What does your child/children eat? If you have an infant, keep in mind that once they are eating 'grown-up food' you may want to have more family dinners and unless you have separate cooking facilities for the nanny, it could make sense for the whole family including her to eat the same thing. Also, I have always encouraged our nannies to plan lunches that appeal to both herself and the kids so they can all eat together. It is a positive experience for the kids to eat the same food as adults and they learn a lot about nutrition, table manners etc if they have meals with adults. If any of this becomes the case for you, you might find that there is not so much need for an allowance, or at least you may want to reduce it. I would recommend discussing the fact that circumstances might change in the future.

I'm the OP -- thanks for your input.

$50 per week sounds very reasonable.

My previous live-in position gave me a $200/month grocery allowance. On top of that, they always let me put random stuff on their grocery list (fruit, OJ, etc.).

We're currently looking for a full time, live in nanny but would like to pay her a separate stipend/allowance weekly so that she can buy her own food. My husband and I go out to eat quite a bit or eat at work and also do a lot of takeout. I would like to not have to grocery shop specifically for her but would like for her to take care of that on her own. We wouldn't object to her eating some of the food we do have in the house, we just won't have enough to feed her because we don't do a lot of grocery shopping.

Any idea of what would be a fair amount to pay her extra on a weekly basis to cover her food expenses? Thanks