<p>I haven't had to deal with off-campus roommates so far, but starting in a few months, I'm going to get one. </p>
<p>How do your kids handle groceries?<br>
Do they split the bill with a roommate?<br>
Does each person buy their own stuff?<br>
Do they buy common things together and then get their own food?
Do they write their names on stuff to mark who it belongs to?</p>
<p>My roommate and I like some of the same things, but not a whole lot. I also work at a restaurant and I eat for free when I work, so about half my meals are taken care of. Obviously I'm kinda leaning towards us buying our own stuff and having the occasional shared meal (maybe say I buy this time, you buy next time). I just don't know if it would be considered rude to label my food or if that is the norm.</p>
<p>Different sets of roommates work things out differently. Over the years I’ve handled the food all of these different ways with different sets of housemates. Given that many of your meals are covered by your job, in your particular case, it may make more sense to keep items separate. Depending on the space in your apartment, and the size of your fridge, you may be able to set aside separate shelves for each housemate which will save on the labeling.</p>
<p>I think it’s generally easier for kids to buy their own food, but items (especially dried goods) that everyone uses can be cheaper to buy in bulk at places like Costco. I’m thinking rice, pasta, etc.</p>
<p>When I was living with a really good friend we worked out a deal where we split groceries, I cooked dinner about 80% of the time, and I’d generally get more of the leftovers (he didn’t like eating the same thing more than two days in a row). He was fine with it since he’d get good, home-cooked meals for cheaper than going out, and I was fine with it because my grocery bill got cut significantly since I’d usually wind up with a “free” two or three meals for each time I cooked.</p>
<p>With other roommates where we more or less coexisted we didn’t need to resort to putting our names on things, but there was minimal sharing (cheap stuff like condiments and things which go bad quickly could wind up being shared, though).</p>
<p>I think it would work better for you to keep your food separate–especially because your work means that you eat out more often than not. You could share the cost of household supplies like toilet paper, dish soap, cleaning items, etc. My D lived with four other girls (they were all friends before living together) and they took turns buying supplies at Costco.
After a month of everyone putting in money for groceries, they decided that it was easier for each person to buy her own food. Too many disagreements and different tastes–one vegetarian, one vegan, one steak lover, etc. etc.</p>
<p>When I was in an off campus condo–
we four girls did breakfast and lunch separately
and dinner together 4 days a week.</p>
<p>So groceries for dinner M-Th were pooled together and we ate together.
Each girl took one night a week to prep and cook for the others…and we sat down to a meal together. We would fix chicken, meatloaf, spaghetti (homemade sauce), pork chops etc. It was a nice way to handle the cooking/cleanup and Fri-Sun everyone did their own thing for dinner (eating out with friends, boyfreinds, going to parties etc etc).</p>
<p>We also pooled funds for the typical things for a condo:
laundrey soap, paper towels, TP, that kind of thing.</p>
<p>We did our shopping together–paid our own stuff separetly and the group stuff got paid for and everyone ponied up their share.
We also split the water, phone and cable by 4 (and long distance -each claimed her calls–that was in the stone age before cell phones !)</p>
<p>I had an arrange like fogfog except our eating group had ten plus people so you only had to cook every two weeks. (We ate 5 days a week and figured out the average cost of the meal about once a month.) You could have guests and were responsible for paying for them. We bought staples as a group and then we each had a shelf in the fridge for our stuff and a group shelf from the group meals. </p>
<p>Unless you have a formal organized system for set meals, I think every man for themself is far easier.</p>
<p>When I’ve shared apartments we’ve each bought our own stuff and put our names on it. You can also give each person a shelf, or whatever. Much easier given different schedules, budgets, tastes, etc. Every once in a while if people want to have a meal together they can either each contribute ingredients in an ad hoc kind of way, or shop for the meal together.</p>
<p>I’d tend to have a rotation on buying things like dish detergent. But make sure you write the rotation on something and post it.</p>
<p>When I had a roommate we chipped in a pre-arranged amount for all the bills including food. I did the shopping and cooking while my roommate did the cleaning up. It worked well.</p>
<p>My kids and their various apartment roommates have always bought their own food.</p>
<p>However, roommates should remember that restaurants that deliver often have a minimum purchase, and it can be difficult for one person to buy enough to meet that minimum, unless that person wants to eat the leftovers for the next couple of meals. So it’s a good idea to see if any of one’s roommates also want to get food delivered before placing an order. Two people can usually meet the minimum with no problem.</p>
<p>in college communities, vast numbers of restaurants deliver, not just pizza and Chinese.</p>
<p>In the case of OP, I’d go for separate shelves, with a fund of some sort for TP and cleaning supplies, maybe basic seasonings as well. $10 per week? </p>
<p>My years ago experiences with roomies were wonderful however. A shared kitty for grocery expenses, and each person of 4 would cook one night a week. We were mostly vegetarian and the meals were great. The experience taught us all how to cook, and was fun to have a shared activity most days.</p>
<p>When I lived with roomies we had separate shelves for our groceries, and purchased them separately. A few things were bought with pooled money, as others have already posted.</p>
<p>I’ve always found it’s best with roommates if you purchase your own groceries, and then have a rotation or a money pool for buying a few things like milk, eggs, and butter that are commonly used by all but that one person usually can’t go through alone before they go bad. Unless you plan to have meals in common every day and unless everybody like exactly the same things, this is usually the best way to go. Minimizes confusion. Also, we often will share the purchase of common things like flour, spices, sugar, etc. that are cheaper to buy in large quantities, but again, each person does not need a five pound bag of flour to themselves. </p>
<p>Here’s a good tip for students looking for cheap spices- CVS often has really cheap spices and they are often on sale. So for standard things like nutmeg, cayenne pepper, whatever, try looking for spices at CVS before dropping big bucks at the grocery store.</p>
<p>Girls tend to be pickier about what they eat, so it’s much harder to cook together. D1 is living with two girls now. They each buy their own food. They have their own shelf in the refridge. D1 and one of her roommates will eat together, but they’ll cook their own food. It works pretty well. </p>
<p>When I was in college I had a roommate who liked to borrow my food and replace it later. I was very particular of my food. I liked certain brand and she would replace it with a generic brand. It didn’t happen often enough for me to do anything about it. When you live with someone things like that happen.</p>
<p>First off, decide if you want to share in some catagories but not others (TP and dish soap but not all food, for example)
Since you are smart kids you will decide to share in some… after that talk about who eats what and when. If you want to share all groceries or have some “private” areas in the kitchen and fridge. Then, do you want to cook together sometimes, like one kid cooks on Tuesdays, one on Wednesdays, etc…</p>
<p>Please work out how to include the idea that someone might have a significant other hanging about at meal time - figure out how to adjust for “guests”</p>
<p>my roommates and I actually share all food purchases. Although each of us has different things that they like, it seems to mostly even out over time. It means less shopping, since we shop in groups of two, so only go every other week.</p>