Mock Grocery Store
Suggested Subject Area: Personal Finance or College Preparedness
Major Components:
●college meal plans
●meal planning
●monthly food budgeting
●couponing
Objectives:
●This activity should feel like a simulation of the real world.
●Students should become educated in the cost of most meal plans at college and learn how to successfully fill their appetites at low cost through the four major components above.
●Students should construct a food budget based on a set monthly income.
●Students should recognize benefits of couponing and apply couponing to their budget.
Materials Needed:
●grocery flyers (the more variety in flyers--the better the variety in budgets; i.e. Reasor’s, Walmart, Sprouts, Whole Foods, Aldi’s, Warehouse Market, etc)
●spreadsheet
●coupon flyers from newspaper
●calculator
●recipes
Instructions for Students:
- “According to a survey by the College Board, the average per meal price with a college meal plan is anywhere from $7 to $11.” But with meal planning, food budgeting, and couponing, the average meal cost can be much lower. Your goal is to create a low-cost meal plan as if you were in college. You will have $150 a month for food costs.
- Print off 3-5 recipes you would eat on a regular basis. Create a weekly schedule of meals using your selected recipes--will you be eating leftovers frequently? If so, you may want to cook large portions of the selected recipes. Consider the serving size of each recipe, and also consider how often you will be eating--once, twice, or thrice a day--this might depend on what kind of eater you are. This process is called meal planning.
- Next, create a grocery list of all the listed ingredients of your selected recipes and estimate the cost of each ingredient. Then, go to your local grocery store, record the actual cost of each ingredient, and compare your estimates to the actual prices. Use your recorded prices to determine what repeats of ingredients you have and finally, what your weekly and monthly food cost will be. This is called budgeting. Is your monthly food cost within the budget?
- If your monthly food cost does not make the cut, consider couponing. Couponing saves buyers money. Look through your local coupon flyers for deals and factor that into your budget.
- Keep it real--you are going to want to splurge every now and then. That Starbucks latte just seems to be calling your name, right? So to make sure you don’t overspend, allocate extra money to a “guilty pleasures” fund. Just remember that guilty pleasures are guilty for a reason-- they’re not healthy, so limit both your intake and funds to a minimal. Then, both your body and wallet will be happy.
Additional Resources:
●This infographic, ‘How College Students Save And Spend Money (INFOGRAPHIC),’ provides some helpful college statistics and tips. One portion of the infographic is shown below. // Check out the full infographic at:
●Remember that Walmart has an ‘Ad Match Guarantee’ and so “if you find a lower advertised price on an identical product, tell us and we’ll match it. Right at the register.” // Check out this link for more information:
●To emphasize the importance of budgeting in college, you could have your students read the following article entitled, ‘College Costs Out of Control’ by Steve Odland. // To read the full article, check out:
●“Arcadia senior and senior class president Maya Stewart, 21, chose to forgo a meal plan for the first time this year and says that thanks to diligent coupon-clipping, careful selections, and creative cooking, she's seen substantial savings over the roughly $1,000-a-semester meal plan cost.” // Read more at:
●‘With rising grocery prices, students keep an eye on spending’ // Read more at:
●This infographic, ‘Surviving the College Dining Hall,’ provides more tips and statistics about college food costs. // Check out the infographic at:
●‘A College Student’s Guide to Better Meal-Planning’ // Read more at: