Food Allowance Amount

[TupperJen]

My daughter is doing a semester at a UK university, and it's self catered accommodation. We've said we'll pay for her food - but how much does a student need, I don't want her having to live off pot noodles, but also not eating out 7 nights a week either!!

Any suggestions as to what a student food-budget might be on average?

For a term, I'd go with £50 a week. This allows a bit for lunch out ( meal deal in supermarket is around £4.50, coffee and sandwich in a cafe about a tenner). I did £35 a week with dd1 15 years ago!

I would say £50 a week for food and maybe an extra £100 at the start to buying things like 1-2 pans, cutlery, plate, cup, glass toiletries, washing powder, soap for the semester. People normally have their own stuff. If they are going to borrow others then would check first and wash up immediately but would not recommend that.

I don't think you want to sound like a bigot by suggesting only international students burn baking trays!

50 quid a week, absolutely
plus the cost of cookware/cups and bowls etc if needed - easily found in charity shops for very little, actually.

@TupperJen My DD did 2 semesters in European universities. Didn’t buy pots and pans but in the uk you should expect to. Other students borrowing is an issue so get a storage box with a lock maybe if she’s that bothered.

Also, be aware that some students will meet socially for a coffee or evening meal. She needs to go if I
invited because it’s a way to make friends and fit in. Ditto going out for a drink. Otherwise cooking for one could be lonely. I’d definitely make sure she goes out.

DS (Norwich) has been spending £30-40 most weeks. Some weeks he catches a lift to Aldi (not really walkable with shopping) the rest of the time it’s a Tesco express.

We give ours 1100 a month
Rent 500/550 leaving 600/550 for expenses

My granddaughter is an international student in the UK. Everything is paid for by her parents but she receives 600 pounds per month for food and pocket money. She cooks from scratch but has a takeaway occasionally as well as the odd meal out.

Regarding pots - just why would you think it acceptable to use other peoples kitchen equipment to save you of your daughter having to buy some? What would the person who bought the pots have to do if they came home to your daughter using them? Wait her turn to get her own pots back?

When one of my children was an international student we moved her out of her uni accommodation after 4 months because the people she shared with were pigs - none of them were from overseas except her. After that it put us off shared accommodation for good and my other children and now grandchildren all went into single accommodation.

@TupperJen where is your daughter going to be living? It can vary quite a bit.

Eg Central London - expensive because all you get is small supermarkets with small packets and often more upscale stuff:

Outer London - you might get a market and a big supermarket, which would be much cheaper.

DC1 who graduated last year and lived just outside central London in an area with a lot of foreign food shops with some bargainous produce, used to spend £40/week cooking from scratch.

international students pay hefty fees. That often means that by default they are from wealthy families who are used to having things done for them.

they were aghast when Ds told them they had to clean the place before they left or they’d lose their deposit (not that the deposit mattered to them).

but unfortunately in general there are a lot of students happy to live in squalor.

We use this as a guide
https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/average-uk-household-cost-food#:~:text=What's%20the%20average%20food%20bill,or%20ordering%20takeaways%20each%20week.

DS gets £500 pcm but that covers socialising and toiletries as well.

My dd gets £45pw from us but reckons only needs about 1/2 of that for food each week.

She does like a coffee out though.

Then there are things like toiletries, washing up liquid, a washing up sponge, and the like.
Plus, at the start, you need to buy all the things you then won't need to buy for several weeks afterwards - tea / coffee, salt, spices, ketchup or mayo or her choice of sauce.

Then she will need cutlery, crockery, a pan and frying pan, utensils, and the like. You can get quite a bit in charity shops, and some Universities collect up things graduating students leave behind / donate and give / sell them to incoming students. That isn't standard though, only at a couple of places that I've heard of. Depends a bit how much time she will be in the country before needing to start cooking.

So, week by week, not so much, but you will definitely need to front load.

Thanks all, definitely good ideas here.
I know she would be respectful if someone did allow her to use their cooking things (not burning it, washing it), I only thought she might borrow if someone was happy with that... she's only there one term, whereas other students are there the whole year (and then possibly moving out).
She loves to thrift, so directing her to a charity shop is probably good first move to get few basics (or Aldi etc).

Surely she could just have breakfast at home , take a packed lunch and then cook an evening meal when she gets back at night ?

I would give her £50 a week personally - this will give some wiggle room for an odd takeaway or meal out and I’d imagine she will want to experience some of the English ‘culture’ around food

I’m the mum and grandma of international students many times over and going by your ignorant stereotyping of them it’s very obvious to me that you are clueless about them in real terms.

