Cook at home is in theory good advice but not if you are going to need to buy cooking equipment which you can only give away at the end of your contract. May not be cost effective?

I think a microwave and an oven are not essential for cooking. He will surely find an electric hotplate, a wok and a frying pan in his apartment. There will also be a sauce pan or a pot for boiling food, and, of course an electric rice cooker. He can use the wok for frying chips. That's what I do.

He might just get a bottled gas hob liberally coated with half inch of grease and an empty gas bottle; and the fridge doesn't work. Take my word for it I have worked in China for a year and know what I am talking about. It's true to say that, like Turnoi I shouldn't wonder, my status has given me special treatment and special accommodation and the best food. But I am no snob and have befriended ordinary Jo FTs. I have seen the pigsties they get lodged in and haven't seen too many gleaming rice cookers. He can wait until he returns to America for chips. It's best he toddles to the restaurants and eats noodles. He can then prudently calculate his monthly food costs to within an accuracy of 2 yuan. That should come to about 600 yuan and extra living costs should bring that up to 800.