Student weekly food budget?

[Blondie1984]

Does anyone have a rough idea of what this is/should be for students living in uncatered halls? I.e having to prepare and pay for all meals,snacks etc

I am wondering too as DS is off in September, does £35 per week sound reasonable?

I reckon about 30 pounds for food if they can cook and are used to shopping for bargains. You might need more if ready meals are needed, or if nearest supermarket is not Aldi/Lidl. My very greedy older sons managed on 25-30 p.w a few years ago.
I'm also thinking about a buffer of about 100 to start them off, so there's money for books, stationery, incidentals and a bit for fun. You also need to factor in fares and laundry, and possibly library deposit.

Add to that: coffees or meals out with friends, replacement clothes, toiletries, printing costs if required, Sports club charges and any society fees, plus any freshers week wristband fees. Plus anything they have forgotten to bring: eg loo cleaner! It all adds up.

We give our Ds £30 per week while he is at uni. He has managed on this for the past two years. I do send him with a box of basics (tins, flour, rice, pasta, spices etc) to start the year but the £30 has covered him so far. I think he even manages the odd bottle of alcohol on this

My daughter spent £15-£20 per week for the last four years when she was at uni.

I used to spend around £30 per week in Aldi. My parents used to set me up with full set of basics like tea bags, oil, herbs/spices, pasta, rice etc when they used to drop me off in September ☺️

I think this is doable . Is this including toiletries and eating out?

I only have this much for me and dc a week for food supermarket purchases.

You’re just talking about food right? We were looking at more like 50-75 per week but to cover everything (food, travel, books, going out, household stuff like loo roll/shaving stuff)

Ds spends about 50 per week, but he does a lot of sport and is also pretty picky about what he eats - almond milk, salmon, loads of fruit, only extra lean minced meat etc.
I think his flat clubbed together to pay for washing up liquid, kitchen sponges, cleaning products etc as does not make sense to have eight lots of stuff. Four of them also did their online food shopping together and took advantage of special offers.

Also ds does not drink which also makes a difference.

I give mine £50 a week. That's for food, entertainment, whatever. I supplement their end if term rail ticket as they both chose unis at the other end of the country.

Purely on food shopping I'm thinking £25-£30 per week. DS2 has worked out the price differential between an Aldi / Lidl vs Sainbury/Tesco vs Spar type convenience store for the same products.

As others have pointed out though there's eating out, or getting a takeaway pizza delivered, socialising, etc, ect. I'm probably going to provide £80 per wk overall. He's built up quite a decent amount from gap year working so any real luxuries, or just stuff over and above the £80 he can fund.

My dd has £35pw from us and says that is plenty. In terms of food and groceries she reckons she never spends £20 - the rest is apparently for meals out and alcohol

We decided to up the budget but only because he worked all through sixth form and would rather he just worked summer holiday the first year. He has no maintenance loan after accommodation. He did a week of cooking as if in university and his food shop was £23 and had food left over. He picked and ate quite well, did help himself to a few lagers that were not included in the price. I think I have bought enough toiletries to last him a year.