How much do you spend on food per week?

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illy123

I'm trying to find out how large my food budget should be; I have this as a rough guide to what I will prob eat:

9AM
Scottish Oats / Porridge Oats / Oatabix
Dates/Sultanas
Honey
Soy Milk

11AM
3 Large Free Range Eggs
Olive Oil
Bit of Cheddar Cheese

2PM
Salmon Fillet(3)/Chicken Breast Fillet (3)/ Steak (1)
Vegetables: Broccoli, Peppers, Tomatoes, Spinach, Peas, Lettuce, Cauliflower, Aubergine, Betroot
/Brown rice

5PM
Tuna
Cottage Cheese
Clove of Garlic

8PM
Eggs/Cottage Cheese/Milk + Oats

Snacks throughout: Apple/Banana/Mandarine/Kiwi/Pear/Grapes?/Strawberrys?

Aiming for around 2500 to 3000 calories of clean, nutritious food. Any ideas whether this is feasible?

Wow, do you normally eat so healthily? That is amazing, I could only ever hope to eat that well!

Are you looking to save money? Or up your calorie intake with purely healthy foods?

Reply 21

zKlown

destination unknown

I read on average that a student spend 30-40quid per week on food! :eek:

How they manage to spend so few money?

I spend 110-130quid on average per week on supermarket food. (thank god I've got a part-time job :biggrin:

)

Can you help me cut down my spending? give me some advice please on how you manage to eat for 40quid per week? :smile:

Any specials places to find student/discount prices?

btw, i don't cook: i buy sandwiches and ready meals :p:

Cheers

WTFBBQ, how do you spend that much a week?

I'm going to Uni in September like. My mum spends £40 a week and that's food for both of us, I plan on spending £20-30.

That is pure wow!

Reply 22

Dynamitri

destination unknown

no alcohol included :o:

i dunno why i spend so much on food! :s-smilie:

like for example, i need 3 ready meals for lunch to feel i ate something

there you go

you buy ready meals, whereas for the price of a good decent meal (around £3 pounds, if not more) you could buy ingredients that would last you 2 to 3 meals - either potatoes or rice, some vegs and some meat. If you buy 3 of them, it's 9 pounds per day at least, amounting to... How much? 63 per week, or something?

Put drinks on top of that and cleaning products and you have well over £100, methinks. To be honest I think you're wasting money, 'cause the "ready meals" are really tiny and IMO rubbish; if I were to spend £100 per week on food, I'd rather just live off takeaways/restaurants (£9/10 pounds can get you quite a decent meal from a takeaway or something, and however rubbish they might be, they're surely better and larger than the ridiculously small microwaveable portions they do for you to heat up). :yep:

But that's just me, different strokes for different folks, I reckon... :lolwut:

Oh, BTW - I usually spend £20-£30. Per week and a half. Or something. And then just have additional spendings of £2-3 for bread/rolls and drinks per day.

Reply 23

illy123

elixira

Wow, do you normally eat so healthily? That is amazing, I could only ever hope to eat that well!

Are you looking to save money? Or up your calorie intake with purely healthy foods?

Hah, after a few months you get used to it!

I like training (albeit I don't lift very much) and hopefully a good diet will help me improve - not to mention all the other benefits outside of sport.

I guess I want to find out whether what I have posted is feasible for a student. Probably the best thing to do would be to write out the cost of everything, multiplied by the quantities, and adding on 10% - then I will know whether or not I can afford it. If not, then I will have substitute more expensive food for cheaper calorie dense food like oats and rice.

Reply 24

Trevor 12345

destination unknown

I read on average that a student spend 30-40quid per week on food! :eek:

How they manage to spend so few money?

I spend 110-130quid on average per week on supermarket food. (thank god I've got a part-time job :biggrin:

)

Can you help me cut down my spending? give me some advice please on how you manage to eat for 40quid per week? :smile:

Any specials places to find student/discount prices?

btw, i don't cook: i buy sandwiches and ready meals :p:

Cheers

What a strange post.
All your questions are dealt with by the part in Bold, If you cannot see this then I am afraid any advice that you do receive will be somewhat wasted on you....

non the less here we go.....
(i) Get yourself a steamer
(ii) get a load of vegetables, frozen will do just fine if time is an issue and do have the advantage that they will not get wasted by going bad .... just bang a mix of them in the steamer
(iii) Get some rice, pasta, etc.... white/ cheap brands will do just fine

(iv) learn how to make a couple of simple sauces

(v) The above will do on its own for several meals a week.... get some fish, meat, chicken etc for other times. I would avoid cheap sausages/ burgers/ heavily processed meat goods etc ....

(vi) To cook a meal using the above, be it italian/ indian/ english/ etc would take perhaps 5-10 min prep and 10-15 cooking.

(vii) Stop buying sandwiches and make your own (time cost 5 mins) ... they should be a lot nicer and a hell of a lot healthier,

(viii) Buy fruit and not junk like crisps etc .....

(ix) porridge oats are always worth having

(x) etc, etc ...

Reply 25

Rainygal

I spend about £20 a week on food, excluding alcohol.

