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?

I’d say £30-40 is a generous starting point. We spend about £100pw as a married couple and it usually includes wine, laundry detergent/kitchen roll in there plus we’re both training so lots of chicken and several steaks.

As far as her using pans - I’d look at somewhere like Argos or Amazon and treat her to a starter set (plus some cooking utensils and cutlery) delivered there she can always just leave? It’s not a great impression to ask to borrow other people’s things eg when I’m wanting to cook my meal am I then waiting for you to finish cooking before I can cook? Some people also just don’t like sharing cooking items and might worry she won’t look after them - she is a stranger to them after all and they may want to use these things their entire degree. If she’s only there a term and wants to live in harmony, I think it’s worth you spending £30-40 and helping her come across as not being a burden. I’d rather she had no areas her flatmates could criticise her and start off on the best foot.

i lived in an international flat in my first year with 3 local students and 2 rotating international students (terms at a time like yours!) and I’m very generous and would probably have said OK, but would have found it frustrating when I was a law student with a job (so busy with tight schedules) if I couldn’t immediately use my own things. Hope that helps!

She'll have a wonderful time, especially if she can remember a bit about the UK from childhood. If it's going to be autumn/winter my only alert would be being prepared for how early it gets dark: overseas students feeling depressed/homesick, it's probably the light levels. It's not the cold that's tough, it's the gloom!

Lots of Uni’s sell secondhand ones that have been donated by previous students.