What is the average food cost for a college student living alone?

When university students start living alone, the first thing they worry about is how much their monthly food expenses will be. This chapter uses actual data to provide a detailed explanation, including the national average, differences between urban and rural areas, and even the cost differences depending on dietary lifestyles such as cooking at home or eating out. This is basic information you'll want to know when considering your future lifestyle plans and money-saving strategies.

A general guideline is 20,000 to 30,000 yen per month.

According to surveys by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and websites providing information on further education, the average food cost for a university student living alone is around 20,000 to 30,000 yen per month. This is the total amount actually spent on food, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, and snacks.

For example, a survey by the university support website Benesse Manabi Vision found that the average monthly cost is around 24,000 yen, and many students base their lives on this amount.

However, actual food costs will vary depending on where you live and your lifestyle.

• Students from rural areas (with vegetables sent from home, mostly self-catering): 15,000 to 20,000 yen per month
• Urban students (mainly eating out and takeout, high prices at supermarkets): around 30,000 yen per month

In other words, the "rate of cooking at home," "rate of eating out," and "price level in the living area" are directly linked to differences in food costs.

The balance between eating out and cooking at home will affect the cost

Here are some guidelines for cost per meal:

• Eating out (set meal/lunch): 500-800 yen per meal
• Convenience store bento/prepared meal: 400-600 yen per meal
• Cooking at home (buying in bulk and freezing): about 200-300 yen per meal

For example, if you eat out for all three meals a day, your monthly expenses would be 500 yen x 3 meals x 30 days = 45,000 yen, which can be as much as your rent.

On the other hand, if you can cook all three meals yourself and buy inexpensive ingredients in bulk, you can make a big difference: 250 yen per meal x 3 meals x 30 days = 22,500 yen per month.

In this way, where, what, and how one eats have a major impact on the food expenses of college students.

School cafeterias and money sent home from parents are also important support elements

Some universities have cafeterias where you can get a balanced meal for around 300 yen per meal, so you can save a lot of money by taking advantage of these. Many students in particular eat lunch at the cafeteria, and the typical pattern is to have a simple breakfast, eat lunch at the cafeteria, and cook dinner at home.

In addition, receiving vegetables, rice, and other items from family is a very effective way to reduce the actual burden of food costs. Whether or not you receive such support from your family also affects your actual food costs.

Breakdown of food expenses and actual usage

Once you have a grasp of the average amount spent on food, the next question to ask is, "What is that money being spent on, and how much?" In this chapter, we will take a closer look at the breakdown of food expenses, showing how much college students actually spend on what.

We will explain in detail how food expenses are allocated in daily life, not only for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but also for drinks, snacks, the ratio of eating out to cooking at home, and the use of convenience stores and school cafeterias.

Composition of three meals a day and spending trends for each

Many college students live a life based on three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but the cost and style of each meal varies from person to person.

• Breakfast: Many people have a light meal such as bread, cereal, or instant soup, costing around 100 to 200 yen per meal. There are also a certain number of people who skip breakfast.
• Lunch: Mostly school cafeterias or convenience stores. Approximate cost is around 300-600 yen.
• Dinner: Most people tend to cook at home or eat out, and the cost can vary widely. Eating out costs from 700 yen, while cooking at home costs from 300 yen.

Dinner is the most expensive meal of the day. Many students are tired from classes or part-time work and turn to eating out or takeout, and this expense can drive up their monthly food budget.

Proportion of home-cooked meals, eating out, and ready-made meals, and cost

The breakdown of food expenses is largely determined by the ratio of home-cooked meals, eating out, and ready-made meals (convenience stores and prepared foods).

• Cooking at home: It's easy to keep costs down, but it requires time for cooking, shopping, and cleaning up. A meal can often cost as little as 200-300 yen.
• Eating out: Convenient but expensive. Even at restaurants catering to students, meals start from 500 yen.
• Mid-range meals: Buying packed lunches or prepared meals and eating them. The cost is 400-600 yen per meal. This is convenient when you want to save time, but if you eat frequently, your food expenses can increase.

In actual surveys, many students maintain a balance of "60% home cooking, 20% eating out, 20% ready-to-eat meals" or "50% home cooking, 30% eating out, 20% ready-to-eat meals," and the more students cook at home, the lower their food costs tend to be.

Reduce costs by utilizing the school cafeteria

University cafeterias offer affordable, nutritionally balanced meals, making them a very cost-effective option for students.

