<p>My kid will be living in an apartment very near campus this fall. What is a reasonable amount for a groceries budget? Is on fairly hefty financial aid, and we as parents are trying to encourage frugality and are not wanting to subsidize much, if anything, in the way of restaurant meals. (Hubby and I are on an austerity budget w/ kids in college and <em>rarely</em> eat out (< once/month) - don't think college students should be frequenting restaurants multiple times per week.)</p>
<p>Kid will not have a car, but some friends do (not sure if either roomie will). So most groceries will probably be bought at D&D and (hopefully not too many, since prices are outrageous) at Whole Paycheck, cereal and some other things at CVS (reasonably good prices IF they are on sale). Am hoping that the occasional ride to a supermarket will be available. It sucks that there is no longer a supermarket within walking distance of campus, like there was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth...</p>
<p>(This topic has been discussed on the Parents Forum, but I wanted to get some input specific to Evanston, if possible, since the cost of groceries varies a lot from region to region.)</p>
<p>Hmm… I’m bad and order food pretty frequently, but you could easily live, cooking ALL your meals by yourself and packing lunches, on $225-$300 a month for groceries in Evanston. (Assume $6-$10/day, with some expenses for actually being able to have a social life sometimes). You might be able squeeze that down more.</p>
<p>Would $300-$350 per month allow for some lunches in Norris or one of the other retail eateries on campus? Perhaps occasional carryout (which saves quite a bit over a sit-down restaurant meal, since you save the cost of a tip and a beverage - unless one is used to the tightwad routine of just drinking water instead of a $3 beverage )</p>
<p>My daughter eats fairly cheaply off campus. Whole Foods is actually reasonable for a healthy prepared meal, my daughter will do that for dinners a few times a week as we’re not cooks and it’s a good way for her to get a healthy meal. There’s also a generic supermarket near her which is where she goes for cereal, oj, peanut butter, basics. She put on some weight so she was bringing her lunch with her to campus which gave her exactly what she wanted calorie-wise and saved a lot of money also. She does often eat out on weekends. Your kid should not have too much of a problem eating inexpensively even without a car. </p>
<p>Does he have a bicycle? We bought our daughter a double basket for the back of her bike and she uses that for her grocery bags so she can carry more at a time allowing her to shop less frequently.</p>
<p>I get by pretty well with a 40-50 weekly grocercy bill. My roommates and I split the cost of an IGo car to make it pretty easily to Jewel but its also very much walkable (and one of the shuttles drops off next to it.</p>
<p>amtc - bicycle, yes. I’m thinking it would be a good idea to get the double basket thing for the back of the bike. Do you know about how much those cost?</p>
<p>suppasonic - is the Jewel on Chicago Ave. just south of Dempster the closest, or is there one in the Central/GreenBay Rd. area that’s closer or more accessible via shuttle or El?
I’d forgotten about the IGo car option - thanks for mentioning it.</p>
<p>I don’t remember how much they cost but I’m sure like anything else you can shop around and find a variety of quality and cost. </p>
<p>Jewel is the supermarket name I couldn’t remember and my daughter says that the only local one. Her apartment next year is further from there than her apartment this year but she still has her bicycle!</p>
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