WTF! Anyone else horrified at this Guardian article about "student" food?

[MrsTittleMouse]

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/21/student-cooking-recipes

It all costs an absolute fortune! My DH has a good job, but we don't have enough grocery budget to cook half this stuff. What are they all on?

Aww c'mon, the £11 was for a meal for 4 so only £2.75 each

£2.75 still a lot though when compared to the cost of value cheese on value toasted bread with value hoops.

And a mug of nescafe and a Mayfair for pudding.

I don't know

When I was I student tuition fees were about a third of what you would earn if you worked full time for the minimum wage

The cheapest accommodation was about the same, a bit more

Plus books and living expenses

I guess there were stricter rules governing landlords than there are here? I don't know

oh yes I read that. On the back page it has "cheap places to shop" or something, and lists our local farmers market.

Me and DH were as we work and can't afford to shop there regularly, it's v expensive. Especially considering there's an Aldi, Lidl and Asda just down the road (which are usually full of students in term time).

And, more importantly, the farmers market is on a Saturday morning and they start packing away at lunchtime. Can't imagine many students getting up early on a Saturday to do food shopping can you.

Hmm

It's a moot point really

The non-uk student experience doesn't map perfectly to the uk one

I am comparing apples and oranges

I guess at root I feel sad that students here have to live like this

I have had v little money at various points in my life including being on benefits but have never lived in a squalid condition or without dignity

it seems to me here that living conditions below a certain money threshold are grim indeed

the weekend one also noted that cooking can be daunting - especially when you're used to MUM doing it. ffs guardian walk the walk.

riven - twas ever thus. 20 years ago when I was a student a grant was about £100 quid short of rent plus council tax.

chibi, I was a student on a full grant from 1988-91. There were no fees, I had a 2k grant, and I worked pt. I lived in various dumps, my diet was rubbish, and I spent most of my cash on booze. We were all in the same boat ( I only new one student with a car, we all dressed in baggy jumpers and droopy frocks or jeans, and we had a bloody fantastic time. So don't feel sorry for me, the experience was great and I feel much better off than students today who have to go into massive debt to maintain a lifestyle we never even thought of attaining. So you can save your pity, it was fun!

congrats to dd, riven. yes there'll be people with lots of money there (as at any university) but I'm sure there'll be lots in the same boat as her

Beanfeast, no. Crispy pancakes, YES!!!!! Potato waffles and frozen pizzas....YES!

I think it's worth pointing out that a lot of undergraduates may be skint, but a lot of them aren't, especially in Russell Group universities with their, ahem, rather less than egalitarian entry policies.

"Back in ye olden days no students had cars."

I don't know when your olden days were, but a few non-mature undergraduates had cars when I was a student (RG, early 1980s). Usually the privately-educated daughters of helicopter parents avant le mot, who thought buses and trains were full of murderers.

For people who use private education (RG, yes?) then the moment their child starts school they are £12K/year better off. Giving that money to the children is just business as usual. In my darker moments, I think making everyone from private secondary schools pay overseas fees would be just.

glastocat - here, here!

That echoes my experience entirely. Didn't know anyone with a car - I couldn't afford lessons until I was about to graduate (some money for 21st birthday.) I worked all holidays every holiday to save up. I got part grant/part funded by parents. They made it up to what a full grant would have been IFYSWIM. They wanted me to learn to manage - and I did. I was a much loved only child and could have asked for a bit more if I had a good reason, but never did as I wanted to be able to do it myself as much as possible.

Yes, things have changed a bit obviously....but if DD does go (some time before it is an issue!) then both DH and I are of a view that support money is for absolute essentials only. Part of the experience is learning to budget - and realising that there are people out there with more money and stuff than you can afford...and learning to live with it rather than bleating to your parents.

Oh, and DH and I were both at (different)RG unis. Yes, there were some wealthier people there, but I wouldn't have said they were in the majority. We weren't at Oxbridge/Bristol/Durham though...so I guess could be different there.

I think people's food options and choices have changed dramatically in the last 15-20 years.

When I was a student (late 80's-early 90's) corner shops sold supernoodles, crispy pancakes, and cheap rice (and amazing hom-made samosas for £0.25 )

Now corner shops are Tesco expresses and small co-ops that sell sushi.

Our expectations have dramatically changed and the quality of food has gone up so much.

"DH was at Bristol. No cars he noticed then."

Bristol demographic has changed though, hasn't it? Was it as green welly then as it is now?

Never mind cars at university. At my daughters' (state) school there are sixth formers with cars. It seems to have become a common (in more ways than one) 18th birthday present.

I gave my DS a student cookbook-I don't think he has opened it! It was quite interesting that he has worked out that if you go to the supermarket at certain times you can get price reductions-not something that previously bothered him.