What's reasonable $ for weekly groceries?

Parents Forum
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<p>My son will live off campus in a shared apartment next year. The agreement is that we will pay for rent and groceries although he's responsible for his books, spending money, entertainment, etc. </p>

<p>What's a reasonable amount for one person in Boston to spend on just groceries per week? I'm thinking $100 per week should be PLENTY, but he seems to think that will be tight.</p>

<p>I originally thought $75 per week would be fine, but I've agreed to go up to $100. My feeling is if he spends more than $100 on groceries for just himself, he's not shopping very carefully, or he's eating VERY well.</p>

<p>Am I being unreasonable?</p>

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<p>$100 a week is more than I spend for our family of three. We’re not in Boston, but still…</p>

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<p>$100/wk is more than enough. I wonder if he plans on using all the extra grocery money to supplement his beer and entertainment expenses. :)</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the confirmation that I’m not crazy. I think I’ll go back to $75 per week so I don’t end up subsidizing too much beer and pizza for all the roommates and friends!!</p>

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<p>We gave D1 $400/month. It is what we would have paid if she had boarded at school. I think out of that she also paid for cleaning stuff, toilet papers, toiletries. I monitored her spend (I had access to her acct), there was no crazy spend. She bought a lot of organic food and she cooked at home quite a bit. She had occassional lunch on campus when she was too busy, but she brown bagged sometimes too.</p>

6

<p>S1 estimated he spent around $60/week in Montreal and he ate really well. S2’s roommate for next year says he spent around $80/week in NYC. So we’re budgeting for that. $100 does sound steep.</p>

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<p>My son graduated from Boston University in 2007. He lived off campus for the last two years. Put $30 a week in his account for groceries and he was NEVER without food. We did stock him up on “staples” before we left him in his apartment. He was very careful about how much he prepared (so as not to waste food throwing away leftovers). He also shopped carefully. He packed his own lunches every day. </p>

<p>Since it’s been a few years since my son graduated, I would think $50 would be plenty. </p>

<p>We don’t spend $100 a week here at our house for DH and myself.</p>

8

<p>Wow, we are going to have this discussion later today with DS who is on his own for the summer. I was thinking $100/week would barely cover it but I guess I hadn’t actually thought through this. Very helpful.</p>

<p>Unfortunately the kid doesn’t know how to cook so I expect he will end up eating out a lot, other than bagels for breakfast.</p>

9

<p>My 6’4" serious chef son would be fine with $50-60/week. There is a butcher and a grocery store near his Boston campus with VERY reasonable prices. </p>

<p>We spend about $110-120/week when all four of us are home.</p>

10

<p>We pay our kids the cost of the full meal plan … they can choose the full meal plan or something smaller … and they need to live on the budget of the full meal plan … and so far this has left my oldest with some extra pocket money.</p>

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<p>When my kids have lived off campus, we gave them the value of the cost of the school meal plan we would have paid if they were on campus for their food/groceries. We took the cost of the meal plan and divided it into the weeks in the semester and gave them the money on a monthly basis for food.</p>

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<p>$100.00 a week does seem like a lot- if it is just food. But, as one poster noted if it also to buy personal grooming and household necessities than I think just about covers it…maybe with a bit of slack until they learn the ins and outs of budgeting. Girls will use $100.00 easy if getting haircuts, highlights, body potions, all the girly stuff. Boys, think how much a small package of razors cost. And sunscreen (the good stuff) and how much they eat…and allow for spoilage unless they share/split amounts of fruits, vegi’s, orange juice, healthy bars- I mean just a bag of coffee, not going to Starbucks, just to make it at home costs $10.00.</p>

<p>Also, if they live in an area where they don’t have easy access to a super chain store, they will be paying a premium at the college mom and pop store. Most of the time they live in tight quarters and can’t take all the cupboard space of Frig. real estate to stow their once a week shopping trip- so they need little trips and that means they run out and have to grab that burrito! </p>

<p>If it is difficult to provide $100.00 a month than don’t, but if you can and it covers personal items too, than it is always better to be a roommate who is not “borrowing” shampoo, coffee, toothpaste etc. And also able to pitch in on the pizza they order delivered. I’m all for getting them dialed back to a spending level they can maintain when they graduate, but sometimes I think we parents are not realistic. Especially if the school is in a high cost of living place- which can include those remote LAC as well as NYU.</p>

