How Much Do Students Spend on Food While Living Alone?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the monthly food expenses of students living alone, particularly in dormitory settings. Participants explore various budgeting strategies, meal planning, and the cost-effectiveness of different food options, including meal plans versus cooking at home.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant calculates their meal plan cost at approximately $11.50 per day, totaling over $300 a month, and questions if this is excessive.
  • Another participant suggests that $20 per day is unreasonable and questions the feasibility of such a budget with inexpensive foods like ramen noodles.
  • Some participants propose that shopping at markets and cooking can significantly reduce food costs, with estimates as low as $4 per day.
  • Concerns are raised about the health implications of relying on fast food, with suggestions for healthier cooking options like soups and stews.
  • Several participants express skepticism about the value of meal plans, particularly in dorm settings where cooking facilities may be limited.
  • One participant shares their experience of spending around $10 a day on food while living cheaply, emphasizing the variability based on individual eating habits.
  • Discussion includes the importance of balanced diets and the potential for cooking to save money, with some participants sharing specific meal ideas and budgeting tips.
  • There are inquiries about resources for affordable meal planning and healthy eating on a budget.
  • Participants mention regional differences in food prices and availability, which may affect overall costs.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the ideal food budget for students living alone. Various opinions exist regarding the adequacy of meal plans, the cost of eating out versus cooking, and the healthiness of different diets.

Contextual Notes

Some participants note that the cost of food can vary significantly based on location and personal eating habits. The discussion reflects a range of assumptions about dietary needs, cooking skills, and financial priorities.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for students living alone, those considering meal plans, or anyone interested in budgeting for food while maintaining a balanced diet.

zomgwtf
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I'm just wondering how much per month do you think a student living alone would spend on food? I was forced to take a meal plan where I live right now and the guy tried selling it as if it's really cheap... I calculated it out to around $11.50 a day so over $300 a month. Is this a lot? I feel like I could eat at quiznos twice every day (same amount of meals I get here) for cheaper.
 
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20$/day :rolleyes:

But, 11$ sounds reasonable if it can buy two good meals per day.
 
If you shop at a market, you can eat healthier for a lot less. I can go anywhere from $4 bucks/day (2x$1 can of tuna, 1x$2 avocado), or you can play around with meat, cook it, etc
 
$20 a day??

How much KD and Ramen noodles can you eat in day??
 
$11.50 is a bit high.

You live in a dorm, where you don't have access to a kitchen and you wouldn't be able to cook, right? An all-fast-food diet is a bad idea.
 
lisab said:
$11.50 is a bit high.

You live in a dorm, where you don't have access to a kitchen and you wouldn't be able to cook, right? An all-fast-food diet is a bad idea.

Hey hey now. They have a USB cooker now
 
I would say anything under $13 a day is decent.

Some eat more than others, etc.

90/wk, 400/mo

anything more than that is ridiculous unless you have lots of money to spend

it of course depends on how much you eat, and living expenses

i live really cheaply and spend about $10 a day on food
 
DaveC426913 said:
$20 a day??

How much KD and Ramen noodles can you eat in day??

A sub is around 7$; noodles+chicken+beef take out is around 8$; coffee 4 times a day around 1$.

I don't want to cook because that is time consuming. Only other alternative is go with cheaper outside food but I like what I eat now and don't foresee any financial troubles for my remaining undergrad time. I haven't started saving for grad school (likely MBA) but I think it would work out or I would have to spend few years working.
 
Does anyone have a link to any good sites on exactly what to buy to eat well on extremely modest budgets?

I know people who swear they don't have money to save for things they want but eat in restaurants every day spending $50 or more.

It's important to eat in a balanced way. All tuna and peanut butter would be cheap but not healthy.

What's the cheapest healthy baseline menu for 1 and for 2 people? This should be a government publication but I don't think it is.
 
  • #10
The meal plan is 14 meals in a week, so since I don't go home on weekends it's about 2 meals a day but I don't use them all because I'm not around during school. (the dorm is kinda far from my school)

For some reason I feel like I could live in a room and spend less money on food and probably even eat more. I mean soups aren't expensive to make, neither is stew and it can last a long time if you make it in a big pot. Some rice to that and you've got meals for a week.
 
  • #11
Where do you go to school? That might affect food prices.
 
  • #12
Antiphon said:
Does anyone have a link to any good sites on exactly what to buy to eat well on extremely modest budgets?

I know people who swear they don't have money to save for things they want but eat in restaurants every day spending $50 or more.

It's important to eat in a balanced way. All tuna and peanut butter would be cheap but not healthy.

What's the cheapest healthy baseline menu for 1 and for 2 people? This should be a government publication but I don't think it is.

don't know a link, but could offer some suggestions. the biggest issue is that to eat well, yet cheaply, you're going to have to cook. that takes time/labor.
 
  • #13
Loren Booda said:
Where do you go to school? That might affect food prices.

Peterborough atm it's surrounded by farms and cottage country. From what I've noticed everything is generally a lot cheaper. The first day I came up here gas was 94.8 cents. Compared to like 102 in my city. haha.
 
  • #14
zomgwtf said:
The meal plan is 14 meals in a week, so since I don't go home on weekends it's about 2 meals a day but I don't use them all because I'm not around during school. (the dorm is kinda far from my school)

For some reason I feel like I could live in a room and spend less money on food and probably even eat more. I mean soups aren't expensive to make, neither is stew and it can last a long time if you make it in a big pot. Some rice to that and you've got meals for a week.

whether their plan is reasonable depends entirely on what the food is.
 
  • #15
Proton Soup said:
whether their plan is reasonable depends entirely on what the food is.

