<p>I live in the Boston area with my daughter. $80 a week covers it for the 2 of us. We eat at home most every meal and I pack lunches for both of us. This budget also includes food, paper products and cleaning supplies. We shop either at Trader Joe’s, Shaws and or Stop and Shop (varies by week). We eat a ton of fresh produce, meats etc and find $80 to be ample. $100 a week for one is way too much. I assume he’ll be eating out with friends a lot too, so he won’t be buying groceries for every meail.</p>
<p>Oldest lives in Boston, shops at Whole Foods for herself, she has to have gluten-free as well.</p>
<p>100 a week would more then cover it. You may have to give him a little bit more to get started if he plans on doing cooking - to build the basics of a kitchen like sugar, oil, things like that. I remember my first “big” meal that I wanted to cook cost me an arm and a leg… I had to purchase like six different spices and all sorts of things that would typically be considered normal in a kitchen!</p>
<p>I’m just one person (however… I do occasionally cook or buy lunch/dinner for my boyfriend as well… this probably balances out though with the lunches/dinners he buys for me) but so far this year I’ve spent 562 on groceries and 672 on Dining out. So that’s 1234 over the course of 5 full months which is 246.80 per month. That’s counting all of my meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as any snacks and toiletries purchased at the grocery store.</p>
<p>Personally I dont find $100 a week to be unreasonable. When it comes down to it, thats not even 15$ a day.</p>
<p>D1, a rising sophomore, will be living in a college-owned apartment and is very happy to be going off the meal plan next year. Her college doesn’t have the worst food, but as a vegetarian she found the vegetarian items limited, unimaginative, and not nearly as nutritious, tasty, or well executed as she’s accustomed to at home. She also felt a certain amount of resentment insofar as the vegetarian meals were made with such simple, inexpensive ingredients that she felt she was heavily subsidizing the carnivores, including some male athletes who ate copious amounts of meat at every meal. She’s a good cook and enjoys cooking for relaxation. We haven’t discussed a food budget in detail but I’m thinking she’ll spend in the range of $70-$80/week, including the occasional meal out or paying a la carte at the college dining hall when she’s pressed for time and/or when there’s something on the menu she finds appealing; but I wouldn’t object to her spending up to $100/week, which is still a big savings over the meal plan, and she’ll be eating healthier. Fortunately there’s a Trader Joe’s within walking distance and a Whole Foods about a mile away.</p>
<p>Bclintock, your daughter sounds exactly like me. I was so relieved to get a kitchen and stop eating unhealthy and boring vegetarian options and paying more for them than I’d pay for takeout. I hope it works out for her!</p>