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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DS has applied to a "no cooking" university. He loves cooking. This is madness, isn't it?

443 replies

Thesearepearls · 23/07/2018 21:12

Just that really. DS's first choice university (we've just done the application for halls) is a no-cooking university. The cooking facilities comprise a toaster, kettle and microwave. There is no cooking allowed for the entirety of his university course.

If you'd asked me what DS would do in a future life I would have given you two choices. The first is singing (he was a cathedral chorister and loves classical music). The second is that he would be a chef. He is absolutely gutted that he won't be able to cook. He cooks for us all the time. He's really keen on it and he is beyond disappointed that the next three years of his academic career will involve zero cooking.

It's total madness isn't it?

OP posts:
goodbyestranger · 25/07/2018 21:42

My DC have never been allowed to cook at home for the simple reason that trying to feed eight DC from a smallish kitchen has been like running a cafe for the past couple of decades and yet they've all emerged from Oxford, without access to fully equipped all mod con kitchens, knowing how to cook perfectly well/ extremely well. I have absolutely no idea how that transformation took place just that somewhere along the line it did, and that cooking must have happened. I've never really enquired and they're still banned from my kitchen.

goodbyestranger · 25/07/2018 21:44

Agree with Basilisk about your DS's concerns about not being up to Cambridge. He'll be fine.

mathanxiety · 26/07/2018 00:20

Pengggwn, I agree. My DCs would have faced harsh consequences for using any proscribed cooking items or candles in their US dorm rooms.

Oldest DD learned to cook when she sublet a room during one summer when her job was too far from home to make coming home worthwhile. She asked for basic meal recipes, basic dessert recipes, basic all purpose sauce recipes, what cuts of meat to buy, how to store properly, basic pantry essentials, how to use and sanitise a cutting board, and took it from there.

mathanxiety · 26/07/2018 00:31

I still think it’s ridiculous and tbh DS does mind - he’s not looking forward to university at all (and not just because of the no-cooking) - so the helpful suggestions have been gratefully received.

I would actually be inclined to see the cooking element as a small detail that is not in itself important at all. It's just something to hang his general anxiety about college on. If he's not looking forward to university at all, then that needs to be talked about.

I would not address it by supplying an Instant Pot or anything else to cook with, for practical reasons (where will he wash it, how will he shop for stuff to cook, how will he store fresh ingredients, what to do with leftovers and much more) but moreso because his general anxiety needs to be directly addressed. You don't want to make the cooking facilities issue into a mask that will prevent real issues from being thrashed out.

I would see it as similar to a fixation about a family pet that develops and appears to be casting a blight on someone's anticipation of university life. I wouldn't deal with that by packing the cat off with the student.

buttfacedmiscreant · 26/07/2018 01:28

Don't know if anyone has suggested it...

www.foodcycle.org.uk/location/cambridge/

buttfacedmiscreant · 26/07/2018 01:32

also something like this... cambridgecookery.com/cook/

or

cambridgeculinary.com

Jaynebxl · 26/07/2018 05:02

Jimmys also gets volunteers in to cook the meals they serve the homeless. It's very central too.
www.jimmyscambridge.org.uk/volunteer

BitOutOfPractice · 26/07/2018 05:42

It's three years of his life, and only part of each year at that. It's not a life sentence. Calm down!

Bekabeech · 26/07/2018 08:16

Just to add to the Instant Pot ideas etc. I do think any electrical appliances have to be checked and approved before they can be used. Pretty standard in most Universities, but Scouts will confiscate unapproved items

FluctuatNecMergitur · 26/07/2018 08:47

We were only allowed kettles in my day, no kitchen facilities at all. I used to cook pasta in a thermos. Happy days Grin

