How much money do you need for a year for food?
Im moving out for uni, how much money would u need for groceries and stuff.
It depends on what food you eat. Do you cook from scratch or is it convenience food pot noodles, pre cooked savoury rice ? Might be an idea to start working out what meals and snacks you are likely to eat and add those items / quantities for a weeks worth of food to a basket on one of the grocery sites Tesco, Asda, Aldi etc and work back from there. You wont need food during the holidays unless staying at your accommodation.
Original post by MizzyB234
It depends on what food you eat. Do you cook from scratch or is it convenience food pot noodles, pre cooked savoury rice ? Might be an idea to start working out what meals and snacks you are likely to eat and add those items / quantities for a weeks worth of food to a basket on one of the grocery sites Tesco, Asda, Aldi etc and work back from there. You wont need food during the holidays unless staying at your accommodation.
Mostly cook from home and get some food here and there. Yeah good idea, ill do that thanks.
£40 a week should be fine, including toiletries and cleaning products and stuff.
I spend £180 a week on a family of 6 plus one small dog which works out as £30 per person, but larger packs of food tend to be more economical than smaller packs, so as a single person you'll probably need to make allowances for that.
Disclaimer: With the cost of living going up, that figure will probably continue to rise.
I spend £180 a week on a family of 6 plus one small dog which works out as £30 per person, but larger packs of food tend to be more economical than smaller packs, so as a single person you'll probably need to make allowances for that.
Disclaimer: With the cost of living going up, that figure will probably continue to rise.
I'd agree and say about £40 a week, but if you factor in social events, random payments like phone bills or having to buy textbooks or general uni equipment I'd say a safe number to plan around is about £60 per week.
Best of luck!
Joseph - University of Sunderland Student Ambassador
Best of luck!
Joseph - University of Sunderland Student Ambassador
million
Ok thats good to know that ill have like 4k from maintenance loans and work money for food and stuff
Original post by antonymartinz99
million
Damn ive got 999,999 in the bank.
Original post by Anonymous
Im moving out for uni, how much money would u need for groceries and stuff.
I guess like £5 a day, so that’s £35 a week.
Depends on your location, health issues, dietary preferences, cooking abilities and whether you regularly enjoy some alcohol or takeaway meals.
If you are based in London or one of the Home Counties, with access to a kitchen with deep freezer and fridge on 24hrs a day I'd recommend allocating at least £45 a week for groceries & other essentials.
If you are located in Southern England and a big fan of takeaways & booze with limited cooking abilities or no access to a fridge, allocate at least £70 a week for food and household essentials.
If you are based in London or one of the Home Counties, with access to a kitchen with deep freezer and fridge on 24hrs a day I'd recommend allocating at least £45 a week for groceries & other essentials.
If you are located in Southern England and a big fan of takeaways & booze with limited cooking abilities or no access to a fridge, allocate at least £70 a week for food and household essentials.
Original post by Anonymous
Im moving out for uni, how much money would u need for groceries and stuff.
Hi! I study at the London Interdisciplinary School in Whitechapel, London, and live a short walk away. Because of the location, I am quite well connected to a range of supermarkets from a large Sainsbury's store, to multiple Tesco shops and even a Lidl. London can be more expensive than elsewhere so budgeting is very useful, especially as a student - my weekly budget includes food and toiletries and laundry costs, but I don't include social expenses.
I buy ingredients to make my own meals as I find this cheaper, and also more enjoyable; I make sure to plan a rough idea of what I will eat in a week to help this process when I get to the shop.
You may find some social events at uni are catered around food - I know quite a few people on my course who have organised group meals or alternate cooking when watching a film with each other, or made societies about it etc. which makes the experience a social one.
Original post by Anonymous
Im moving out for uni, how much money would u need for groceries and stuff.
Hi,
It will depend on where you live and the cost-of-living in that area. Usually there is a guide on your university website or students union. If not, reach out to someone that lives in the area and ask them. I live in Coventry and find I usually spend £40 on groceries per week. It could be cheaper but this works for my budget. I shop at Iceland/Asda/Sainsbury's but it could be cheaper if you could get to an Aldi or Lidl. I also tend to buy meal deals at uni, and I could reduce cost if I were to make my own lunch. But it is convenient to grab a meal deal when I am out at uni.
I hope this helps
Sara
Original post by Anonymous
Im moving out for uni, how much money would u need for groceries and stuff.
Hey there!
This is completely personal to you. For me personally, i enjoy the gym so a lot of the food I buy in a week is very much protein-based which naturally is a lot more expensive. In first year, before the prices started going up, I was spending around £20-£30 a week on food shopping for myself. However this year a typical week looks around £30-£40. This wouldn't be the same for everyone as, as I say, I have a more protein based diet. I get a monthly allowance from my parents which is £220 and that includes food, toiletries, washing and anything I need for university. I have to learn how to budget it myself for the month which is all part of the growing up experience. I use a cash book to track my spending each month and to make sure I'm not overspending my food money on things like going out and socialising.
