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LIFE IN KOREAPosted by Marco 🇮🇹 Italy · 1 month ago
Is cooking at home even worth it in Seoul?
heard groceries are expensive but eating out is cheap-ish, so a lot of people just don't cook.
what's the actual math for one person? and are there student cafeterias you can use
what's the actual math for one person? and are there student cafeterias you can use
9 comments
OFFICIAL ANSWER
MinjiALLO TEAM
Korea local tips · Seoul
The maths genuinely favours eating out for one person in Seoul, which surprises most people from Europe.
Rough 2026 numbers:
1. Student cafeteria: 4,000 to 6,000 won for a full meal with rice, soup and sides. You do not usually need to be enrolled at that university to use one — most are open to anyone who walks in.
2. A normal restaurant meal: 8,000 to 12,000 won. Kimbap, bunsik and noodle places sit at 5,000 to 8,000.
3. Groceries: this is where it hurts. Fruit and vegetables are expensive by European standards — a single apple can be 2,000 won, a small bunch of bananas 4,000. Meat is reasonable. Imported goods are very expensive.
4. Delivery: convenient and everywhere, but fees and minimum orders push a meal to 15,000 to 20,000. This is the budget killer for most students, not restaurants.
The practical conclusion: cooking a full meal from scratch for one person often costs about the same as eating out, sometimes more once you count the ingredients you buy and do not finish. Most students land on a mix — cafeteria or cheap restaurants on weekdays, cooking on weekends when it is social.
Where cooking does pay off: breakfast, coffee, and anything you eat every single day. A coffee habit at 4,500 won a cup is 135,000 won a month.
A realistic monthly food budget for one student eating mostly out but not extravagantly: 400,000 to 550,000 won. Add 150,000 if you order delivery regularly.
One tip nobody mentions: the traditional markets — Gwangjang, Mangwon, Tongin — are considerably cheaper than the big supermarkets for produce, and the difference is not small.
Rough 2026 numbers:
1. Student cafeteria: 4,000 to 6,000 won for a full meal with rice, soup and sides. You do not usually need to be enrolled at that university to use one — most are open to anyone who walks in.
2. A normal restaurant meal: 8,000 to 12,000 won. Kimbap, bunsik and noodle places sit at 5,000 to 8,000.
3. Groceries: this is where it hurts. Fruit and vegetables are expensive by European standards — a single apple can be 2,000 won, a small bunch of bananas 4,000. Meat is reasonable. Imported goods are very expensive.
4. Delivery: convenient and everywhere, but fees and minimum orders push a meal to 15,000 to 20,000. This is the budget killer for most students, not restaurants.
The practical conclusion: cooking a full meal from scratch for one person often costs about the same as eating out, sometimes more once you count the ingredients you buy and do not finish. Most students land on a mix — cafeteria or cheap restaurants on weekdays, cooking on weekends when it is social.
Where cooking does pay off: breakfast, coffee, and anything you eat every single day. A coffee habit at 4,500 won a cup is 135,000 won a month.
A realistic monthly food budget for one student eating mostly out but not extravagantly: 400,000 to 550,000 won. Add 150,000 if you order delivery regularly.
One tip nobody mentions: the traditional markets — Gwangjang, Mangwon, Tongin — are considerably cheaper than the big supermarkets for produce, and the difference is not small.
Was this helpful?Updated 1 month ago
9 comments
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You can still post anonymously after signing in.student cafeterias are open to everyone at most universities, walk in and pay. 5000 won for a proper meal. foreign students never seem to know this
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most of them yes, nobody checks. korea university and yonsei ones are good and close to each other
11
wait, any university's cafeteria? not just mine?
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delivery is what destroys budgets here, not restaurants. the fees add up so fast and it's SO easy. i had to delete the apps
15
deleted baemin in month 2, saved about 200k a month instantly
8
as an italian/balkan person the vegetable prices genuinely shocked me. go to the traditional markets, it's half the price of emart
12
cooking for one in a goshiwon kitchen is also just annoying. shared space, limited storage. that's half the reason people don't bother
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and no oven anywhere in korea basically. changes what you can cook a lot
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coffee is the silent budget killer. 4500 x 30 days. make it at home and you've paid for a nice dinner out every week
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