This is true. We've had sausage penne stuff, lasagna, different sorts of chinese foods veggies and salads. It's not the best tasting though not going to lie, but I'm going to eat it since I paid 1000$ for it. I'm thinking about moving for next semester though and I'm wondering if it'll be cheaper to do that food wise. This is my first time living alone when I was at home I bought my own food sometimes but generally that was just to cook like 'special' meals for myself or friends and stuff so it'd be pretty expensive. I've never had to go shopping for food for a long period of time for myself :-p

For instance todays maels were spaghetti for lunch and dinner rolls with meat and cheese stuffed in them with salad for dinner. For some reason this doesn't strike me as 11.50 a day living.
 
  • #16
Depends how active you are too. For myself I need ~3500 calories a day. I likely spend at least $15 on food a day and I mostly cook.
 
  • #17
It's very, very easy to eat for cheap with even basic cooking skills. Soups, stews, potato hash, chili etc (as it's coming to winter). Can all be left bubbling in a pan, then be frozen in portions for later.

Simple things such as getting a whole roast chicken, using the breasts, legs for a full meal, stripping all the meat off it to add into stew, risotto, whatever. Then using the bones to make a stock. Mince is also a really cheap meat to get and can be used to make loads of things.

At a push when I was a skint student I got food down to about £2 a day for three decent meals, so that's about $3.15/day. It was no frills, but did the job.

Two things are key to this, find a damn good butcher, you'll have to look around but you'll find better value meat (not necessarily cheaper, but better quality for same price). A fresh green grocers, veg tends to be a little bit more expensive from a grocers rather than a supermarket but the quality tends to be higher. And never buy organic, it's just a bloody rip off.

EDIT: I suppose it also depends on what portion size you have, if you eat like a horse then you'll end up spending more.
 
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  • #18
zomgwtf said:
I'm just wondering how much per month do you think a student living alone would spend on food? I was forced to take a meal plan where I live right now and the guy tried selling it as if it's really cheap... I calculated it out to around $11.50 a day so over $300 a month. Is this a lot? I feel like I could eat at quiznos twice every day (same amount of meals I get here) for cheaper.

You can eat at quiznos on less than $5.75 per meal?
 
  • #19
Jack21222 said:
You can eat at quiznos on less than $5.75 per meal?

Yeah they have a 9" sub chips and drink for $5. :-p.

I wasn't beings serious but the way I see it if I can pay to eat fast food each day for the same amount then I must be paying too much, I could eat at McDonalds twice a day for $11.50 as well.
 
  • #20
zomgwtf said:
Yeah they have a 9" sub chips and drink for $5. :-p.

No, no they don't. Sub is 5 dollars, chips and drink are another 2 dollars. Plus tax. Unlike most people here, I actually HAVE eaten quiznos twice a day for more than one day in a row. Place is expensive.

Now McDonalds, I'd agree.

(if I sound fat, it's because I am)
 
  • #21
I would highly recommend eating lentil soup every morning and buying takeout from lebanese/mediteranean restarants.(middle eastern)

Specifically I would recommend sharoma/shishkabob with rice and veggies/hummus/garlic sauce.

Im telling you right now, the middle eastern food is the holy grail that I thought never existed. Words cannot describe it.

If this is not possible I think you should eat at LEAST a soup a day + other stuff. It simply does wonders to your system.
 
  • #22
Jack21222 said:
No, no they don't. Sub is 5 dollars, chips and drink are another 2 dollars. Plus tax. Unlike most people here, I actually HAVE eaten quiznos twice a day for more than one day in a row. Place is expensive.

Now McDonalds, I'd agree.

(if I sound fat, it's because I am)

I don't know where you live but right now it's $5 for a sub chip and drink. In fact, I just saw a commercial about it.
 
  • #23
haxtor21 said:
I would highly recommend eating lentil soup every morning and buying takeout from lebanese/mediteranean restarants.(middle eastern)

Specifically I would recommend sharoma/shishkabob with rice and veggies/hummus/garlic sauce.

Im telling you right now, the middle eastern food is the holy grail that I thought never existed. Words cannot describe it.

If this is not possible I think you should eat at LEAST a soup a day + other stuff. It simply does wonders to your system.

I love shwarmas but I'm not really interested in paying 6$ per shwarma and that's the cheapest I've seen them.
 
  • #24
Walmart's Deli has wonderful HUGE cheap submarines. A 2 pound sub is $4.98. Their Italian sub will rival any fast food sub shop in flavor (except Jimmy Johns because of their yummy bread and dressing), and the meat and cheese are packed flat a good 1 1/2 inch thick the entire length. You can take it apart and make three substantial subs. One of their subs is lunch for 3 days, easily, and that includes sharing with my dog.
 
  • #25
Evo said:
Walmart's Deli has wonderful HUGE cheap submarines. A 2 pound sub is $4.98. Their Italian sub will rival any fast food sub shop in flavor (except Jimmy Johns because of their yummy bread and dressing), and the meat and cheese are packed flat a good 1 1/2 inch thick the entire length. You can take it apart and make three substantial subs. One of their subs is lunch for 3 days, easily, and that includes sharing with my dog.

I wish there was a Walmart with this type of food here. There's only one Walmart in the entire city though and it isn't one of the 'upgraded' types yet.
 
  • #26
zomgwtf said:
I don't know where you live but right now it's $5 for a sub chip and drink. In fact, I just saw a commercial about it.

Is it an actual sub, or is it one of those skinny little "torpedos?"
 
  • #27
Jack21222 said:
Place is expensive.

Now McDonalds, I'd agree.

I contend that McDonalds is twice as expensive as most other fast food places out there. At least for me.

Why? Because I pay for it twice.

Once on the way in ... and again on its way out.
 
  • #28
DaveC426913 said:
Once on the way in ... and again on its way out.

If the mental image I get is right when thinking about this statement then... gross.
 

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