Im pretty sure that most of international students in the UK are there on government scholarships. Their government. Not yours.

The majority of those who aren’t on government scholarships are from ordinary families who’ve made huge sacrifices to get their children abroad for an international education.

The minority who come from families like ours who can afford to pay for their children’s international education are no more likely to have slobs for children than anyone else.

Your son’s flatmates were aghast they didn’t have to clean the apartment to get their deposit back? Perhaps they didn’t know about the deposit what with it being highly likely their accommodation was paid for at source by their Government and no one had told them about it. Does that excuse anyone from cleaning? No it doesn’t. But I’m pretty sure once they knew they had to do a really good clean they’ve had done it in case they got into trouble from their government scholarship dept for not doing it and losing the deposit. They’d have been afraid they’d not be allowed to continue studying the next year. And if some of them were privately funded and wouldn’t miss the money? I’d put money on the person being in the minority amongst them and being no different to the six non international filthy slobs my daughter had to live with in her first year for 4 months.

but unfortunately in general there are a lot of students happy to live in squalor

Yes there are, and perhaps now that you know more about the reality of international students you’ll think twice about voicing your ignorant and negative stereotyping.

Not that I think you will.

I've been to multiple universities, mostly I have my own home but I did spend a year sharing with international students, they were all from China and they all had maids at home.

But they were incredibly clean, the kitchen was spotless. The only problem I had was one evening they had friends around and they blocked the smoke detector so they could smoke.

International students, like any other students, come in all different varieties. Some have different hygiene standards, some are used to having a maid, some are slobs and everything in between.

But I’m pretty sure once they knew they had to do a really good clean they’ve had done it in case they got into trouble from their government scholarship dept for not doing it and losing the deposit.

no, they didn’t clean. Ds had to do it all with dh’s help. They never even took a bin out in the entire 12 months & left raw chicken out on the worktop for days in a heatwave.

Charity shops for all kitchen stuff. If international, know the difference between the supermarkets (Lidls not Waitrose!). When I worked in a uni, the international students' handbook, based on years of staff and student feedback, covered real basics: say please and thank-you to the wait and cleaning staff; central heating is turned off at night; don't ever spit; use a baking tray (don't put a chicken on the floor of the oven); if from the US, don't tell people you consider yourself e.g. 'Irish' or 'Italian'; if invited to join others for a drink or meal, it doesn't mean they're paying for you; how to use a duvet; Thanksgiving does not exist; clean the lavatory after you've used it; tip 10% in a restaurant, don't tip if drinking in a pub. Pages and pages and pages of extraordinary cultural misunderstandings, for every national background imaginable!! Has this YP sorted out how she's going to pay for stuff: bank account, phone pay, credit cards?? (many cafes and student unions don't take cash).

@busybusybusy2015 many good points.
Culturally, I think she's OK - we actually lived in London for a few years in her primary years, so she definitely knows Waitrose/Wholefoods are not her daily shop! Hadn't thought about bank account... will need to consider the options there, having foreign transaction fee on each transaction will definitely cost a bomb!

And for those that are interested, her place is through a University exchange. So she attends the UK university, but the course fee gets added to her Australian university loan - so she pays the same as if she was doing units in Australia. So not free, but not international student rate either.

For lunches ds uses the students Union cafe or the cafe in whichever building he is in. A bacon sandwich is £2.75, he can have a large latte & a slice of cake for £5-6. He sometimes takes his own lunch as there are microwave stations around the campus, he will cook up a pasta meal, box the leftovers & freezer, just getting one out a day. Make sure she has a travel mug & drinks flask, students get discounts if they use their own mug & it means they can take a hot drink to lectures, there are drinks stations around the campus where students can get chilled water, ds fills his bottle with ice, then refills around the campus, he carries those tiny Robinson's super concentrated squash triangles around so he has a choice between water or squash.

Tell her to set up a revolut account. Then she can have aus dollar account and uk pounds and it’s one card. You can pay into dollar account and she can convert to pounds when exchange rates best. You can top up as needed. There’s no high fees.

@TupperJen Yes, that’s how year abroad works here too.

I don’t know how much currency exchanges fluctuate - if she needs money she’ll just have to draw form the account. Be careful about money laundering legislation.

My dd says she spends about £30 a week on food for herself and her girlfriend. She's become very good at hunting out bargains in Aldi.