DrJo1 · 26/07/2018 10:26

If he is going to Oxbridge or another collegiate university the accommodation they provide in the second year is usually in houses that are owned by the colleges in the city. They all have a kitchen so he can cook to his heart's content then. In the first and third year, each wing has a pantry so he can throw something together if he feels the need. He will be required to spend a certain amount of money and to dine in college for a minimal number of days. The idea of dining in Hall is to bring the academic community together. The standard of the food is also usually very good so it should not be too much of a hardship. It will also free your son up with time to study. Collegiate universities work hard to make it easier for their students to achieve and if he is going to Oxbridge he will be working very hard so it will be helpful for him to dine in Hall. Another huge bonus of having three years of accommodation is that it is far easier to budget and actually a lot cheaper because he will get a termly bill and not be paying for accommodation over the holidays and summer months. To me, all these positives outweigh not being able to cook as much. He has the rest of his life to do that. I wish him all the best.

MojitoRumLemonSugar · 26/07/2018 10:36

“In the first and third year, each wing has a pantry”

Not true at all in the college I went to and most of those my friends were at

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 26/07/2018 10:36

I wouldn't say it's madness at all. University is not 52 weeks per year. Plenty of time to cook when at home during the vacs, and then afterwards.

FWIW Lulu's son, Jordan Frieda, studied at Cambridge, I believe, and then went on to be a professional chef.

MargaretCavendish · 26/07/2018 10:38

If he is going to Oxbridge or another collegiate university the accommodation they provide in the second year is usually in houses that are owned by the colleges in the city.

This wasn't true of my college or most of the colleges my friends went to. It definitely isn't a given.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 26/07/2018 10:41

DSis only lived in 'Halls' during her first year. The other two years she lived with friends, in a house bought by one of them (with a family inheritance).

frogsoup · 26/07/2018 11:45

"I do think any electrical appliances have to be checked and approved before they can be used."

You think colleges 'approve' all hairdryers and epilators before allowing their use?!

ShumpaLumpa · 26/07/2018 12:53

Grin frog

Bekabeech · 26/07/2018 14:59

Frog - actually at my college - yes! If they plugged into the mains. And even more so in some buildings - I remember coming home to the fire engine when the relatively modern Georgian building I lived in was nearly burnt down by an unchecked Chinese rice cooker.

Biblio78 · 27/07/2018 00:22

Get him a small slow cooker. The one I bought went I returned to education as a working mum was a lifesaver! It was a Russell Hobbs and was about £12 in Sainsbury's. If they allow microwave and toaster slow cooker should be fine. I used to only use it when studying/working/ in the winter but have been using it a lot recently as it doesn't overheat the flat like putting the oven on!

TheHonGalahadThreepwood · 27/07/2018 11:31

You think colleges 'approve' all hairdryers and epilators before allowing their use?!

Bog standard practice in many halls as they are university-owned premises: there's a date when you are asked to leave out all electrical appliances from irons to hairdryers to get them checked and certified. Just like in most offices you can't take your own kettle in to work without getting it PAT tested. Of course you can hide something away in a cupboard to prevent the electricity guys seeing it when they come round, but a) it's a bit irresponsible (see Bekabeech's experience above) and b) university are liable to confiscate unauthorised (i.e. un-PAT-tested) items if they find them.

frogsoup · 28/07/2018 22:04

Well I stand corrected - I went to university in the dark ages and college, while keen to prevent unauthorized shower attachment use, were entirely uninterested in my hairdryer!

RollaCola84 · 28/07/2018 22:31

we've just done the application for halls

but you don't apply for halls for Oxford or Cambridge, you're just allocated rooms in college......

ErrolTheDragon · 28/07/2018 22:56

I'd guess some colleges do have different room types available for first years that they can state a preference for, and that's what the OP meant except she was trying to obscure the fact she was talking about a Cambridge college not a 'normal' university.

RollaCola84 · 28/07/2018 23:10

If he is going to Oxbridge or another collegiate university the accommodation they provide in the second year is usually in houses that are owned by the colleges in the city.

Not true at my college, you lived in college the whole time.

overnightangel · 28/07/2018 23:13

A no cooking university I’ve heard it all now

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