COst of college students to EAT in their own apartment???

[cruisnfamily]

I use Quicken so I can tell you exactly what my DD spends. Here's how we do it...
1)She has $400 per semester in dining dollars which are used for lunch on campus(chick fil a, taco bell, subway, etc) and that amount worked out just about perfectly. So lunches 3 or 4 days a week are not included in my calculations because they are covered by this plan.

2)She pays for her own meals out...whether it's mcdonalds or pf changs or whatever, if it's not on campus, and it's not the grocery store, then it's coming out of her personal pocket.

3)She has a credit card, in her own name, which we get the bill for and payoff every month. She uses this card for all approved expenses. This is how she buys groceries.

I can tell you, for the last year, that she has averaged $51 per week on ALL apartment supplies including food, cleaning supplies, paper products, personal care items, shampoo, soap, etc.

It actually came out to so much less than I had anticipated. I couldn't believe it. We didn't give her a budget, just gave her the card, told her what things we would pay for and what she would be responsible for and told her we'd keep an eye on the expenses and reevaluate budgets and such if needed. It's never been needed, we feel her expenses are quite resonable

 

[LSmith]

I found it, it was 8 Dollars, which is over 6 Euro, but even at 5 euro that is more than anything but a major tourist trap charges. I have never paid more than 4 euro in Spain and usually 2.5-3.5, even when we are in Barcelona. The point was--this kid seems like he might not care much to look for better prices

and, the exchange rate is nutty going to pounds, but where the heck are they sending these students to eat. Their college kids right? Nandos or Wawas or other inexpesnive but good places still charge about 2.50 (and Nandos has unlimited refills BTW) and even at never places which cater towards tourists I have never seen more than 3 pound 50 for a drink in London.


OP---maybe the take away from the above is to make sure your DD knows how to price out a few venues in her area when she eats out and factor in the cost of drinks (or enjoy that lovely free water---something we do not have in Germany ) and make sure your DD knows to look for generics, etc when shopping.

How close to home will she live? When we were in college my mother in law often bought my then boyfriend (now my husband) extras from Costco or when there was a sale and she'd send him up with a big load of groceries every time he went home for a visit (every 6 weeks or so). She had more time and ability (with a car, etc) to gab good deals and go to many stores to get the bargain. Then he only had to get fresh meats, produce and dairy to fill in.

How judgemental of you. When kids go on overseas trips with their classes they often have to stop to eat near whatever museum they've just visited.

Having been all over Europe I now know the closer to an attraction you are the more the restaurant inflates the price. I can assure you that many non suspecting tourists have paid a hefty price for a can of coke in a place like Rome or Barcelona. Many of these cafes and restaurants have two different set of prices, one for locals and one for tourists. We once made the mistake of eating at a small cafe near the Vatican and while I can't remember exactly how much the soda was, it was definitely near 8 Euros. There were no prices posted and it was a casual place that you just grab your pizza slice or whatever and pay at the end. How would a kid travelling to Europe for the first time have any idea how much a can of soda should cost around these places?

I'm glad that your children have been well prepared for the world at large.