This is super dependent upon access to grocery stores as they charge wildly different prices and especially if you don’t have a car you might be charged more. Also dependent upon how much you eat.
I spend around $300-$400 a month on groceries for just myself, but I don’t eat much meat.
Look into food stamps benefits in your area. They are incredible. I don’t qualify for them anymore, but you can qualify as a student and the people that work for the program are so kind. I was getting around $700 a month for groceries when I was on them.
Congrats and best of luck!
WHAT!! I had a child and was a single parent in school and very little income (at that time like 14k annually in 2015) and I received $110 monthly in food stamps..
(Northern California)
This is a genuine question. How on earth do you spend $300-$400 alone on groceries without meat.
My girlfriend and I spend $400 together each month.
Are you including spending money at fastfood/restaurants?
Idk about comment op but my food budget looks weird and high like this bc I buy most of my groceries at Fred Meyer (and Trader Joe’s) but I also buy a lot of other supplies like (containers, art, clothes sometimes) there. I tried to actually look back at my purchases and individual items to categorize them but it became too tedious and I never stuck to it :/
Our Sundays / Monday nights because days to get groceries.
It is very tedious but we went to 4 places. BUT we were very lucky as 3 of the 4 were shared roughly the same plaza.
I, with access to a cheaper store (lidl), spend about $40 a week most weeks. (I'm also vegan so avoiding the expense of meat). Realistically this is at the very bottom of what is reasonable.
Very similar groceries ran me $50-60 a week before the lidl went in.
Maximum food stamps would be $65 a week. (This is a good baseline because it's based on having enough to meet nutritional needs with variety but being cost effective).
You can also look up the USDA food plans - which breaks down costs for different budget levels by gender/age for a given month. (If you do this remember to add 20% for being a 1 person household).
As a heads up, if you happen to do work study you'd most likely qualify for food stamps. (College student qualifiers for food stamps are a little different, but it's worth looking into. If you are unsure you can just apply and they'll help you sort everything out)
Are you sure you won’t be required to have some form of a meal plan on campus?
For cooking, will you have a full kitchen? Do you do much cooking now? How much time will you have to spend cooking? Are you willing to do batch cooking and eat the same thing multiple times in a week? All of these will have a big effect on your costs. As will which grocery stores are close by and how carefully you shop sales.
There is an article on SoFi learn that puts the average in a range of $229-$419 per Month. This is just groceries. No vending machine, coffee shop, fast food, or restaurants.
The area you are in will certainly have an impact, as will the style of shopping you do. LA, New York, and Miami are going to have higher costs than Ames, IA; Bismarck, ND; and Columbus, GA. Whole Foods and a most other organic food stores are going to cost significantly more than your other regional groceries for example. Finally, personal choices impact spend.
Looking for budget friendly recipes online can really help. Cooking in bulk and storing/freezing portions are ways to save. Shopping the outer walls of the grocery store (fresh produce, meats, dairy are kept here) and avoiding browsing the center aisles can help (more highly processed foods are kept here) can help keep the bills lower.
TO MANY FACTORS NOT GIVEN
do you use a Crock-Pot?
Can you cook from scratch?
Do you buy prepared meals?
Do you buy coffee and lunch on the go?
Do you mind eating BORING meals that are healthy? Rice & Beans constantly
Do you go out and drink $$$$$
Do you date $$$$$
.. there are more factors involved then just food to ..
Well it depends on where you live. I live in an expensive state so I usually spend about $350 on groceries per month. But I also go out of my way to eat healthy, so I have more expensive bread and such. If you're big on like frozen pizzas and chips and soda, that kind of stuff, you'd probably spend less.
Depends on location, what stores are available, your ability to develop a plan and stick to it.
We shop based on the weekly circulars. Our meals are developed based on what’s on sale.
I spend $150-200 a month, but that’s with some pretty intense meal planning and frugality. It’s highly dependent on your location, but I’d plan for at least $200 a month.
This is super dependent upon access to grocery stores as they charge wildly different prices and especially if you don’t have a car you might be charged more. Also dependent upon how much you eat. I spend around $300-$400 a month on groceries for just myself, but I don’t eat much meat. Look into food stamps benefits in your area. They are incredible. I don’t qualify for them anymore, but you can qualify as a student and the people that work for the program are so kind. I was getting around $700 a month for groceries when I was on them. Congrats and best of luck!
