Sarah.ccz

Directions Website

helping you become overly educated & financially responsible in your 20s
🌱grad school • student finance
🎓PhD Psych student
📍Toronto
[email protected]

10/19/2026

How I spend $200/m on groceries as a grad student in Toronto 🍳💸

It always surprises people that I average about $200ish/month on groceries and eating out living in Toronto.

But it’s all because I shop strategically, plan ahead, don’t eat out much, and many other little things that makes this budget possible.

It also should be noted that I’m living on a grad student stipend, so I can’t afford to spend lavishly on food either ♥️

$200/m is not a strict budget I set. It’s just what I’ve been averaging. And this number may very well change as grocery prices continue to rise and my taste buds change :)

10/15/2026

I do take pride in keeping my grocery bill (+ eating out bill) low without feeling like I’m restricting myself.

For the past 3 years, it’s looked something like this 👇
2024 — $206.25/month
2025 — $220.13/month
2026 — $175.27/month so far

*This is for a single girl in their mid-twenties living in Toronto who’s living on a grad student budget.

So here is what I purchase on repeat under each of my 4 grocery categories (protein, carbs, veggies & fruit, and pantry items) AND how I shop strategically under each category.

Love to hear yours ♥️

10/11/2026

How my purchases look on a random typical day in Toronto as a 25 yr old grad student 👩🏻‍🎓 🍂💸

A beautiful autumn day! Spent some time working on course work, my own readings, ordered groceries, and strolled around the city~

Somehow I’ve only been to this coffee shop in autumn 🍂

Salvaging the nice-ish weather before my fingers freeze 🥶

The bulk online orders are usually for staple items (e.g., milk, eggs, yogurt, protein items…), and the individual grocery trips are for finding these 50% off sales or in-store overstock sales.

Quite enjoy long TTC commutes actually (when I don’t have to transfer).

I do like eating the same thing every single day 🤷‍♀️

The grand reveal! (insert magical sound effects ✨)

Each day looks different, so here’s a random draw from one of the more interesting days.

10/01/2026

I invested some of my emergency fund… 👀

Controversial, but it works for me.

I tend to hold too much cash when my risk tolerance isn’t that low.

10/01/2026

What I spent in a month as a 25-year-old grad student in Toronto 💸

September was great; my arbitrary evaluation is directly correlated with how much coffee I drank ($80 can buy a lot of happiness, don’t you agree…? 🤭).

I started sharing what I spent because I couldn’t find realistic, frugal-ish spendings online from students. Hope this gives you a point of reference (though not to compare :)).

09/14/2026

Comment 🌱 “September” for all the links!

📆 Full-ride scholarships for students heading to university the following year usually open in early Fall (September-October) and close in late Fall (October-November).

While competitive (and rare), they’re a great way for you to practice drafting your scholarship application and gathering the needed materials. 🥳

So here are some to look out for!

09/14/2026

Comment ✨“scholarship” ✨for all the links!

📆 Full-ride scholarships for students heading to university the following year usually open in early Fall (September-October) and close in late Fall (October-November).

While competitive (and rare), they’re a great way for you to practice drafting your scholarship application and gathering the needed materials!

So here are some to look out for! 💕

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