What is your uni DC's weekly grocery budget?

[Champagneforeveryone]

DS is almost 17 and has always been fiercely independent. He's also a keen cook and a raging food snob.

He plans to go to uni and as 6th form have started to push applications this has become a bit of a topic. He's adamant that he will be cooking properly and has no intention of living on packet noodles - very admirable IMO but we shall see!

During a recent conversation it transpired that while he can cook really well, the day to day "stuff" is a mystery to him- he has no idea how much milk we use in a week, how much butter is, how many slices of bread he uses etc. We thought it would be an interesting experiment for him to live independently for a week, so he really gets a shock idea how much food costs and how he will need to budget.

So would anyone mind advising roughly how much their DC have a week / month for groceries in order to give us a figure to play with?

I agree with PP - send him with dry foods as they are cheaper bought in bulk and then give him a budget for fresh stuff. If he wants to blow that at the fishmongers then he can eat lentil soup all week.

To be honest they learn very quickly once they are away. I can remember my DD phoning me absolutely outraged at the cost of loo paper!

....... and also what Bruffin said at the end of P1 (they call them "whoopsies" in Wales )

All of my dc say that £20pw is plenty for food.
My current student has £37pw for everything - social life included. This year, with places shut and all entertainment either going for walks outside or within the flat, she has saved quite a bit from that.
But my older two said that was plenty, to include going out too, and all costs.
Of course, their budget in total includes things like paying for the washing machines. Supermarket shop is only part of living costs. Food is only part of supermarket shops.

@Sunbelievable

I don't know why more students don't do catered and shared bathrooms. DD's first choice accommodation is only £25 a week than self catering. She will have to buy very little for lunches and no loo paper 😁

But she really doesn't want to cook! I am pleased as it seems a lot of faff and effort.

The issue with many catered halls is that you have to be there at set times to eat, not always possible if you play a sport, pop to the pub or have a late lecture etc. They also tend to be less social, with many flats having no communal area. Admittedly I only knew a few people in catered halls, but they all transferred out by the end of the first semester to self catered.

I sat with mine and did a mid-budget supermarket shop with them, so they knew what they could get. It was useful actually as they thought about quantities and what they might actually need each week vs monthly.

Anyway, to answer your question - £30/week is a decent starting point. Could go up or down from that.

I’m a uni student and I seem to spend a fortune (£35-40) but then I’m just terrible at budgeting so not a good guide!

The best thing to do is to train him to batch cook. There will be times when he wants to spend time cooking the fancy stuff but for day to day, being able to rustle up a casserole, eat a portion and freeze 3-4 is far more useful. Also agree with previous posters, he’ll soon find out the cost of things and use them up at his own pace. Plus a box with rice, pasta, oil, herbs etc goes a long way.

@Sunbelievable

I don't know why more students don't do catered and shared bathrooms. DD's first choice accommodation is only £25 a week than self catering. She will have to buy very little for lunches and no loo paper 😁

But she really doesn't want to cook! I am pleased as it seems a lot of faff and effort.

The kids who've been in self-catered accommodation have in in general had a much more social time this year than those in catered accommodation. The kitchen, and having her seven flatmates as her family/household with whom she doesn't need to social distance, has been the hub of DD's social life. She spends about £30 a week but that is her full supermarket spend (booze and basic toiletries too). She's vegetarian but also very interested in food and cooking.

DD was spending £12-15 a week, got way too thin and I got worried about her. She’s veggie and was eating a lot of lentils, beans, rice, tomato sauces etc so actually not too unhealthy, but left herself literally no room for any luxury food. She is very thrifty and nervous of running short of money. So giving her extra money didn’t seem to make much difference.

In the end I did a £40 food shop every two or three weeks for her, full of extras, and got it delivered straight to her. So I reckon £25-£30 a week to eat reasonably.

She’s now living at home due to Covid and looks much healthier!

During a recent conversation it transpired that while he can cook really well, the day to day "stuff" is a mystery to him- he has no idea how much milk we use in a week, how much butter is, how many slices of bread he uses etc.

In a way though, what does that matter ?
It is irrelevant to my dd, what I spent on a family shop, or how often I have to top up a shop or how many pints or loaves I buy for a family.
I do think cooking regularly is good for all teens - getting used to the idea that you can vary recipes, and put ingredients "you have in" into dishes or miss out things you don't "have in". Getting used to things like looking at 'Use by' dates and 'BBE' dates. Just practical things like making sure you store / wrap up things that you have opened, so they are still edible the next day or 3 days later.

Once of my dc lived in a student village which wasn't well served by reasonably priced shops and did a weekly, on;-line shop, shared with flatmates. One of my dc walked through the supermarket car park on the way home from lectures to her halls each day so tended to be much more of a daily / every other day shopper. All these things factor in. My youngest has done a lot more eating together with flatmates than the other two did - probably an effect of having really limited going out, but it does depend on your flatmates too.

