How much do you spend on food every month? According to Save the Student, the average is £100.
It is the second-largest expense students have, second only to rent.
And compared with 2019's results, students this year are now spending £8 more every month on food shopping. That goes against the trend of students spending less per month overall.
The average student also spends £33 monthly on takeaway food, making it their 6th largest monthly expense. This was more than students spent on course materials, health and wellbeing and clothing. See the full results here,
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the cost of student food keeps making the headlines. Universities were criticised for profiting from self-isolating students, after marking up the prices of essential food deliveries.
The UK's Minister of State for Universities, Michelle Donelan, recently made a statement in Parliament saying "No university should seek to profit from students self-isolating with extortionate prices for food parcels."
"Reported charges of £18 a day for food parcels a day are quite simply outrageous."
She went on to encourage universities to do more to support students with food, suggesting that they provide food for free or seek to reduce the costs to be more accessible within a student budget.
With 81% of students worried about the impact of the pandemic on their finances, it's clear than any support which can be offered would go a long way.
