Student food budget in London?

Question

My daughter will be studying abroad in London. There is no meal plan, and she will have to cook. How much should one budget for food (mostly cooking, occasionally dining out) in London/South Kensington?

Answer 1

If she's going to be a real student, give her enough to cover a tin of Heinz Beans and a few bottles of the good stuff.

Answer 2

I would think about 30% above what it would cost her to cook/eat out where you are.

Answer 3

I never stuck to a strict budget as a student living in central London, but there are a few basic tips that might help.

- Cooking for the freezer is great. If you make soups, sauces, and dishes that can be frozen; you've always got a back up meal for the times when you're short of cash.

- Choose your supermarkets carefully. Waitrose and M&S are known to be expensive, Sainsburys and Tesco are mid-range, and places like Asda, Morrisons and Aldi / Lidl are a lot cheaper. I saved lots of money by picking up brand and bulk items like pasta, rice, vegetables, etc in less expensive supermarkets and then buying good quality meat and fish from butchers and fishmongers. Markets are also great for fruit & veg, eggs, and so on.

- Making your own lunch, rather than buying a sandwich on the go, saves a LOT of money. You can end up spending over £10 a day on lunch otherwise!

- Invest in a Brita water filter. This will save untold amounts of money that would be spent on bottled water.

- As someone else said, if you eat less meat - you'll certainly spend less. I used to eat organic meat once a week, and then eat pretty much vegetarian for the rest of the time.

- With eating out, you can eat at some very high end places quite cheaply by using the special offers on www.toptable.co.uk and www.london-eating.co.uk - On toptable, every time you book you get points which add up to a free meal!

- Note that a lot of places offer student discounts at certain times - not just for food, but also cinemas, theatres, gyms, etc.

Some helpful links. An article about student eating from The Times:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_an...

TimeOut guide to cheap eats for students:

http://www.timeout.com/london/student-gu...

Link to student cookbooks on Amazon.co.uk that she can buy cheaply when she gets here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_...

London is an expensive city, but it is still possible to eat well on a budget. Once your daughter gets to know the shops and markets that are near where she's living, she'll be available to budget easily. It's a great place to live and study - I hope she enjoys every minute!