I actually think doing the weekly shop is probably just as helpful as cooking, if that isn't something they've ever been involved in - all those things like looking at dates, like thinking about what you can cook and freeze, or cook and use in different recipes (eg a small whole chicken being a lot cheaper than buying chicken breast meat, in terms of vfm but only if you then use all the meat off the whole chicken, and, whereas sausages might be cheaper per sausage if you buy a 12 pack, are you actually going to want to eat sausages for 4 days running? Whereas if you make something like a lasagne, it actually freezes well and you could have 3,4, or 5 "ready meals" for those other days when you haven't got time to cook. Does he realise how much cheaper it is to eat the fruit and veg that is in season, rather than outs of season stuff ? Then things like looking at the different packs of mince - some are 'leaner' but more expensive. Does he know how to drain the fat from a cheaper pack of mince if that is what budget allows. Does he know how to use a slow cooker ? etc etc.

All excellent advice backforgood and yes, to a certain degree he can and does do all of those things. The pints of milk / slices of bread thing was really to point out that he had no idea how much basics cost, and therefore how much of a weekly budget they could eat into.

There's also definitely work to be done on his expectations. Eg. He and DH won't eat chicken thighs, so he will need to either start eating them or eat less meat as his budget won't stretch to chicken breasts several times a week.

I think it will actually be a really interesting experiment for both of us.

Zero. She’s still at home and takes the tube to University.

£50-60 a week good budget for one adult is ridiculous, I just spent £74 for my family of three and was annoyed that it was so expensive but we are currently having our kitchen redone so I am spending more as we only really have the microwave and have no space for proper cooking.

When I was at uni there were a handful of kids who obviously didn’t have to worry about money, would get regular takeaways/deliveries, didn’t budget at the supermarket etc. I think they missed out on a valuable lesson, it is a right of passage to have to survive as a student on £7.12 for your last week of loan money! I now work at a uni and see parents getting very over involved in budgeting etc and it does students no favours. I understand the desire to make sure they’re ok but they need to learn to have a monthly or even termly allowance and then allocate funds appropriately for travel, food, entertainment etc. Sometimes they will get this very wrong (remembering the time I splashed out on a pair of DMs the second my loan came in and then couldn’t afford to pay my phone bill on time...) but it is a life lesson. Help him learn the basics but then let him balance the budget himself, he may get carried away in Waitrose in the early days but don’t bail him out when it bites him in the bum later in the term when he’s used up most of his loan. He won’t starve, and his tastes will be lowered as needed!

OP tell your DS to try this chicken thigh recipe, it’s delicious.

£50-60 a week good budget for one adult is ridiculous

It's a lot more than needs to be spent, I agree - but in a post-Covid university, where our young people are keen make up for lost time enjoying their freedoms and might decide to meet coursemates for a sandwich / coffee in the Student Union cafe after a seminar (rather than rush home to a lonely student bedroom) it wouldn't be at all difficult to spend this in a week.
And after the last year, I wouldn't I want to deny DD that choice of how to spend her money either. It's not been an easy time for our 18-21s.

I give mine £50 every week she is away, but at least £10 of that goes on laundry, she also has bus fares etc to cover. I reckon £30 on food absolute max.

How much is reasonable to spend is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question depending on budget, any dietary requirements (allergies that is, not 'I can only possibly eat organic chicken breast and I'd like to eat two a day, five times a week'), what shops he has access to and whether or not he's in a house of like minded students who are happy to set up a cooking rota and also share a storecupboard so they can buy bigger packs that cost less overall.

But unless you/he has an unlimited budget, it's good for him to be aware of how the cost of food can vary enormously and what you can do to reduce the cost, usually without compromising on taste or quality.

If you're happy to eat mostly vegetarian cooked from scratch with pulses, rice, seasonal vegetables and common spices sourced from Asian shops/aisles in the supermarket, you can eat for far far less than if you're shopping in corner shops or more expensive supermarkets, eating a lot of meat, fish or ready meals, prepared salads etc, and/or takeaways, Deliveroo, Greggs, fast food, coffee shops etc.

@Champagneforeveryone bit of an aside but what is it in particular that he doesn't like about chicken thighs? If it's the level of fat, you can try having him experiment with boneless and skinless chicken thighs now before he goes away. They're still cheaper than breasts and he can try cooking them in stir fries and curries as a replacement to breasts.

If he's still not convinced then point him towards chicken drumsticks as a cheaper alternative to breasts for a weekly staple. Drumsticks make a nice quick protein snack too as well as good fodder for chicken stock. :)