Student who can't cook help

[cleo333]

My son is off to uni but cannot cook a thing , he's never been interested grrr

Can anyone think of any basic food recipes I could teach him then he can at least feed himself for a few days ?

if you can, get him a mini Instantpot and some of the suitably-sized accessories (from Ali express - obviously they’re cheaper, but also easier to find). He can’t fuck yo the interior bowl because it’s stainless steel. (Teach him how to scrub it out).
He can do egg bites, Muffins, poached eggs, etc.
Then there’s heaps of Instantpot recipes on Pinterest or Instagram.
Spag Bol, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Soups, Chili Con Carne, Boef Bourgignon, Curry - all easy once he has recipes and knows the limitations of the machine. I had a small one and loved it. My DD1 nicked it when she moved out and I rather miss it. (I used it more than my big one. Sometimes I used both.)

Teach skills not dishes. How to boil pasta, rice, veg, cook all kinds of eggs. How to make mash, bake a potato, fry bacon and a piece of meat or fish. Teach how to chop and fry an onion and garlic then use these to make a tomato sauce.

Think about what he is genuinely likely to cook and eat with the budget, facilities and time he will have available. There is no point teaching thing that won't be used. If he's most likely to shove a pizza in the oven or eat beans on toast make sure he can do that.

It's also worth teaching some store cupboard meals that he could throw together when he hasn't been shopping or is broke. Things like pesto pasta, tuna and sweetcorn pasta, quaesidilla, egg fried rice etc.

Bit late to be teaching him now. Send him off with a starter food box of bits and pieces and an idea of how much he has a week to spend on food. He'll learn pretty quickly how to survive.

Evening hot meal, DS was happy to have this repertoire:
oven chips & fish fingers
/or/
oven (supermarket) pizza
+frozen veg cooked in microwave
+hot chocolate or the occasional £2 cake for pudding

I gather that access to a freezer while in halls may be unusual, though.

Both my dc had a freezer drawer in halls.

The sidekick Ap I linked up to above does teach cooking .
You can chose a set of menus how many meals, type of meals etc , it will then give you a shopping list of what to buy.
Each recipe it gives a step, step instruction as well as built in timers etc

What does he make himself if he needs to make his own lunch or tea if you're out/ not eating at the same time as him?

What does he like? Just start there and give him some ideas.

What does he make himself if he needs to make his own lunch or tea if you're out/ not eating at the same time as him

I know someone who has n vet let her 20 yo prepare his own food even once. If he's gone alone and she's at work, she gets up early, cooks it and leaves instructions on how to reheat 🤷‍♀️

Up until about 2 weeks ago my son was in the exact same position. He suddenly decided that he wanted to make 'sticky Korean chicken' that he'd seen on tiktok, went to the supermarket with his Dad (for the first time since he was a small boy) and bought ingredients, came back, cooked it and has cooled something different each day since! To say I was astounded would be an understatement. I asked him if he wanted any help, a cook book or even go on a course to encourage this incredible new spurt and he said 'nah, I'm good, I've got tiktok, that's all you need for cooking'. So have hope, he wasn't starve!

I’d leave him to it too. Both my DC went to uni without meal making skills other than beans on toast and soup and sandwiches. Both came back pretty skilled at making decent proper meals including Sunday roasts on a budget.

They learn off each other in halls and student houses and often share the cooking.

after the first year that is, when they realise their maintenance loan isn’t enough to keep them in maccies, pizza and beer.

To be honest, I'd focus on a few basic skills - the building blocks of making anything taste good - how to properly sauté an onion; roast vegetables, make sure meat is properly cooked etc.

Other useful tips like essential store cupboard things to make food taste good - EVOO, balsamic vinegar, herbs and spices, etc.

My son is off to uni but cannot cook a thing , he's never been interested grrr

My kids were never interested in washng up, tidying their bedrooms, or any other houseful jobs. But I showed them how to do them and expected then to help with them anyway. Likewise basic cooking skills.

