What is your weekly food budget ?

And what do you usually buy in a week?

As an upcoming student in September (hopefully), I really want to know what sort of things are good for students to buy.

Much detail as possible please ! However any responses would be good.

I ask because I'll be living on about £60-65 a week and as much as I think that may be enough, it would be good to get an idea what to spend on for food before I even go. :smile:

Reply 1

scribble_girl

14

I got mine down to £25 by the end of uni, but I reckon you could do it for a shave less if you planned carefully.

Reply 2

heyimbored

17

planning is useful because then you don't by anything extra that ends up going off.

Pasta and tuna is good and cheap, and you can add mayo or sauces to make it a little more exciting. Beans on toast is good, and good for you despite the beliefs of some. Stuff like stir fry can be very cheap too.

Ready meals will end up being more expensive than you buying the ingredients to make them, it's just easier on the time/effort to get it all done for you.

£20-£25 will feed you well, with decent quality stuff if you shop well.

Reply 3

AMorgan26

1

Original post by heyimbored

Beans on toast is good, and good for you despite the beliefs of some.

No.

Original post by jaek13456

...

I'll have a budget next year of about £100 per week for food as well as going out and other general living costs.

I plan on buying mainly fresh meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, all that good stuff, as well as essentials like tea, butter, milk etc. I should have enough money to eat well.

Reply 4

heyimbored

17

Original post by AMorgan26

No.

Yes.

They are an excellent source of protein, fibre, anti oxidants, and a selection of minerals.

And don't try to convince anyone that toast is bad.

Reply 5

Teaddict

17

£50? (doesn't include take aways, or meals out)

Reply 6

AMorgan26

1

Original post by heyimbored

Yes.

They are an excellent source of protein, fibre, anti oxidants, and a selection of minerals.

And don't try to convince anyone that toast is bad.

Beans aren't so bad, however nowhere near as good as meat and vegetables. Bread on the other hand = lectins, phytates, gluten and a huge insulin response. No thanks.

Reply 7

truechristian91

16

Ok, ultra stingy you could maybe go as low as £15, £20-25 is a much better target which so long as you as going for 3 square meals and a few snacks then its easy. Dont include booze or anything else in that by the way, that is just for food to keep you alive. :P

Reply 8

Bio Cat

You have plenty of money, as long as you don't spend it all on going out etc...!

Shop at the local market for fruit and veg/meat, use the asian/oriental supermarkets for bulk buying staples (ie 10kg jasmine rice = £12 instead of about £24+ in a normal supermarket) etc.

Become a friend of the reduced section in the supermarkets, you can get some great stuff for next to nothing, and then freeze it for another day.

Plan meals, and be a good cook, and you will eat very well for little money :smile:

Reply 9

Erich Hartmann

13

Original post by jaek13456

And what do you usually buy in a week?

As an upcoming student in September (hopefully), I really want to know what sort of things are good for students to buy.

Much detail as possible please ! However any responses would be good.

I ask because I'll be living on about £60-65 a week and as much as I think that may be enough, it would be good to get an idea what to spend on for food before I even go. :smile:

Weekly budget while at uni, this was for 2009/10 :-

1 bag of apples (6 in it) £1.50
1 bag of bananas (5-7 in it) £1.50
1 bag of oranges (6 in it) £1.80
1 bag of grapes £2.50

1 bag of carrots (1kg) £0.50
1 bag of parsnips (1kg) £0.80
3 Swedes £1.50
4 large baking potatoes £1
6 normal sized potatoes £0.60
500g white mushrooms £1.50
2 broccoli £0.90
1 cauliflower £0.80
2 aubergines £1.60
500g brussel sprouts. £0.70
4 green peppers £1.20
4 types of lettuce £3
8 tomatoes £1
200g cherry tomatoes £2

4 cans of Heinz baked beans £2.30
2 cans of tuna £1.80
4 cans of Bachelors tomato soup £2.80

1 packet of wheat pasta (500g) £1.49
1 packet of raw oats (1kg) £0.70
1 bar of cadbury chocolate £1.50
1 packet of rice (500g) £0.70
1 jar of Uncle Ben's Curry Sauce £1.70

1 bottle of milk (2.3l) £1.25
1x4 Creme caramel £0.70
1x4 Chocolate dessert £0.69

2 x slices of salmon £4
500g Pork mince £4
4x Chicken break £5
2x Ribeye steaks £5
1 Beef joint £6

2 loafs of bread £2
3x1l Fruit juice £2
6 large eggs £2.99
200g of ham £2
200g of cheddar cheese £1.20

1 pack of chocolate chip cookies £0.89

That was taken from one my MS Excel budgeting worksheet, it's an actual grocery bill for the week that we ate at home as it was Easter break and all meals were eaten in.