• Set menu: 300 to 450 yen
• Curry and rice bowls: 250 to 350 yen
• Set meals with small dishes and soups are also available.

By actively using the school cafeteria, you can significantly reduce the cost of lunch. Furthermore, by eating warm rice and vegetables, you can supplement the nutritional information that tends to be lacking when eating out or at convenience stores.

Be careful with drinks, snacks, and snacks when you're out and about

It's easy to overlook, but the cost of drinks and snacks is also included in your monthly food budget.

• Bottled drinks at convenience stores: 150-200 yen
• Cafes and drink stands: Around 400 yen per drink
• Snacks and ice cream: 100-300 yen

If you buy things every day without thinking, even if you spend around 500 yen a day, it can add up to more than 10,000 yen a month. This is especially true for students who go out a lot, so it's important to take measures such as bringing your own bottles.

Food expenses worries faced by university students living alone

Food expenses are an expense that directly affects daily life, and while it's something we want to cut back on, actually trying to save money can be a source of worry. In this chapter, we'll look at the "food expenses problems" that college students living alone often face and explain the background to them. By understanding the gap between ideal and reality, such as cases where being too conscious of saving money leads to poor health, or the reality that cooking at home is more difficult than expected, we'll build a foundation for future improvement measures.

Nutritional balance tends to be disrupted

It's common for university students living alone to focus too much on saving money and end up eating a carbohydrate-heavy diet. Eating cheap and easy meals like pasta, rice bowls, and instant noodles can lead to vitamin, mineral, and protein deficiencies, which can lead to poor health and a lack of concentration.

Additionally, many students find it difficult to buy vegetables because they are expensive, which means that cutting food costs often means cutting nutrition, which is also an issue.

Not using all the ingredients and causing waste

There are also worries about not being able to use up the ingredients you bought cheaply at the supermarket, and ending up wasting them. For example, here are some cases:

• A bag of vegetables goes bad before it's even been used
• Leaving a large amount of meat unrefrigerated and letting it spoil
• Missing the timing to use food that is close to its expiration date

These mistakes can ultimately lead to increased costs when you intended to save money, and can also lead to a loss of motivation. This is a problem that is more likely to occur to beginner cooks.

Relying too much on convenience stores and eating out

When you're busy with classes, part-time work, and assignments, you tend to fall into the habit of eating out or ordering from convenience stores. Especially when it comes to dinner, you're often too tired to cook and end up relying on easy options, which can lead to the following drawbacks:

• Food costs are high (500-800 yen per meal)
• Unbalanced nutrition (mainly fried foods, few vegetables)
• The taste tends to be strong, which can be harmful to your health.

This is an issue that cannot be overlooked: in exchange for convenience, costs and health risks increase.

I don't have time to shop or cook

Even if you know that cooking at home is the most economical option, the time and effort involved can often be a problem.

• I don't have time to go to the supermarket
• I want to cook for myself, but I'm too tired
• Limited space for cooking equipment and refrigerator

In particular, in one-room apartments for people living alone, the kitchen is often small and it is difficult to cook using fire, so the reality is that lifestyle and facility constraints affect food cost management.

What you can do to save money | How to reduce food costs starting today

To solve the problem of food costs, it is important to know and practice reproducible money-saving techniques. This chapter introduces specific ways to save on food costs that even university students can easily implement. We have compiled techniques that are easy to incorporate into your daily life, such as shopping tips, cooking tricks, and using a household account book, with a focus on ways to "reduce food costs without too much effort."

Prevent waste by buying in bulk once a week

Saving money on food starts with reviewing your shopping habits and frequency. If you go to the supermarket every day, you tend to end up buying unnecessary items, which will increase your expenses. The following shopping methods are effective.

• Buy in bulk once a week
• Create a shopping list in advance
• Take advantage of sale days and discount times
• Prioritize frozen foods

Also, if you use the food sections of wholesale supermarkets or drugstores, you may be able to get the same foods at a much cheaper price.

Time-saving techniques to lower the barrier to cooking at home

Even if it's difficult to cook all your meals yourself, you can definitely reduce your food costs by making the effort to cook just dinner three times a week. The following ideas will help lower the hurdle of cooking at home.

• Cook a lot of rice and freeze it
• Freeze seasoned food for quick cooking
• Use one-plate meals (fried rice, rice bowls)
• Actively utilize microwave cooking

There are also an increasing number of recipes that can be made without the need for a knife or cutting board, making it easy for even beginners to try cooking.

