Good things to batch cook for student

[ItsOhSoQuietThisChristmas]

I want to batch cook some food for my DD who is going to Uni in a few weeks.

I’m thinking a lasagna, chilli and meatballs. I’ve got some glass Pyrex dishes for freeing and cooking. Also, I’ve got those tinfoil takeaway dishes with lids.

My DD can cook, I’m just trying to make sure they’ve got decent food for the first week whilst they get orientated.

There’s a lot if red meat there. They don’t really like veggie. What chicken dishes can I cook and freeze? Also I’d like to make and freeze some desserts.

Any recommendations?

Maybe do this once she’s settled and the fun of being independent has worn off? When she has a better feel for her flatmates / hallmates and so on. Exam season, for example.

To start with, I agree about taking her to do a shop for bits and bobs. Focus on stuff that will last a while, in case she is too busy being sociable to eat it in the first few days, and stuff that is shareable.

That's fair. Unless the lasagne is incredibly good. 😀

Almost nothing to add to the very nearly unanimous and sensible advice you’ve already received, @ItsOhSoQuietThisChristmas.

However, if she genuinely doesn’t really like veggie food she’s going to have to learn fast. It’s likely that the majority of her new friends will be vegetarian if not vegan - which may influence group decisions on where to eat out or what to buy. Some fussier students might even object to having meat products in a shared fridge.

Really, her orientation will in all likelihood be a shared experience (whether catered or self catering). Try to resist the urge to intervene. Fill up your home freezer for when she comes home for the holidays.

Have just asked my DD, she said the freezer space was so tiny the only thing that could fit was vodka.

My DS hung back in his townhouse accommodation and only got the top draw of the freezer with the ice making compartment and that was it.

My DD should have had two draws in her freezer (but a greedy international got there first as they move in earlier and had taken and filled four freezer draws with meat). Fortunately, one girl was hardly living there so they managed.

As they don’t have a lot of freezer or storage space if your going to make anything at all I would freeze it in bags so it takes less space. But remember if you are taking a cool box space in the car will be already at a premium.

I had a flatmate at Uni, who's mum would turn up, sort his food, etc. He had no go at all. Us neglected souls were far more resiliant.

I get that it is from a place of love. My kids thankfully were really brutal and turned down my offer to feed them for all eternity.

My DD ended up in halls with a small fridge, microwave and a kettle to share between 8 at the top of the stairs. If more than one item was plugged in it fried the electrics for the whole building. Even pot noodles were a challenge... And by the second year she was too busy to cook. McDonald's and Hassan's were alternated for most of her 3 years.

DS had a proper kitchen.... I gave him a crash course in how not to burn things, himself or set fire to a kitchen. I got regular WhatsApp requests from the supermarket for recipes and shopping lists.

My son had a housemate whose parent did this,took up all the freezer space. She didn’t eat it so they binned it all

This is nonsense. My sons flat of 12 had 3 vegetarians in and 9 meat eaters. They had 3 fridge freezers between the 12 of them. They were all full to capacity and had very little room for anything much especially cold drinks and beer. They all just got on with it.

My son halls had 2 large freezers between 8 in his halls kitchen. He is in a house this year and they have 2 freezers between 5.
He has requested 2 each of bolagnese, chilli and chicken korma. He will also have his favourite burgers and sausages from the butcher.
As he requested them at the beginning if each term last year I'm guessing that no one took the mick and there was plenty of freezer space.
Personally I was more irritated by the person who filled all the space in the fridge door with beer.

Maybe just make her one dish for a settling/ emergency meal. It's a bit OTT otherwise.

@CapaciousHag

Why is it likely that most of her new friends will be veggie or vegan

Certainly not the case in my son's flat - if the huge Sunday roasts they cooked are anything to go by

Yes 5 out of 6 in DD’s flat ate meat.

A boy DS knew from school was vegetarian and opted to be in an all vegan/vegetarian flat and he had the most miserable first year with a boring bunch.

Honestly- she needs to sort herself out.

Just cook her awesome meals when she comes home

My daughter lives on her own & I've just sent her back with two chicken pies, one portion of meatballs and 2 portions of roast lamb in gravy . 😂 yes I like doing it . And she appreciates it , but maybe I need to loosen the apron strings a bit 😅 (the rest of the time it's jacket potatoes and pasta ) 😍

Based on my (admittedly long ago) experiences of being in uni accommodation you'd be better buying her a few of the betty Crocker 'just add milk' style cookie and cake kits. For whatever reason it was a frequent occurrence that someone would say 'I really fancy making a cake' and then some random concoction using hot chocolate powder and whatever sugar was in the cupboard would end up being shoved in the oven.

I made my dd two portions of pasta sauce crammed with vegetables and slow cooked beef. I froze them in very small ziplock bags. Both of them together were the space of a thin paperback.

Did she fall gratefully on them during those first couple of weeks? No. She did not. She threw them away before she came home for Christmas.

She's in her final year now and cooks lovely meals for herself including her own pasta sauce.

I lived with a vegan who was appalled if we even touched his kitchen equipment!

I mean this is bollocks.

If a student is fussy they can have a fridge in their room.

Seriously the cheek of those that wish to enforce their beliefs (and I'm a vegetarian, just not a holier than thou kind)

I can completely relate to wanting to send them off with some home cooked meals. But in my experience these aren't appreciated in the first term - later on in uni life once the initial excitement has worn off, they start to value mums cooking, and groceries and meals you force upon them in the beginning it's all burnt pizzas and beer pong!

I searched my DD's walking route to and from lectures and noted she passed a Sainsburys and costa and a Greggs...I posted her a gift card for each of these each week for the first three weeks.

I also ordered her a deliveroo delivery (time etc. agreed with her) once when she was feeling a bit homesick. She hasn't stopped raving about that treat.

My dd joined her university Baking Society to guarantee some freshly made baked goods every month.

My dd lived in halls with someone like this, the poor women was mortified that the freezer was full of food that her mum had made her.

Just don't do it. Leave her to enjoy shopping and cooking with her new friends. Or eating take aways!

Save your energy. I can't imagine any student willingly defrosting and heating up a frozen homemade lasagne. What a faff!

You'd be better off buying her a grocery shop of her favorite snacks and non-perishable foods she could store in her room. Maybe also buy her some cutlery and crockery and appliances she can keep in her room like an air fryer and kettle.

Thanks so much for the advice and concern. Just to clarify a few things,

I’m not infantilising my DC. They are already mature and resilient. They also won’t care if some immature person takes the piss out of their meatballs.

They are already an amazing cook, so don’t need to learn. They can teach me a thing or 2. It’s actually DD who wants to batch cook. They said they’d do it there, I suggested that might not happen, so do it here. I’m helping as they are mad busy saying goodbye to mates.

I went to uni, so I know what space is like. I’ve taken that on board now. We’ve got 1 shelf in the freezer and that’s what we’ll stick to. Perhaps we will use some bags for space instead. I think we are moving in first and I’ll advise my DC to never take more space than is their share.