<p>One thing I have experienced with boys is after the first year or so off campus, they can become very frugal and if they know the amount you send is a strain they start telling you they are “fine” My friends confirm this. Girls, well they arrive at school as a bit of a princess and they will try very hard to dial back, but they just think they have so many “needs”- try as they may, most girls won’t really know what a budget is until they really are out on their own living with like people with equal incomes. Part of sending our kids to private schools to interact with peers from well connected families (high income/education levels) is making sure they can carry their weight in the shared apartment. And go out to eat sometimes with them. I know this opinion is not shared on CC, but I really think when you send a kid to an expensive private school, with great finAid, it is important to provide the vital piece, which is the kid can actually operate on a fairly even level as their peers when it comes to basic living issues. Otherwise, they are the finaid kid who can’t roll with them on any level except academic. This impacts the all important “networking”. So unless they are there just for the peer intellectual boost, the social part which is always mentioned on CC is going to cost extra money. Beyond summer work $$ in most cases. </p>

<p>But if you can’t, you can’t and your kids have probably lived on the budget of the family and are use to it and all the implications which makes this easier. But if the downturn of the economy has changed things for your family, or you are just being more aware of waste (eating out, generic food and cleaners etc) kids don’t really see this change from how the family lived when they were growing up. Hard habits to change in them in one year- needs to be gradual if you can do it. I hope this doesn’t spin into I’m more frugal than you thread, I was just adding another perspective. If the kid grew up fairly comfortable, and are now suppose to be networking with the kids from the top 1% of income earnings families and benefiting from those friendships, than a very tight budget will limit these activities. Most of that action happens out of the classroom and off campus.</p>

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<p>Mom of a frugal girl here. We, too, send about the same per month that a meal plan would cost. DD usually gets by pretty well. However, in apartments, those cleaning supplies and paper products add to the cost.</p>

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<p>S1 is a grad student in Boston who lives in an apartment. I don’t know exactly how much he spends on groceries each week since he supports himself, but I can guarantee you it’s not $100 or even $75. He only eats out occasionally & even brings his lunch with him to his oncampus office. He’s learned to look for sales & chooses what he’s going to cook based on cost. This wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t his $ he was spending.</p>

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<p>I have $75 budgeted for S1 to move into a shared apartment in Chicago this fall. Should be plenty I’m hoping cause he’s on his own for the rest.</p>

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<p>To me, it seems like a lot - I’m currently in Pittsburgh for the summer, doing all my own grocery shopping/cooking, and I’ve been spending about $50 or $60 a week for groceries. I’ve mostly been shopping at Trader Joe’s and local farmers’ markets as much as possible. I am trying to keep the cost down, but I also try to eat local/natural food as much as possible. Pittsburgh is likely less expensive than Boston, so perhaps a bit more would be justified, but I can’t imagine going all the way up to $100. If I went down in food quality or made a few sacrifices in terms of convenience, I could be getting by on even less than what I am now.</p>

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<p>Buy him a simple cookbook. There are even ones out there for cooking for one or two people. Anyone who can read can cook. When my kids made the decision to live off campus, they also made the decision to COOK. If they wanted someone else to cook for them, they could have stayed in the dorms and gotten a meal plan. I was not subsidizing restaurant eating. May sound rough…but there it is. And cooking is a skill that will save your college kid money for MANY years to come. Eating out is expensive and can also be not particularly healthy depending on where you go.</p>

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<p>You don’t even need to buy a cookbook. You can print recipes off the Internet and put them in a little recipe file or book. Or go through the cookbooks in the pantry and copy recipes.</p>

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<p>You may need to factor in the issue of transportation.</p>

<p>If your student has a car, there’s no problem. But if he doesn’t, he may have difficulty shopping. There may not be a supermarket within walking distance, and going shopping by bus is time-consuming. Also, if he is walking or taking public transit, the amount of food and supplies he can carry is limited.</p>

<p>In this situation, students often find it necessary to resort to eating some of their meals at on-campus eateries where they can pay cash and relying on delivered take-out food for some other meals. And both of these options are more expensive than cooking regularly.</p>

<p>Both of my kids actually spend MORE on food when living off-campus than they did when on the meal plan for just this reason. But the alternative (buying and maintaining a car) would have been even more expensive.</p>

20

<p>Better advice than mine MDmom. If the kid has an IPhone there are free apps with recipes. </p>

<p>Back to the question…$50 a week should be enough for food in my opinion.</p>

<p>Marian, I believe the OP said his/her student was in Boston. There are PLENTY of grocery stores in Boston and many more accessible by taking the T. That’s what city folks do. AND if all else fails, college students in Boston can easily rent a zip car for a monthly grocery run for non-perishable items.</p>