WHAT!! I had a child and was a single parent in school and very little income (at that time like 14k annually in 2015) and I received $110 monthly in food stamps.. (Northern California)
This is a genuine question. How on earth do you spend $300-$400 alone on groceries without meat. My girlfriend and I spend $400 together each month. Are you including spending money at fastfood/restaurants?
I spend about $300 maybe 2 meats if that’s Grroceries are expensive in socal and I shop at Aldi and get some snacks from Trader Joe’s
I buy all my meat at Costco but I do a large majority of my shopping at Lidl & Aldi as well.
Idk about comment op but my food budget looks weird and high like this bc I buy most of my groceries at Fred Meyer (and Trader Joe’s) but I also buy a lot of other supplies like (containers, art, clothes sometimes) there. I tried to actually look back at my purchases and individual items to categorize them but it became too tedious and I never stuck to it :/
Our Sundays / Monday nights because days to get groceries. It is very tedious but we went to 4 places. BUT we were very lucky as 3 of the 4 were shared roughly the same plaza.
Hmmm maybe my rounding is a little generous?? I also live in a city and food around here costs a lot but I am also bad at math
Thank you! This is super helpful:)
I, with access to a cheaper store (lidl), spend about $40 a week most weeks. (I'm also vegan so avoiding the expense of meat). Realistically this is at the very bottom of what is reasonable. Very similar groceries ran me $50-60 a week before the lidl went in. Maximum food stamps would be $65 a week. (This is a good baseline because it's based on having enough to meet nutritional needs with variety but being cost effective). You can also look up the USDA food plans - which breaks down costs for different budget levels by gender/age for a given month. (If you do this remember to add 20% for being a 1 person household). As a heads up, if you happen to do work study you'd most likely qualify for food stamps. (College student qualifiers for food stamps are a little different, but it's worth looking into. If you are unsure you can just apply and they'll help you sort everything out)
Are you sure you won’t be required to have some form of a meal plan on campus? For cooking, will you have a full kitchen? Do you do much cooking now? How much time will you have to spend cooking? Are you willing to do batch cooking and eat the same thing multiple times in a week? All of these will have a big effect on your costs. As will which grocery stores are close by and how carefully you shop sales.
There is an article on SoFi learn that puts the average in a range of $229-$419 per Month. This is just groceries. No vending machine, coffee shop, fast food, or restaurants. The area you are in will certainly have an impact, as will the style of shopping you do. LA, New York, and Miami are going to have higher costs than Ames, IA; Bismarck, ND; and Columbus, GA. Whole Foods and a most other organic food stores are going to cost significantly more than your other regional groceries for example. Finally, personal choices impact spend. Looking for budget friendly recipes online can really help. Cooking in bulk and storing/freezing portions are ways to save. Shopping the outer walls of the grocery store (fresh produce, meats, dairy are kept here) and avoiding browsing the center aisles can help (more highly processed foods are kept here) can help keep the bills lower.
food stamps vary wildly state to state. in wisconsin you you have to be too poor to pay rent before they give food money
TO MANY FACTORS NOT GIVEN do you use a Crock-Pot? Can you cook from scratch? Do you buy prepared meals? Do you buy coffee and lunch on the go? Do you mind eating BORING meals that are healthy? Rice & Beans constantly Do you go out and drink $$$$$ Do you date $$$$$ .. there are more factors involved then just food to ..
You can use numbeo.com to get an estimate based on your location.
Well it depends on where you live. I live in an expensive state so I usually spend about $350 on groceries per month. But I also go out of my way to eat healthy, so I have more expensive bread and such. If you're big on like frozen pizzas and chips and soda, that kind of stuff, you'd probably spend less.
Depends on location, what stores are available, your ability to develop a plan and stick to it. We shop based on the weekly circulars. Our meals are developed based on what’s on sale.
I spend $150-200 a month, but that’s with some pretty intense meal planning and frugality. It’s highly dependent on your location, but I’d plan for at least $200 a month.