my costs would prob be on a par with some who pays full price at waitrose/m&s, but as i am time rich and cash poor, it is the choice i have made