You don't wait for your kids to show an interest in the skills they need to live independently. You get them to help you and they learn.

Traveling with a 40 year old friend, I discovered that he didn't know how to hand wash anything. Which was a problem as he'd run out of clean stuff and there was no washing machine or laundry.
I had to teach him. He couldn't work or what to do with his hands, or how to wring something out. The kind of dexterity peculiar to washing by hand that you don't even notice you need. You just absorb it over time and experience. It was like watching a three year old coming to grips with something new.

For goodness sake mothers of boys. Show them how to do this stuff when they're young.

Bringing a pan of water to the boil then cooking pasta for 10 mins while he grates some cheese and heats a jar of sauce is not beyond him. He could even chuck some peas or broccoli chunks into the water a few minutes before it's cooked.

Easy dinners DS made a lot at uni:

chicken thighs with skin on, in an oiled roasting tin with some chunks of pepper, onion and baby potatoes and tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and herbs, add a splash of water (about 50 mls to the base, bake for 35-45 mins until chicken is cooked through and skin is golden and crispy.

salmon steak roasted with soy and sweet chilli on top, served with 3-minute egg noodles, stir fry bean sprouts, spring onion and chinese leaf

Ive got a dyspraxic, left handed teenage dd and every time she goes near a utensil, the hob or the kettle it's like watching a slow motion disaster. If she manages adulthood by using the washing machine, reheating takeaways and making toast I'll be relieved it was as successful as that. She's been cooking with me since she was tiny and she still cannot stir or chop with anything resembling safe practice let alone skill.

If he is interested in learning these skills before he goes, then there are so many good suggestions on here. If he is reluctant, don't sweat it, it is his choice and leave him to it, and see how he gets on. He will learn from others and by himself out of necessity, he definitely won't starve, but he will realise the budget does not stretch to takeaways continually. I went 37 years ago when the options for takeaways were really limited (not even McD etc) and I'm ashamed to admit, I was beyond appalling. I could only "cook" (term used very loosely) 4 things, toast, eggs, warm up beans (or anything from a can) and biscuits - the latter are quite complex for a first time chef, but because I had made them in Home Economics at school I knew how to make them. When I went, I had never had pasta, rice or anything with spices before, mushrooms were completely alien to me, as were most vegetables. By the end, a simple dish (chilli, spag bol, jacket spuds, chicken in sauce etc) were fine, plus other stuff, fish fingers, salad etc. I can now cook properly. BTW, I never once thought bad of my mum for not teaching me stuff, though, she still can't cook ! Good luck, but don't worry about him, he will see others and pull his socks up as it is often a shared activity xx

Absolute basics

Omelettes
Scrambled egg
Boiled egg
Cheese on toast
Baked potato
Mashed potatoes
How to cook
Veg

Next level

Stir fry
Spag Bol
Curry
Mince and tatties
Homemade soup
Casserole
Carbonara
Macaroni
Chili

My 11 yo can cook everything on the list above so a student ready to be degree educated should be able to manage.

I'd recommend this. It covers all the bases

Complete Children's Cookbook:... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241196884?ref=ppxpoppmobappshare

Dd couldn't cook, again no interest, but was adamant she would like recipes up online if she needed to.

She definitely didn't want a cookbook that had the word 'Student' in the title.

How did she get on @Boodahh?

Pasta is a big go to for DD as it’s cheap, quick + easy. Penne alla vodka (posh name for tomato pasta) is a big favourite of hers to make from scratch or else there’s always pre made sauces, pesto etc he can use. You could teach him how to make bolognese, it would be handy for him to batch cook and freeze.

She was fine , if a limited diet, but that's her choice. To be fair she knew things like how to cook eggs, and bacon etc.

I'm sure most will know how to cook the basics , but its more that they can't be bothered with eating a variety of veg . There was a thread I remember where a mum was asking for recipe ideas for her student son, to increase his veg intake.

I thought fgs he will know how to cook veg, he just probably can't be bothered and has other priorities in his 1st term at uni.