Oh by the way, that was a bill for food for 2 :smile:

For 1 I'd say you could get by with between 40-60% of what I had spent.

Reply 10

Erich Hartmann

13

Original post by Bio Cat

You have plenty of money, as long as you don't spend it all on going out etc...!

Shop at the local market for fruit and veg/meat, use the asian/oriental supermarkets for bulk buying staples (ie 10kg jasmine rice = £12 instead of about £24+ in a normal supermarket) etc.

Become a friend of the reduced section in the supermarkets, you can get some great stuff for next to nothing, and then freeze it for another day.

Plan meals, and be a good cook, and you will eat very well for little money :smile:

Sometimes depending on where you are staying, it can be problematic buying food in bulk.

Either the damn kitchen at a student flat is too small, particularly if it requires refrigeration, these are often insufficient especially if you don't pool common food stuff.... our fridge had 6 different bottles of milk and 8 bottles of ketchup alone because we never pooled them.

The other possible problem you do get is food theft, a very common problem in many student flats.

Reply 11

jaek13456

OP

2

Could I possibly save quite a bit of money over the year by having water from the tap ? Or should I might as well just buy something cheap from somewhere ?

I spend on average £100 a week for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids) and that includes things like cleaning products, toiletries etc. and nappies.

You could get by, as a single person, with considerably less than that.

Reply 13

Sakura-Chan

20

My budget is £50 a week :smile:

But I rarely spend more than £30 and I eat really well :yep:

Reply 14

ilex_

6

I lived on £25 a week, I managed to feed myself and get a few nights out on it too. All you have to do is have no standards, be prepared to invest in 20p bottles of cider and freeze cheese.

Reply 15

Jacktri

2

cereal + crusty bread is all you need

Reply 16

happydinosaur

15

Original post by Bio Cat

You have plenty of money, as long as you don't spend it all on going out etc...!

Shop at the local market for fruit and veg/meat, use the asian/oriental supermarkets for bulk buying staples (ie 10kg jasmine rice = £12 instead of about £24+ in a normal supermarket) etc.

Become a friend of the reduced section in the supermarkets, you can get some great stuff for next to nothing, and then freeze it for another day.

Plan meals, and be a good cook, and you will eat very well for little money :smile:

Original post by Erich Hartmann

Sometimes depending on where you are staying, it can be problematic buying food in bulk.

Either the damn kitchen at a student flat is too small, particularly if it requires refrigeration, these are often insufficient especially if you don't pool common food stuff.... our fridge had 6 different bottles of milk and 8 bottles of ketchup alone because we never pooled them.

The other possible problem you do get is food theft, a very common problem in many student flats.

I agree with this. Space is a huge issue. Less so when you move into houses but even then it is not great. Sadly I have no idea where I would keep 10kg of rice, I barely have room in my cupboards for anything and things do not do well left lying around communal areas in halls. But even without buying in bulk you can still keep you weekly shop quite low in cost. Basics range stuff is great especially pasta and rice where there is not much difference taste wise with the more expensive stuff.

OP it completely depends on what your kitchen situation is like, in first year I had half a shelf in the fridge and barely any freezer space but lots of cupboards so I could bulk buy dried stuff and tins but had to shop 2/3 times a week for fresh things like meat and veg.

This year in halls at another uni there is no cupboard space at all but plenty of fridge freezer space, this uni obviously thinks students just want to fill a freezer/fridge with pizzas and ready meals. We barely even have worktop space for preparing food on...though to be fair most people in my flat do just use the microwave.

Reply 17

Supertoaster

1

I'd normally spend £25 one week in iceland and buy aload of stuff, have some left and only spend like £15 the next, off the top of my head this got me bread, cheese, ham, bacon/sausages, mince, sausage rolls, couple pot noodles, multipack of crisps, pasta, pasta/bolognaise sauce, couple pizzas, big bag of chips, 4 southern fried chicken peices, microwave meal.

Reply 18

Liam_G

14

How do you guys have so much money for food? My Mum spends less than some of these responses, and she has three mouths to feed :curious:

Reply 19

littlemoth

£20-25. Now that I'm no longer a student, I manage to keep it at about £20 during the week but then it all goes to pot at the weekend and about another £15-20 goes on top of that. Sigh!

What is your weekly food budget ?

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