<p>So, I'm getting off the meal plan next year since I'm living in a campus owned off campus apartment.</p>
<p>But how much should I predict to set aside per month for food? I rarely if ever eat breakfast, and am not choosy at all with what I eat, bu don't want to eat like a squirrel.</p>
<p>Will you cook your own food or keep on eating out for every meal?</p>
<p>That depends so much on how much you eat, what you eat, and how much you can scrounge.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on how social you are, too. I find that I spend most of my lunches eating out with friends (even just cheap **** like LuLu’s or Oriental Express) and that adds up a bit.</p>
<p>I usually budget around $600/mo for food. That includes things like groceries (to cook dinner / eat breakfast) and a decent amount for going out to eat.</p>
<p>Holy cow, seriously? I can’t think of one month I’ve ever spent that much money on food. :(</p>
<p>Keep in mind if you’re looking to live a little cheaper then just bring a sandwich every day for lunch. You can buy bread, meat, and some fixins for pretty cheap, and there’s no way it’ll cost more than $2 or so a day (drink water, not soda). Even if you spend $15 every night on dinner that’s still only $510. If you actually cook for yourself the cost of an actual meal can easily drop below $3 (plus leftovers for lunch to break up a bit of sandwich monotony), so you can save a lot of money.</p>
<p>I actually cook a lot, and so I buy about $30 of groceries per week. I also usually go out once or twice on weekends to eat (each time usually costs me around $7-$8). So approximately $160 per month on food.</p>
<p>I lived that cheap sophomore year, but realized that getting the cheapest groceries usually tends to make for food that spoils quickly, tastes like cardboard and isn’t really doing me any favors on the health side.</p>
<p>It could just be me, but I’d rather spend a little more each month and get ham that tastes like ham, eggs for breakfast and dairy, and some nice fruit to keep around each week. That stuff will always run more because it spoils, but IMO it’s worth it. Then again I am biased because I have a side job and make enough money that I don’t have to fret too much about cost.</p>
<p>Still not sure how you’re spending that much on groceries unless you shop exclusively at Whole Foods or something. I know I don’t live in Pittsburgh anymore, but 'round here a dozen eggs runs about $1.50, and if you buy deli-cut ham that’s about $5 a pound. I know GEagle doesn’t have a track record for being great (though at least you aren’t shopping at the Ghetto Eagle that closed my junior year), but it really is possible to eat healthy, good tasting food for pretty inexpensive. </p>
<p>Heck, lately I’ve mostly been making stir fries that last for 2-3 nights for my girlfriend and myself. 1/2 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast ($1, bought on sale, separated into individual breasts and frozen), 1 onion (what, $0.20?), and about 1.5 pounds of other veggies (anywhere from $1-$5 depending on what I go with). Make that with 2 cups of brown rice (less than $1), and you’ve got a really inexpensive, healthy meal.</p>
<p>Most of my diet is actually fresh fruit and vegetables. I don’t cook meat or fish much (mainly because I don’t really know how to prepare it in a fast enough way that’s also easy to clean). I don’t eat cheese or items with cheese because I don’t like it. I make a lot of thin vegetable broths or stir fry vegetables with rice. Barring that, I eat sandwiches when I need to run to class.</p>
<p>A typical grocery list (per week) for me is: tomatoes, some leafy green vegetable, optional third vegetable, optional turkey deli slices, milk, juice, cereal, a loaf of bread, and yogurt/fruit. Eggs get bought about every 2-3 weeks.</p>
<p>Actually a third edit: Usually a typical day’s meals involve:
<p>I don’t cook much or very well. I will be living with 2 others in which one says he can cook and will cook a little bit, so I could always help with groceries there for food.</p>
<p>My diet is weird. Some days I eat 2 meals and a snack, and other days I only eat one meal…</p>
<p>Most of my flex last year went to ice cream and fluids, and they were overpriced by far…and I had the Red 9</p>
<p>I didn’t know how to cook before this year. Also, by cooking - very easy things to “cook” include pasta with tomato sauce and toasted sandwiches. But I figure, so long as you don’t buy out for all three of your meals each day (in your case, I’m guessing the meal you’re skipping is breakfast?) and if you buy at cheap-ish places like Chipotle, Oriental Express, Lulu’s (where meals are ~$7), it could mean that you’re only spending about $10 per day. So 10<em>7</em>4 = $280. So budget $300/mo. Alternatively, you could try out a month, see how much you actually spend and learn from that.</p>