How much would you say is enough to live off a week?

Once you have paid rent/bills how much at uni do you need for food and other things?

How much should you have put away for emergencies?

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Reply 1

Fish40

£10

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Reply 2

stripystockings

For a week, food for one person should be about £5. Hygiene products should be about £1-2 (since they last ages), cleaning products about £1 as well (same reason). Entertainment varies - I tend to stay in, and most books and films etc. are free online. If you go out a lot, you'll spend a significant amount of money. I'd recommend trying to save 50% of your weekly allowance, although most people probably save 10-25%.

Reply 3

LPauling

Original post by stripystockings

Could you give a rough breakdown of the £5 you spend on food?

Reply 4

username1842595

Original post by stripystockings

£5? Are you serious? Do you starve?

Buy £10 worth of meat, £5 of veg and £5 on a range of carbohydrates. And it should last you a week.

Buy the supermarkets own brand things as the branded ones are obviously more expensive. Also, shopping at around 9pm means you can get discounted items because the supermarket tries to get rid of excess stock.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

Mutmit287

Original post by LPauling

Once you have paid rent/bills how much at uni do you need for food and other things?

How much should you have put away for emergencies?

So once bills and rent are out of the way it really does depend on your lifestyle, hobbies, diet and travel habits.

I like to have a lot of fresh fruit and veg in my diet, i also tend to make a lot of food from scratch so i buy a lot of meat as well. If you stay away from the branded items and have a good diet you could easily feed yourself with loads of fresh fruits and veggies for £20 per week, personally I add toiletries and other items into this, as well as a few branded items to make £30pw.

If you like to go out say once a week, thats about £15 if you think of nightclub entry plus taxi money plus a couple of drinks for pres.

laundry can be expensive in first year, 1 was and a dry for me was around £4, and I did around 2 per week as the dryers were pretty damn tiny, so that came to £8.

then for travel, I visited my boyfriend once every few weeks so to save for that was around £20pw (he lived ages away)

for me I could live very happily on £50-60pw as I dont drink, obviously if your wanting to drink and not travel around £40pw. but there needs to be a cut off point, living off £10 unless you have to can be pretty terrible.

Reply 6

stripystockings

Original post by LPauling

Could you give a rough breakdown of the £5 you spend on food?

Sure! This will obviously vary person to person, and is generalised, but:

£1 on milk (4litre bottle)
£0.50 on bread (normal sized loaf, medium slices)
£1 on eggs (less if you go for caged eggs)
£0.20 on pasta or £0.10 on rice (this is for 7 servings at 75g per serving)
£1 on sauce (for either pasta or rice).
£1.30 for items that you buy monthly - cereals, porridge, butter, etc.

Basically, buy non-branded. Also, check out cookingonabootstrap - it's an absolute lifesaver in terms of very cheap cooking - many recipes are 10p to make or less.

Reply 7

stripystockings

Original post by sameehaiqbal

A lot of "staples" - carbs like pasta and rice - can be bought in bulk and work out incredibly cheap. £5 a week just for carbohydrates for one person? Buy a £0.50 1kg bag of rice instead - it'll last a month (depending on how much rice you use). Meat/poultry is expensive, so buy frozen and in bulk - £3.82 for 1kg of chicken breast at Tesco's, which will last a month or more depending on how often you have meat/poultry (not very often, personally). I do admit that I generally don't each much veg either, which is largely given by family members (I live close to home). I'd say even with buying veg, everything would work out about £10 or less a week - you just need to buy veg that lasts longer than a few days or a week.

Reply 8

LPauling

Original post by stripystockings

So you don't buy any vegetables, fruit or meat?

Reply 9

SophieSmall

I spend between £20-£25 a week on food. But unlike the user who said you can live on £5 a week with what they listed...I actually like having a varied not boring diet. Considering what they said they buy I'm not convinced they aren't hungry all the time or eating below their caloric needs.

After that about £5 a month on toiletries as they last a while.

As for entertainment that is completely down to individual preferences. Whether you drink, how often you go out and whether you eat out often and if so the places you go to as prices vary massively.

