University- how much for food/expenses a week?

[Kitten3]

Hello all, my dd is off to Uni soon and I wondered how much money she would require to live off for food and expenses a week?

Does anyone else have any experience with this?

[Lilaclily]

Is she in halls ?
If not how much do you spend on food for her a week, cos it'll be the same !
Rent will obviously differ depending where she's going

[PUGaLUGS]

DS is going into his second year. He only qualified for the minimum maintainance grant which was around £400 short every time his accommodation fees were due. We paid the extra on this and gave him £60 a week to live off. My weekly shopping has gone down approx this amount.

When we moved him into his accommodation he was packed up with toiletries, loo roll, washing tablets so he rarely had to buy these as I would do other top ups when we took him back after Christmas and Easter.

[dementedma]

£30 a week if they shop in Aldi for food. Whatever bus fares cost on top of that. For the rest,get a job.

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

Depends on a few factors
Can she cook or will she be relying on convenience food?
Whereabouts in the country she's going i.e everything in London is more expensive!
Is she on campus or in walking distance or does she need to factor in transport.
Any particular dietary requirements or expensive food habits? For example when I went to uni I had a v expensive Diet Coke and avacado and particular expensive breakfast cereal habit (not necessarily together!) is she happy eating veggie food.
Will she make a packed lunch each day and take it with her?

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

Also what supermarkets will she have access too.

[DelphiniumBlue]

DS manages on 25 pounds a week for food and toiletries, but he likes cooking and is very good at finding bargains in the supermarket. He too has a Diet Coke habit, which is included in the 25 pounds!
He doesn't drink alcohol, or go out much at all, so very little cost there. He will ask us if he needs extra money, but its quite rare that he does, only to replace clothes or shoes, or occasionally for course materials. He says he's looking for work but has managed 2 years without finding a job - I am not entirely happy about that, so don't give him money for extras, but he seems to manage quite happily on what he has.

[DelphiniumBlue]

And don't worry about shops - most supermarkets deliver, which is probably cheaper than getting bus there and back. Eg Asda delivers for one pound at certain times.

[BackforGood]

ds manages fine on £35 pw. That's for everything.
His loan just about covers his rent/bills, and he gets all his food for about £20 pw.
He works in the holidays, and that's for "wants" rather than "needs"

This question gets asked a lot, and it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question. Mostly it will depend on your budget. If they need a bus pass / to travel on a daily basis, then that is quite a cost to factor in. IME, most parents load them up with a few store cupboard things at the beginning of term to start them off.

[FellOutOfBed2wice]

12 years ago my Mum and Dad used to give me £30 a week for food and toiletries and I worked in the uni bookshop for booze money earning about £80 a week. The £30 was more than enough, I used to eat well, use fresh ingredients etc and the £80 meant I could have a few lunches in the canteen, one decent night out a week and a couple of evenings in the local old man booze for a few pints. So according to this inflation calculator you're probably looking at about £42 for food £111 for good times.