<p>Son moving off campus for spring and losing meal plan. What would you think would be fair for grocery budget? Small east coast suburb, average cooking skills/interest.</p>
<p>$60 - $80 per week, depending on many factors.</p>
<p>Will he be sharing meals with anyone? Does the budget include utensils, cookware, plates, cups, paper towels, etc.? There might be an initially higher outlay when ‘setting up shop’.</p>
<p>Staples will be bought less often, i.e. cooking oil, salt, salad dressing, mayo, that type of stuff, but will need to be purchased upfront and every now & then, so that will add to a “regular” budget.</p>
<p>For weekly ongoing stuff (lettuce, beer…oops, I mean orange juice, bread, sandwich materials, etc.), $60-$80 per week should be plenty.</p>
<p>Living in an apt doesn’t always mean cooking. Consider the fast food, pizza and other meals not eaten “at home”. Consider taking him shopping at a major grocery store for nonperishable foods when you are in town. All sorts of fast prep foods including noodle choices (there is a whole world beyond Ramen)… The weekly budget for foods from close to campus, more expensive stores, would be less then.</p>
<p>What kind of meals do you see your son preparing? Is he the type to actually cook (and clean up the mess afterwards)? Or is he the type to be buying frozen burritos and frozen entrees and nuking them in the microwave. He’ll probably have less waste and less clean up if he chooses the latter.</p>
<p>Of course, there will also be the Friday pizza orders and fast food purchases.</p>
<p>Does he have easy access to a supermarket? If not, he probably won’t cook at all. He’ll eat on campus or get food delivered. It’s what students do.</p>
<p>Grocery shopping and cooking meals especially from scratch take a lot of time. Could you supplement him with a limited meal plan? I did that when my S moved off campus and I wanted him to be able to eat more balanced meals especially vegetables. He actually never cooked at home but bought prepared food. I would allot at least $15 a day so he can purchase some prepared food.</p>
<p>Yes, at $60/week ($8.57/day) I hope he is good at clipping coupons.</p>
<p>Give me a break! My kids enjoy the minor respite shopping and cooking gives them from the rest of their lives. They eat/ate very little prepared food, and no microwave burritos.</p>
<p>They sort of split their food budget into food-food (about $65/week) and entertainment food (meals out, purchased coffee, etc.), which was included in their entertainment budget.</p>
<p>We send S2 $85/week. It goes for food, toiletries,paper products, school supplies,whatever… He has DH’s hand me down gas guzzler truck at sch. So he must also buy gas out of that $85. There is not a grocery store within walking distance of his house. He cooks more than I expected. Not cooking from scratch but making Hamburger Helper type stuff, spaghetti,chicken fingers and some microwave stuff too. The roommates like to cook chicken on the grill when the weather is nice.
When he eats out it’s Chik-fil-a, burgers or pizza. He pretty much eats two meals a day because he sleeps through breakfast.</p>
<p>We started son with $300 a month (I figured $10 a day for food) but near the end of the first month he said it wasn’t enough and asked for another $50, so now we are giving him $350 a month for food. He started off rotating cooking with his roommates, but as their schedules got busier it happens less and less, and now they mostly fend for themselves, which for him means microwavable stuff, canned ravioli, sandwiches, cereal. I sure hope a few fruits and vegetables are getting in there, but I doubt many!</p>
<p>I’m on a budget now of $45/week for food. Its kinda tough but doable… doable because its all I have and need to make it work. I think it would be easier, but I share most of my meals with my boyfriend, so I’m really cooking for 2 people. The $50 should at least be doubled for a first visit to get the staples (oil, flour, sugar, spices, etc). Almost all of my meals are homemade, no processed things (they’re expensive/unhealthy), I rarely eat out. I’d be in heaven with $65 - $85 a week though! I love to cook. :)</p>
<p>$60 - 80 a week will set one person up more than comfortably, even if they eat a lot of more expensive things like frozen meals and organic meat/dairy/veggies. Make sure they sign up for the savings card at the grocery store, it’s really worthwhile. And if you’re feeling extra generous, I’m sure they would appreciate you taking them on a “big shop” at the beginning of the semester to stock up on things like spices, olive oil, flour/sugar/salt, stock items like that that you use in a lot of dishes and can chip away at throughout the semester.</p>
<p>My S goes shopping once every two weeks and claims not to spend more than $50 each time (not counting the cost of renting the zipcar). So that would be $25 per week. He makes most of his lunches. He does eat out at least once a week (mostly pizza) which does not figure in his grocery bill.</p>
<p>We do a big shop with S at the beginning of the year. H transfer $800/month for rent/utilities and food. Rent is $450. So about $350 for food. He has rarely asked for a boost but cooks for most of his meals. I was shocked at his the cost of his groceries but restaurants are far more expensive.</p>
<p>$50-80 works for our son and roommate kicks in about the same for the grocery shop. He has been a prep cook and grill cook in restaurants since he was young and does very well with the grocery shopping and meal preparation. Last year he and his roommates made a very impressive Thanksgiving (complete with Facebook pics). It depends on how handy the kids are in the kitchen. Pre-packaged foods are more expensive in the long run than home cooked foods where you can make several meals worth of food. We visit once a year and I restock the larder before we leave with all the basics, spices and things and spend about $350 on that shopping trip. Before he left for college (and I will do the same with number 2) I sat down and we “worked through” a grocery list and menus to help them see how to plan a grocery shop. We walked about how to put together cheap but healthy meals (chilli, white chilli, pasta dishes, jambalaya, in-season fruit, French onion soup, cuts of inexpensive meat and what to do with them etc.) and we talked about leftovers and food safety. Probably alittle redundant but it made me feel better than thinking they’d live on Ramen and popcorn (which is what I did).</p>
<p>How about you have him buy and cook for himself over a week during Christmas break as a test case?</p>
<p>D1 will be living off campus next semester for the first time. She eats a lot of fresh fruit, and mostly berries. I have a feeling she’ll probably eat breakfast and dinner in her apartment, and buy lunch a few times on campus, so we’ll get her some school bucks for her to charge. She probably will eat at the sorority or restaurant few times a week. I am thinking maybe $3-400/mon, and that would include household stuff. I don’t think she’ll be eating frozen food. It should be interesting to see what she’ll make for herself.</p>
<p>We told both of our kids that they couldn’t live off campus UNLESS they planned to prepare their own meals. We did not intend to finance a life of eating out. AND to be fair, one of the reasons they chose to move off campus was so they COULD prepare their own meals. Both did this from the time they were teenagers so it wasn’t a new concept to them in college.</p>
<p>Both live(d) in expensive metro areas. Both got $50 a week for food. Neither ever asked for an additional nickel. Both, I’m sure, supplemented what we sent with earnings from the jobs they held. AND we also were very generous with gift cards from the grocery stores where they shopped.</p>
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<p>Well,good for your kids… To each his own. I don’t like to cook either.</p>
<p>Actually, having your kids cook for you once in a while is a good idea. Mine have their “favorite” recipes and they cook for the family about once a month. My second son developed a pasta, artichoke, shrimp recipe that is really, really good. S1 makes a mean stuffed pizza using bread dough. S3 is only 15, but makes great seafood quesadillas with Old Bay and who knows what. My husband is quite good in the kitchen which is great because the last thing I want to do when I get home from the office is “make food” for everyone every single night and we do eat together just about every night.</p>