As others have said, it depends completely on what you're eating. A lot of my teatime meals are cooked from scratch but it would be a lot cheaper to live on packet food and ready meals. I would estimate on a diet of packet food and ready meals, you'd be looking at spending around £20 a week if it was integrated with other things such as snacks, frozen foods and drinks. But it's completely situational and what's true for one person might not be for you.
Hope this helped!
Lucy - Digital Student Ambassador SHU
Original post by Anonymous
Im moving out for uni, how much money would u need for groceries and stuff.
Hello, my name is Aimee and I am a third year criminology and criminal behaviour student. Nice to meet you!
First of all congratulations on going to university and moving out, this a huge step in your future. One which hopefully will benefit you in your future life.
Look at things which you are eating currently and things which you will enjoy making. I had a good book in my first year called: Nosh for students which provides simple recipes with tasty meals. This really helped me out and develop my cooking skills too! You can also look at TikTok where you can usually find easy recipes and shopping hacks and tips whilst you are at university.
Make sure you always have things like beans, pasta, rice etc as these are staples which you can make meals from
Always shop around for food as there can be variations in prices so it’s always good to look around. University is a great time to learn how to cook, a life skill which you will always be developing!
Best of Luck, Aimee xox
#Anon,
It's really difficult to say how much you will need to spend on food each week.
This depends on what you buy: e.g. meat, snacks, food deals, organic food, alternative milk etc... how much you eat in and how much you buy when you are out and how often you go shopping. It also depends on how much space you have to buy frozen food or to freeze leftovers.
You may spend more one week due to bulk buying, so you do not have to buy that item for the next week or two.
You might be in a rush and so buy food which is more convenient, but requires you to spend more e.g. a frozen pizza is one meal, whereas buying a bag of pasta makes multiple meals.
You might make a meal plan, but get tired of eating the same thing again or just not have time to cook.
There are also factors like the distance of the supermarket from your accommodation and when you start and finish lectures or whether you decide to cook together with other housemates.
It also depends on how self-disciplined you are with junk food, particularly when you are stressed!
Prices are generally high at the moment but it also depends on where you shop.
All the best,
Oluwatosin – 2nd year student – University of Huddersfield
It's really difficult to say how much you will need to spend on food each week.
This depends on what you buy: e.g. meat, snacks, food deals, organic food, alternative milk etc... how much you eat in and how much you buy when you are out and how often you go shopping. It also depends on how much space you have to buy frozen food or to freeze leftovers.
You may spend more one week due to bulk buying, so you do not have to buy that item for the next week or two.
You might be in a rush and so buy food which is more convenient, but requires you to spend more e.g. a frozen pizza is one meal, whereas buying a bag of pasta makes multiple meals.
You might make a meal plan, but get tired of eating the same thing again or just not have time to cook.
There are also factors like the distance of the supermarket from your accommodation and when you start and finish lectures or whether you decide to cook together with other housemates.
It also depends on how self-disciplined you are with junk food, particularly when you are stressed!
Prices are generally high at the moment but it also depends on where you shop.
All the best,
Oluwatosin – 2nd year student – University of Huddersfield
Hello there Anon!
Again, many congrats on choosing to move away from home for University – this is not an easy decision to make and a very brave one 😊
Some really great tips on here already – just thought I’d jump in here as a recent Bath graduate to share a couple of top tips which helped me and my flatmates budget during first year:
The yellow stickers are your friend! Towards the end of the day most shops reduce the prices of food which has a sell by date of today or tomorrow (half price first, then usually more). This stuff is usually perfectly good if you ensure to use it that day or the next, or freeze it as soon after you buy it as possible. It’s a great way to save a bit of money on food you would buy normally and also might be a good chance to try out food you wouldn’t have usually gone for (I discovered Quorn mince in my first year from picking it up at random at a reduced price, but actually found that it was cheaper than ordinary mince and so made it a permanent swap 😊)
Shared supermarket deliveries. Each week or two, me and my flatmates would get together a list of items we each wanted, and a nominated flatmate would put it all together as a shared supermarket delivery. This worked particularly well for us at Bath as often ASDA and Tesco offered cheaper prices than the closest supermarkets in town, and altogether it only cost £4 delivery charge between 10 of us – so 40p each! This also helped us save food waste, as a lot of the time, I’d split the price of things which go off quickly like bread, milk and low fat yogurt with a friend so we could share that week rather than buy one each and struggle to use it all ourselves.
Become your own Barista. I came to uni with the habit of buying myself a vanilla latte from Costa or Starbucks probably 3 times a week, which ended up costing me at least £10! Not a great habit for living on a uni budget. However rather than cut them out completely, I just found a way to ‘work smarter’ by swapping out 2 of my weekly buys to my own recipes. I bought bags of cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and a pot of vanilla flavouring for a total of £5 (lasting around 2-3 weeks), then made copycat coffees which I’d take to lectures in flasks (Starbucks have a dedicated make it at home page which my flatmates loved!) I did a similar thing with making copycat versions of my favourite Nandos and Burrito recipes. Altogether this saved me around £10 per week without needing to necessarily cut things out
To second everyone above, it completely depends on your personal circumstances and preferences how much you can expect to spend per week – by using the budgeting tips above I usually managed on around £25-30 per week.