Reply 10

LPauling

Original post by SophieSmall

Thank you that was a much better answer than the £5 a week person haha. What kind of items do you buy? Any items you bought near the start but didn't actually need in the end? Any tips now you have done it for a while?

Reply 11

SophieSmall

Original post by LPauling

Your initial shop will likely be more expensive as you'll need to buy cupboard staples (salt, condiments, spices and cooking oil). But after that you'll see the price go down.

Yeah sure this is my current shopping list (for 2 weeks) for lunches and dinners. I'd then spend an extra £5 or so a week on snacks as i don't like to plan those.

2 for £7 asda beef or lamb steaks (4 steaks)

£3 3x Salad bag

£3 3x punnet mushrooms

£1.25 Iceland mini stuffed mushrooms

£1.25 Iceland baby potatoes with herbs and butter

£2 700g Iceland Sweet potatos (some weeks swapped with regular potatoes)

£4 4x Asda Grower’s selection mixed peppers

£2.50 Asda 6x minted lamb kebabs

£0.50 2x kidney beans cans

0.50 2 x chopped tomatoes cans

£1 courgettes (sometimes swapped with carrots, aubergines or as well as)

£2 3 x Iceland Maple and bacon pork loins

£2 2x asda boil in bag rice

£1.10 Asda’s growers selection lemons

£2 4x asda chilli with peppers chopped tomato cartons

£1 2 x Asda’s growers selection celery

£0.50 2 x Asda garlic bulbs

£1 Iceland chicken satay skewers

£0.88 Asda Garlic and herb cream cheese

£0.50 red onions

Total cost: £36.98 (divided by 2 = £18.49 per week).

I'll swap out items every now and again for variation with something else of a similar cost and/ or nutritional content.

Typical meals include:
Steak with salad and sauteed veg.

jacket potatoes (sweet potato or regular) with varied toppings dependong on what was bought that shop.

Mediterranean rice dishes

Mediterranean meat and veg dishes.

Stir fry.

Baked veg with varied meats

chilli

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 12

username1842595

Original post by stripystockings

Wow, you must have a very boring diet. There's more to carbs than rice and pasta.

Reply 13

jamesthehustler

Original post by LPauling

Once you have paid rent/bills how much at uni do you need for food and other things?

How much should you have put away for emergencies?

I can't really help you with the first bit but the second
I would say at least 2%-5% of your earnings but ideally 10%

Reply 14

LPauling

Original post by jamesthehustler

I can't really help you with the first bit but the second
I would say at least 2%-5% of your earnings but ideally 10%

Ok what about when at uni? and just have student finance

Reply 15

Lexusaf

Original post by LPauling

Could you give a rough breakdown of the £5 you spend on food?

Original post by sameehaiqbal

£5? Are you serious? Do you starve?

tbh it depends how much you eat. when i was at uni i literally just ate soup, beans and bread and tea or coffee and biscuits. never had much of an appetite. and i don't drink. very rarely ate meat except for when my mum came to visit and brought me some home cooked meals. on the very few occasions i wanted something else i'd buy one of those cheap £1 pizzas.

fact is i was usually spending around £5 a week or less on food too. my favourite days were when there was a lot of food in the reduced price section. used to be able to pick up trifles and eclairs and coke for a few quid!

Reply 16

jamesthehustler

Original post by LPauling

Ok what about when at uni? and just have student finance

as I said I can only really give a range on emergency funds so at least 2% as anyone can afford that
but 5% is better and affordable for most people
and 10% is affordable if you try

Reply 17

Telephone Paul

Make £200 - £400 pm using your mobile. I know it isn't a lot but it sure comes in handy. Really easy to do. Just call a number a few times a day and get paid for it. What's not to like? :smile:

Reply 18

Fish40

Original post by Telephone Paul

Make £200 - £400 pm using your mobile. I know it isn't a lot but it sure comes in handy. Really easy to do. Just call a number a few times a day and get paid for it. What's not to like? :smile:

How?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 19

LPauling

Original post by jamesthehustler

as I said I can only really give a range on emergency funds so at least 2% as anyone can afford that
but 5% is better and affordable for most people
and 10% is affordable if you try

Thank you