Visualize your finances with a household accounting app

When it comes to saving money, it's very important to "know where you're spending your money." Just keeping receipts isn't enough; recording your daily expenses will help you realize where you're wasting your money.

Here are some household accounting apps that are easy for college students to use:

• Zaim: Free expense categorization. Bank integration available.
• Money Forward ME: The automatic retrieval function is convenient. The monthly food expenses are visualized in a graph.

By making your food expenses visible, you can prevent overspending based on instinct and clearly identify areas for improvement.

Easily control your spending with the "yen per day" rule

To be aware of your daily food expenses, it is also effective to clearly define your daily budget. Here is an example.

• Monthly food limit: 24,000 yen
• Daily budget: 800 yen (calculated for 30 days)

Calculating your expenses in this way makes it easier to balance your spending, for example by cooking at home the next day after eating out. It's also a good idea to manage your spending on a weekly basis. If your weekly budget is 6,000 yen, you can put 6,000 yen in cash in your wallet at the beginning of the month and be mindful not to spend it all.

By setting a specific amount like this, you will naturally become more conscious of saving money and it will become easier to control your food expenses.

Save money and get nutrition! A collection of easy recipes for those living alone

Balancing cost savings with nutrition is an important issue for university students living alone. This chapter introduces easy recipes that even beginners can try, keeping costs down while also being conscious of nutritional balance. With short cooking times and few ingredients, these are easy meals to incorporate into busy student life. Utilizing freezing and microwave cooking, the book incorporates ideas that make it easy to continue.

Breakfast: Toast + fried egg + vegetable soup (10 minutes)

This is a simple, nutritionally balanced, and classic set recommended for college students who tend to skip breakfast.

• 1 slice of bread (approximately 20 yen)
• 1 egg (about 30 yen)
• Instant soup made with frozen vegetables and consommé (about 50 yen per cup)
• Total: Approx. 100 yen / Cooking time: Approx. 10 minutes

Make vegetable soup in the microwave and avoid using the stove.

Lunch: Rice balls and instant miso soup (bring your own to save money)

If you bring your own rice balls with you for lunch when you're out, the cost will be under 200 yen.

• Rice (1 bowl = about 40 yen)
• Ingredients (salmon flakes, tuna mayonnaise, etc.)
• Commercially available miso soup pack (approximately 50 yen)
• Total: Approximately 150-180 yen / Cooking time: Approximately 15 minutes

If you bring a thermos bottle filled with hot water, you can enjoy miso soup right away even when you're out and about.

Dinner: Pork mince rice bowl + shredded cabbage (satisfying on one plate)

If you want a hearty dinner, you can make it filling and nutritious with inexpensive meat and vegetables.

• Minced pork (80g = approx. 100 yen)
• 1/2 onion (about 20 yen)
• Rice (about 50 yen)
• Shredded cabbage (1 bag for 100 yen, enough for 3 servings: about 30 yen)
• Total: Approximately 200 yen / Cooking time: Approximately 15 minutes

All you need to do is fry the meat and onions in a frying pan and serve it as a bowl of rice. The sauce is simple, made with soy sauce, sugar, and sake.

Weekend meals: Prepare side dishes in advance (can be frozen)

Make use of side dishes that can be prepared in bulk on weekends when you have more time.

• Simmered hijiki seaweed, stir-fried burdock root, meat and potato stew, etc.
• Store in a storage container and refrigerate for 3 days, or freeze for up to 1 week

Prepared side dishes can be used little by little as side dishes, so they are also effective in making up for a lack of vegetables.

Easy Dessert: Banana Yogurt (1 minute)

It can be used as a cheap and healthy snack instead of sweets or juice.

• 1 banana (about 30 yen)
• Unsweetened yogurt (100g = approx. 40 yen)
• Total: about 70 yen / Cooking time: about 1 minute

If you want it sweeter, you can add a little honey or sugar.

Isn't money from home enough? Examples of using part-time jobs and scholarships

Supporting university students' food expenses through money sent home alone is often insufficient, so combining it with part-time work or scholarships is a realistic solution. In this chapter, we will explain, with concrete examples, how to balance food expenses and income.

The reality of remittances and how they are used

The amount of money sent by most parents is generally around 50,000 to 60,000 yen per month, which includes rent, utilities, communication costs, etc. The amount allocated to food is often estimated to be around 20,000 to 30,000 yen per month, and if you can manage within this range, you will be able to live comfortably.

