Your daily food budget sucks as a student, but you’ll live

By Leah Vandenberg

The alleged budget given by OSAP provides students with $7.50 a day to eat. 4 undergrad university students are trying to prove how that isn’t enough. They are going to blog for three weeks, along with two videos per week to document their experience. With this, it is hoped to raise the student loan ceilings.

$7.50 cents a day for food is barely enough it seems, to maintain a healthy diet. Sure, you can pile a few vegetables and a slice or two of ham onto two pieces of bread, but what will that do for your health? How long can someone last on that meal before they get sick? Surely somebody could live off of that, if they took vitamins.

This campaign is titled The Food For Thought campaign.

Shopping can be done at lower cost grocery stores, and items bought in bulk. There are cheap meals, and it surely can be done, but the entire point is to show Queen’s Park that students are living below the poverty line, in a time period where the government is trying to reduce poverty.

What the campaign breaks down to is can a student live off of $7.50 a day to eat healthy meals? Many little factors can be put into this. The amount of food they buy a week, are they spending their entire budget at the beginning to stock up on foods like soup, bread, fruits and veggies? I think it’s doable, but it won’t be easy. Budgeting, meal planning and over all planning will be required to make this successful.

Looking forward to the future, if these four students are able to get the OSAP budget raised, what would this do in our future as students paying it back? We’ll be in debt and on a budget, much like we are now.

Planning for a $7.50 cent a day food budget will require cutting a lot of unnecessary food out. Junk food, name brands, and over priced items should be cut out. When going to the grocery store, make a list. Another helpful plan could be to make a daily meal plan, the ingredients required and the amounts and only get those when going to the grocery store. And, for those that live close to a grocery store, go every day and pick up the items needed.

Picking up healthy snack foods like granola bars and fruit could curb a hunger pang during to day, preventing the student from overspending on poor quality fast food.

Students share their plans, from shopping at low cost grocery stores, buying food in bulk, making muffins for snack foods, and large meals that can be used for leftovers.

I think it’s doable, a student can live off of $7.50 a day, and that if the loan is increased that it’ll cause problems later. A student will have to adjust their meal plans and plan ahead but it can be done. Students can also buy vitamins to substitute for the nutrition they miss from their meals.

Throughout the article it seems like it’s hard to live off of a low budget, but it requires looking at a bigger picture. $7.50 times 7 (days) is equal to $52.50 a week. That’s easily doable, and most students are able to do it. A single person is able to live off of that for a week, even if it requires cutting some corners. Like buying a no name brand instead of the more expensive name brand. It can require sifting through fliers and searching for coupons.

I think it’s doable, and that I can live off of that budget for a week. Granted, it is hard to plan, especially as an inexperienced cook and young person, but that’s how we’ll learn.