College kids and eating expenses

[DawnCt1]

I understand I wasn't trying to put you down or anything. I just come from a very poor background and when I was out of college couldn't imagine spending $100 a week on food. Hes very lucky to have a parent like you. Also, please thank your son for me for serving our country.

I understand. Actually DS didn't serve at all. His dad is in the reserves and did two tours in Iraq. President Bush signed a provision that service men and women could transfer their Post 9/11 educational GI bill benefits to their spouses or children and so that's what he did. Its a great benefit.

 

[DawnCt1]

I'm reading this thread with curiosity because I'm going to be doing this in a few years. I can not imagine expecting a college student to make $40 or $50 a week last for healthy food. I mean, they are really at a high level learning place in their lives and they need to be eating fresh food- fruits and veggies, lean meats and complex carbs. $7 a day for three meals and snacks is so little. I have a friend/God daughter who is on a meal plan and gets $20 a week to supplement that. The meal plan covers pizza, Taco Bell and Wendy's that are in her student union as well as the dining hall.

It is one thing if you have five people in a family, when you shop and plan a meal, you can do it for less than $50/week per person, BUT one kid in an apartment with two or three other guys? They don't plan that way. They have different schedules, may not cook, may not clean. So while he is living with other people, what they seem to do is to fill up the freezer and fridge rather inefficiently. If he were in the dorm, on the meal plan, we would get the bill and pay it, so I see it as the same. We also gave him $25 per week spending money when he was on the plan, so I am still saving money.

 

[mickeysgal]

We also gave him $25 per week spending money when he was on the plan, so I am still saving money.

This is what I'm thinking of giving DD...who is on a wonderful meal plan. She still has to eat on Sunday and take car of the incidentals that come up throughout the week.

 

[mamacatnv]

Our DS is on his own when it comes to spending money but he does have a PT job. Since he lives here year round he has had the same job since he started college. He takes classes year round including 1 in the summer and lives on campus year round.
He pays his gas, insurance, cable and play money along with his tuition and books. We pay all living expenses.
Last year we saw a lot to the convenience foods and eating out. I finally had a fit and took away his credit card, if he wants to spend the $$ on that then he can use his own $$. That got the message across. He has my credit card back and so far so good.

Horseshowmom you are right - we wanted him to get a "going away to college" experience not to simply go away

 

[WheresFigment?]

When I was in college I got $50/week for food. It was livable, but I'm a 100lb 5ft tall girl and didn't eat much. I'd buy about a pound of steak, some rice, cereal, some fruit and be totally happy all week. There was usually some $$ left over, I would only spend about $15-20 on an average trip to the grocery store.

 

[INDISMOM]

When I was in school, I had to pay my tuition, books and spending money. When I was in the dorms, my parents paid room & board.

Once I got an apartment, my parents deposited into my checking account the same amount they would have paid to the college for my room & board. I was expected to make a budget and pay all of my own bills (rent, utilities, etc). I never ran out of money, but if I ever had I knew I wouldn't be getting any more from my parents!

 

[RitaE]

My son is in an on campus apartment now which he shares with one other student. But he is still primarily eating at the University dining places and still spending like crazy ... We put about $480 into his meal plan mid-August and I've already had to make a second deposit.

Ah well, at least I know it is going for food and not beer. I don't mind buying him food.

I think they're pretty much just keeping junk food and bananas in their kitchen.

and microwave popcorn.

 

[NotUrsula]

The issue with budgeting for food when you are living on your own and have little space to store frozen food is that you have to buy in small quantities, which is more expensive per unit of food than if you can buy in quantity. If you actually expect a student to eat things like fresh fruit, then you are going to have to accept that it will cost quite a bit bought in quantities to feed only one.

I was dirt-poor when I was in school, and I had 3 roommates in a rented house (the rent was $300, split X4 it cost us each $75.) The drinking age was lower back then, and it was the 80's; the era of the big-bar happy hour buffet. We managed by pooling our grocery funds and taking turns cooking M-Th, and then we would hit bars on Friday and Saturday to eat the free finger food. Most of the time we didn't even buy a drink; we'd flirt some poor guy into doing that. That happy-hour buffet contained the only fresh fruit or veggies that we saw all week -- on our budget we could only afford canned. Most of the time we ate one-dish meals that could be stretched with starches. I can remember buying "mature" whole chickens for $.38/lb. at the cheap ethnic market and stewing the heck out of them so that they would be edible, then serving that over rice.

My usual cafeteria lunch on campus was a bowl of soup and a side dish of extra rice to make it more filling. As I recall, that cost just about $1.

 

[horseshowmom]

I have to add a story about one of my nieces. A lady at church overheard her talking about eating boxed potatoes (the dehydrated kind) for almost every meal that week while she was gone to school. The lady (a friend of the family) was mortified and offered to send some stuff out of her overflowing freezer back to school with her. About that time my sister-in-law walked up and heard what was going on. She told her daughter to please explain to the lady why she was eating so pathetically that week. Niece said, "Oh, that way I can buy more shoes! "

 

[tvguy]

I've been fighting this battle for over 2 years. DS was spending $100 to $125 a week, which is what we spend for him, DD, DW and I per week during the summer when we are all home.
Two problems.
1) He won't eat ramen, the main stay food for college students.
2) He watches too much Alton Brown on TV and tries too many receipes with expensive ingredients. He actually called me from the store to ask me if I knew that Vanilla beans cost $12 for a package of 4!!!!. I asked him how much the store brand real vanilla extra was......it was $2.99, but he didn't want to buy that because Alton's receipe called for whole vanilla beans!
Then there was the time while home that he made fondue for all of us. $45 dollars worth of Gruyere cheese, and it barely made enough for the 4 of us.

 

[Teacher03]

Our DD lives off campus, but she buys her own food. We pay tuition and rent, so we think that is fair. When she comes home, she goes back with a couple of bags of groceries; I will pick her up cereal, make a pan of lasagna, etc.

She says she spends about $150 a month.

 

[mamacatnv]

I have to add a story about one of my nieces. A lady at church overheard her talking about eating boxed potatoes (the dehydrated kind) for almost every meal that week while she was gone to school. The lady (a friend of the family) was mortified and offered to send some stuff out of her overflowing freezer back to school with her. About that time my sister-in-law walked up and heard what was going on. She told her daughter to please explain to the lady why she was eating so pathetically that week. Niece said, "Oh, that way I can buy more shoes! "