Reply 26

destination unknown

Thank you all for your advices! :smile:

Wow I really admire you all cookers :P
I can't believe that most of you spend around 30quid and do eat meat,veg,fruits...

Well from where do you buy meat for instance? where I shop (waitrose), 400-450g cost at least 4quid.

Can you tell me why do you think that supermarket pre-cooked meal are bad (not healthy)?

Reply 27

Wildebeest

It's roughly in the range of £20-25 a week for all of my food, and I don't drink. Yes, very little of what I buy is the best quality, but there's nothing wrong with it and I end up with an obscene amount to eat from what really isn't a lot of money.

Reply 28

elixira

illy123

Gosh, you're my hero(ine?)!

Do you eat the expensive salmon/steak? If so, it might be an idea to get the tinned stuff, or just eat pulses for protein... and choose seasonal fruit/veg that's on offer.

I think you'll be alright, though. I used to buy all sorts of junk and ready-made type stuff, then decided to buy basic ingredients I could make meals out of - veg, fruit, pasta, noodles, flour, eggs, pulses, cheese... basically, a lot of the stuff you mentioned. I bought LOADS, and it still worked out miles cheaper than a junky shop! Plus, it's obviously a lot healthier!

I was worried I'd end up eating nothing but beans when I went uni, but it's really nothing like that. You basically eat the same as you ever did at home (unless you are CRAZILY broke, and I don't know anyone that low on moolah), but choose the cheaper stuff where necessary.

And yeah, I'd stock up on the cheap, filling stuff like rice and oats :smile:

Oh, and if you don't mind shopping around, I know that supermarkets 'rotate' their deals - so a certain brand will be on offer in Asda one month, then it'll be on offer in Tesco the next month, etc.

Reply 29

Alan_Johnson

I've been trying to get used to eating like a student over the summer and at the moment i'm living on around £10 a week. (excluding alcohol)

I have a bowl of cheap cereal each morning
I then cook some tofu up with a jar of sauce. This gives me a wrap with Tofu for lunch (which is an aquired taste) and a dinner that evening. I normally get two days out of this.

cereal £1
Tofu 2/3 x £1-1.50
Sauces 3/4 x £1
Wraps £1

at first i was really hungry cos i was used to eating big portions and lots of calories but now i'm used it and live on it comfortably. When i feel hungry i drink juice (<£1) and it tides me over till dinner. if i feel really hungry though i eat something. no point starving yourself but i actually feel better not bloating myself out at meal times

Reply 30

Rob_dob

destination unknown

Thank you all for your advices! :smile:

Waitrose must be the must un-student-friendly supermarket- The food is quality but you do pay that extra bit more for that. Ready meals are unhealthy because they usually have a high salt and fat content, and often lack the minerals and vitamins found in fresh foods. Learn to cook mate- I plan to live of things like stir fries, chilli con carne, omelettes, pastas etc etc- all dirt cheap. It's not hard to learn a few such recipes even if you cook those maybe 4-5 days a week and have a couple of lazy days on takeouts or ready meals you're still saving yourself a hell of a lot of money. I'm planning to live on maybe £25-35 a week however that may go out the window as I do lots of sport and eat sooooo much :smile:

Reply 31

56gs47qr0ghe9454fe268st

OP, stop buying ready meals and learn to cook, and don't shop at the most expensive supermarket there is.

Too much

£0.
I raid my parents cupboard mwahaha!

Reply 34

Antimatter

destination unknown

I read on average that a student spend 30-40quid per week on food! :eek:

How they manage to spend so few money?

I spend 110-130quid on average per week on supermarket food. (thank god I've got a part-time job :biggrin:

)

Can you help me cut down my spending? give me some advice please on how you manage to eat for 40quid per week? :smile:

Any specials places to find student/discount prices?

btw, i don't cook: i buy sandwiches and ready meals :p:

Cheers

I think this might be your problem. You've got a month or so, go learn to cook!

Reply 35

Kiwiguy

gummers

Too much

yeah yeah yeah thread etc zzzzzzz

More the point, who is that awesome person in your sig??!!!

Reply 36

gummers

Kiwiguy

yeah yeah yeah thread etc zzzzzzz

More the point, who is that awesome person in your sig??!!!

I dont know
I thought it was Evanna Lynch but I've been told it's not here soo!! :frown:

Reply 37

lizk123

Does vary for me, can be anywhere from £20-40. This will depend if I am stocking up on stuff though, I tend to have big shops where I buy lots of meat to freeze and it'll then last me for the rest of the month or something. You need to stop buying sandwiches, it is far cheaper to make them yourself! Ready meals are ok, but not for every day of the week, and not if you buy 3 for 1 meal! Pasta is one of the main things I eat, you can then either make a sauce yourself or buy one that'll last a few days.

Reply 38

py0alb

illy123

Is that ALL in 1 day? No way does anyone eat that much.
I'm 6'3, very active, and it would take me three days to get through that much food.

heres what I eat in a day:

9am: cup of coffee
11am: cup of coffee
12noon: 99p bacon cob
4pm: cup of coffee
6pm: regular sized evening meal: 1 type of meat, 1 type of veg, 1 type of carb
8pm: 3 pints of Carling