It’s always a pricy burden to accommodate food, and if you are a broke college student with due projects and papers, it’s even harder to deal with. Given the prices, students may have one question: “How much should we spend on food?”. Let’s take a quick look. The average cost is 500-550 USD for a month. However, College students’ budget differs according to if food is homecooked or ordered. Average money spent on food with groceries (and occasional orderings included) changes between 200-220 USD. A monthly plan with no homecooked meals price comes up to 330-345 USD. Imagining it is not possible to exclude ordering or eating out when it’s time for midterms and maybe you are having a hangover from a party and have no energy to cook, or an ordering application offers a really good deal, the amount of money that can be spent comes around again 500ish USD. Let’s start with How Much Should College Students Spend On Food?
It is a high amount of money even if you live in a free dormitory, including all of your needs. The college itself may have a cafeteria with low prices however, let’s be honest, how many times will you go there without craving your favorite foods? Maybe you’re a “gym bro,” and it’s not enough protein in the cafeteria; what are you doing? It is much harder to maintain the stability of the money if students are also paying for the housing. The traveling expenses are not even included for the study-abroad students.
Nobody knows why such a basic need is so hard to maintain moneywise but this is for you if you also want to get suggestions on how much should you spend. I know it is hard to deal with including all of the pressure from the professors but let’s take a deep breath, open our wallets, and bank accounts and let’s see how we can handle it.
How Can the Expanses for Food Be Lowered?
Grab your fav foods from home.
This is a suggestion for my fellow study-abroad students. Instead of one extra sweatshirt in your suitcase, wedge some of your favorite snacks in there, maybe some bulgur, rice from your hometown, or dry, easy-to-carry stuff from home that you could be spending more money on in the country you are studying.
Draw out a plan for the food in your fridge.
If it’s not planned out believe me you will feel like eating anything from there out of boredom and the budget you had for the grocery shopping will go to waste. Of course, I’m not talking about break-down sessions where you feel like eating the pain away. These are just suggestions. You do you anyways.
Try carrying some snacks while you are out.
I know, big food cooperations have you in their net. Fast food is delicious, easy, and comfort food. Can you tell me the times you have unintentionally spent a lot of money on it without even realizing it? Yeah, I think I see some eyes turning away from the screen. Instead, look away from that big fries advertisement screen, and throw some bars in your bag.
Seek out the student-friendly grocery stores.
Some grocery stores provide discounts if you register a card or an account with your student ID. Even if it’s not much, it will help you in the long run.
Your coins are money too.
This is more like a warning instead of a suggestion but spending coins sometimes feel like you are getting stuff for free. Do not forget it is actually money too and it may pick a hole in your wallet if it gets spent relentlessly.
Determine your priorities.
If you want to spend your money on something you really want, this article will not hold you back but consider your food plan before or after making the purchase to not walk around hungry for a few days.
These are some abstract suggestions, the thing is what is the lowest that could be spent on food by college students.
What Is the Most Wallet-Friendly Food Expense on Average?
Meal plans may change according to age, and activity; the lowest cost comes at around 160-200 USD for a month. Let’s not forget this is a hard meal plan to achieve though. College students can be attending classes for a whole day and it will sadly add around 200-300 USD if the meal is eaten in the cafeteria of the campus. It is possible to prepare it. 160-200 USD is hard but not impossible to achieve.
What is The Experience of a College Student Herself?
I have been studying abroad for a while now and sadly the money I spend is a lot. It’s possible to have scholarships if you provide your income or your parents’ income in some countries such as Italy. The scholarship helps a lot to ease the pain of the money however it’s hard to leave your home and your comfort zone.
While trying to adjust you may spend money without realizing it because food is therapy in some ways. Because of that, my expenses come to around 300-400 USD a month. People have tried to lower it by bringing some food from my country and keeping my meals planned. Hoping it works, fingers are crossed or I will need therapy for real and I don’t even know the expenses for that.
So the point is, food is expensive no matter what but it is up to the college students to maintain it in the ways that are mentioned. This article may help you or not but just know that I am also a college student currently struggling with the stress, money, and some of the things I can not think of right now. Hang in there with all of the study load and the new lifestyle. Being an adult is hard but not harder than collecting yourself after your treat your body badly, don’t forget to eat.
Conclusion
These are some of the ways of how a student can easily decrease their money on food. Additionally, this will help them save up a lot of penny for other purposes as well. In order to save money, students must follow these procedures.