I hope that helps a bit – best of luck for your first year!
Holly
University of Bath
Again, many congrats on choosing to move away from home for University – this is not an easy decision to make and a very brave one 😊
Some really great tips on here already – just thought I’d jump in here as a recent Bath graduate to share a couple of top tips which helped me and my flatmates budget during first year:
The yellow stickers are your friend! Towards the end of the day most shops reduce the prices of food which has a sell by date of today or tomorrow (half price first, then usually more). This stuff is usually perfectly good if you ensure to use it that day or the next, or freeze it as soon after you buy it as possible. It’s a great way to save a bit of money on food you would buy normally and also might be a good chance to try out food you wouldn’t have usually gone for (I discovered Quorn mince in my first year from picking it up at random at a reduced price, but actually found that it was cheaper than ordinary mince and so made it a permanent swap 😊)
Shared supermarket deliveries. Each week or two, me and my flatmates would get together a list of items we each wanted, and a nominated flatmate would put it all together as a shared supermarket delivery. This worked particularly well for us at Bath as often ASDA and Tesco offered cheaper prices than the closest supermarkets in town, and altogether it only cost £4 delivery charge between 10 of us – so 40p each! This also helped us save food waste, as a lot of the time, I’d split the price of things which go off quickly like bread, milk and low fat yogurt with a friend so we could share that week rather than buy one each and struggle to use it all ourselves.
Become your own Barista. I came to uni with the habit of buying myself a vanilla latte from Costa or Starbucks probably 3 times a week, which ended up costing me at least £10! Not a great habit for living on a uni budget. However rather than cut them out completely, I just found a way to ‘work smarter’ by swapping out 2 of my weekly buys to my own recipes. I bought bags of cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and a pot of vanilla flavouring for a total of £5 (lasting around 2-3 weeks), then made copycat coffees which I’d take to lectures in flasks (Starbucks have a dedicated make it at home page which my flatmates loved!) I did a similar thing with making copycat versions of my favourite Nandos and Burrito recipes. Altogether this saved me around £10 per week without needing to necessarily cut things out
To second everyone above, it completely depends on your personal circumstances and preferences how much you can expect to spend per week – by using the budgeting tips above I usually managed on around £25-30 per week.
I hope that helps a bit – best of luck for your first year!
Holly
University of Bath
Original post by Anonymous
Im moving out for uni, how much money would u need for groceries and stuff.
Hi there
This will depend on a number of factors such as how much you are choosing to budget whilst you shop, what you eat and additional costs from things like going out and socialising. I personally found that creating a spreadsheet was a really useful way to track my spending. Each colour represented one area of money such as food shop, rent, going out etc. This allowed me to work out a rough weekly budget and visually see where I was spending money.
In my personal experience I used to spend around £20- £25 on a weekly food shop when I started uni. However, over the years this has amounted to more like £25- £30 a week due to the rising cost of living. This is not including extra spending which will vary depending on what you do and how often. £40-£45 is probably an average weekly cost of living as a student. That being said its definitely worth tracking your weekly shop at the moment (or writing down what you think you would buy) and working out how much that would cost you.
There are many ways to shop at a low cost. My top tips are:
- Cook as much as possible rather than get take aways
- Meal prep (I liked buying a big tub of mince or chicken, cooking a bolognese or curry and then freezing them into portions). This works out a lot cheaper than buying individual ingredients every time you want to make a meal. It also means that on the days when you're feeling tired you can just reach for a freezer meal rather than order a takeaway
- Shop in places like Aldi, Lidl, Home bargains, B&M etc if you can
- Use discount codes, clubcards, check out the promotions
- Buy from the essentials range - I personally love Asdas essential range and there really is no difference in a lot of their products so definitely worth checking out
- Give yourself a budget every week - track your spending
- Cook with friends/flatmates- splitting the cost of meals can save you a lot of money
Hope this helps a bit!
Best wishes
Joanna
-Uni of Kent Rep
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Very desperate to pass GCSE math this year, any more advice?
- Budget
- is spending £10 a day at uni too much?
- Money and summer, will I survive?
- Saving money as a student
- financing uni😭
- Is earning 25k a year considered poor?
- How much do I need to live on in uni?
- how much do I save before uni?
- I'm scared about budgeting and my finance for uni
- How did you live cheaply at uni?
- How much money do I need in London?
- Students: Cost of living tips
- self funding university
- £90 a week budget?
- How to budget £50 a week living at Kingston University
- How does anyone afford uni?
- Uni life
- Mum taking energy conservation to the extreme
- Am I spoilt? £140
Latest
Trending
Last reply 3 weeks ago
Got a third in my second year and the highest I’ve achieved in third year was 55%Trending
Last reply 3 weeks ago
Got a third in my second year and the highest I’ve achieved in third year was 55%