However, depending on the amount of money sent home, it may exceed the budget when balancing expenses other than food, in which case it is essential to take advantage of part-time jobs or scholarships.

Tips for balancing a part-time job and saving on food costs

Even when supplementing your income with a part-time job, you can easily balance work and family life by focusing on key points.

• Light shifts of around 10-15 hours per week: Easy to balance with studies and won't disrupt your daily routine too much.
• Utilizing company discounts in the food and beverage and retail industries: In some cases, this can help reduce the cost of take-out meals and eating out.
• A job that provides transportation expenses and free meals: It is possible to effectively reduce food expenses.

Utilizing these will help you cut down on your overall expenses while making up for food costs that tend to be insufficient when relying solely on remittances.

Stable budget management through combination with scholarships

By using scholarships (whether grant-type or loan-type), you can secure a stable monthly living expense in addition to receiving money from home. "Loan-type scholarships that require repayment" need to be used in a planned manner with the future in mind, but they can provide a sense of security in terms of living expenses.

Consider the relationship between food expenses, study expenses, and physical strength.

While you may think, "I'll cut costs by cooking less at home" in the short term, getting sick can make it harder to concentrate and affect your studies. If you try to save too much on food, skipping breakfast or surviving on snacks and instant noodles, you could end up in poor health, which could end up costing you money in the form of medical expenses and missed classes.

Therefore, it is important to balance saving money with maintaining good health. Cooking at home and getting a balanced diet of vegetables and protein will also help maintain your academic performance.

[Checklist] 7 things to be careful about when eating when living alone

We've compiled a checklist of points to keep in mind about food expenses and dietary habits for university students living alone. Use it to lead a balanced life that is not just about saving money, but also about health and sustainability.

1. Make food expenses visible

Record your expenses using receipts or an app, and regularly review things like "how much you spent this month," "your daily average," and "how often you eat out."

2. Be conscious of nutritional balance

Incorporate vegetables, protein, and carbohydrates into one meal. Use time-saving and nutritious ingredients such as frozen vegetables, canned goods, and beans.

3. Be careful about spending on drinks and snacks

Small expenses like plastic bottles, snacks, and cafes can add up, so be creative and save money on things you can bring with you.

4. Don't overspend at convenience stores or eat out

Even on busy days, students can keep food costs down and be mindful of their health by cooking at home or eating at the school cafeteria at least two to three times a week.

5. Create a system to use everything up

Buy ingredients in bulk, cook, freeze, and reuse to prevent waste. Also, be mindful of expiration dates.

6. Make rules that you can continue without difficulty

Set specific rules such as "X yen per day" or "Cooking at home X times a week" and practice them within your limits.

7. Reflect at the end of the month and plan for the next month

At the end of the month, review your performance and think about what you need to do next month and what adjustments you need to make. You can also enjoy praising yourself if you achieve your goal.

Review your fixed costs and live a cost-effective life with rent included

Along with reviewing your food expenses, you should also pay attention to fixed expenses such as rent. If you live alone in the city, rent can make up the majority of your living expenses. Even if you do your best to keep your food expenses down, your life will not be stable if your rent is too high.

Cross House offers a service that includes furniture, appliances, and utilities, and no deposit or key money is required.

Cross House offers a wide range of cost-effective shared houses and monthly apartments that will help you keep your initial costs down. Why not consider them as a place to live that will provide you with financial and emotional support as you start living alone?

For more information on Cross House properties, click here.

In addition to cooking your own meals and saving money, by also reviewing your housing, you can easily manage your overall expenses.

First, check out the properties in the area you're interested in on Cross House's official website.

Summary | The basic principle is to save money on food while maintaining your health

For university students living alone, food costs are not just an expense, but an important factor that directly affects quality of life, health, and academic performance. On average, food costs are around 20,000 to 30,000 yen per month, but this can vary greatly depending on how much of your cooking you do, the school cafeteria, and whether or not you receive money from your parents.

As introduced in this article, by incorporating methods such as shopping tactics, time-saving techniques for cooking at home, using a household accounting app, and managing expenses on a daily basis, it is possible to achieve both "saving money" and "nutritional balance." Furthermore, by combining this with part-time work or scholarships, it is possible to plan a more stable lifestyle than one based on money sent home. "Easy-to-continue money-saving techniques" and "establishing a rhythm for your diet" are the foundation for a healthy and fulfilling university life. We hope you will make use of the information in this article in your university life.