Preparing for Uni in 2015

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Carrying on from yr13 thread, here thought we could share our ideas for Uni preparation.

All welcome, not just those in above thread. Would especially appreciate contributions from those who have 'been there'

Topics that spring to mind, and a few recent threads on them are :

What to take What to take , What NOT to take, Shared accommodation

Clearing out rooms

How much to contribute What does it cost, How much needed weekly, How much are you subbing

Budgeting, cooking, and other life skills to learn Easy recipes for teens

Leaving friends, family, boy/girlfriends behind

Us coping without them - noted series of 'Empty Nest' threads.

Hope all the links correct!

I think DS will be fine cooking for himself (once he realises the shopping fairy isn't around to stock the fridge) but he may struggle if there is any suggestion of taking turns to cook for flatmates.

I'm going to show him how to do a simple pasta bake (brown mince, drain fat, stir in large jar of dolmio pasta sauce and as much cooked pasta as you want, put in oven dish, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for 20-25 mins). Quantities can easily be adjusted as necessary and you can make one pack of mince go much further than doing a bolognese sauce to have with pasta.

I've just remembered a horrible dish a flatmate cooked for us at uni - it involved thin, lumpy white sauce and lumps of bacon with the rind left on .... Then there was the 'chilli' where she'd quadrupled the amount of chilli powder to give it a kick....

I'm currently reinforcing the need to check use-by dates!

I spent some time teaching DS how to cook half a dozen staple meals, Spag Bol, curry, shepherd's pie, burritos, chilli con carne, goulash etc.. I wrote out recipes in unbelievable detail which he followed to the letter. I also took him round Tescos and explained how to choose the best value.

His flat mates all cooked. Within a couple of weeks they had a rota going. stonecircle I would never in a million years have thought he would manage cooking for 7 people, but after the first couple of goes he was fine. All cooking from scratch. The lure of having his dinner cooked for him six days a week was enough to overcome any fear of mass catering. It's also far, far cheaper to eat that way. He reckons on spending £10 -£12 on his meal which is all it then costs him for a week most of the time.
By term two he was after more adventurous recipes. His eating became more adventurous as well as his flat mates were from all corners of the world. Shepherds Pie is as different to a student from Singapore as sushi was to DS .

We're currently having a discussion here as to whether we're having cottage pie or chilli tonight! DS is cooking it, aided and abetted by me!

How about chilli cottage pie Horsemad - that way it covers all bases!!

I keep thinking I should get ds to cook for us all but it's like herding kittens in our house at mealtimes as everyone is out doing different things so we end up cooking different things at different times.

But then I guess that might also be the case in a flat share! I'm wondering if I could encourage ds to use a slow cooker. He'd have to be disciplined enough to do the prep on a morning, but then he could just chuck in loads of meat and veg and wouldn't have to do much more. Maybe I'm just over-thinking it!!

Chilli cottage pie sounds brilliant!

DS has shown no inclination whatsoever in learning how to cook. Or use the washing machine, in fact do anything useful at all.
I did suggest he looks at student cookery books on Amazon but it's far too taxing.
It's much more important to look at youtube videos, text his mates and lie in bed.

Lol cathcustard!!

DD has got his accommodation and it's his first choice! Brand new building too

Brilliant Horsemad :)
Dd is now being bombarded with e-mails and information, so exciting.
I noted on the timetable that there's a tea with parents on day one and busily added it to my diary, only to discover that college 'parents' are like buddies helping the new freshers
< redundant mum emoticon >

Right I may win the prize for the daftest question on this thread but didn't want to expose my stupidity by starting a different topic ... so, if your DC has en-suite accommodation ...do they have to buy/bring their own loo roll? Not a problem just it's not been mentioned on anything else I can see. Thanks

pasta I would say yes. And cleaner and brush - en-suites seem to be students own responsibility to clean.

You've been told more than I have cathyandclaire!

pasta DS's last year did have a "starter for ten" roll when he arrived but up to him to restock thereafter. Toilet brush and holder came as standard. Cleaning of en-suite also standard by the housekeeping staff - which did surprise me.

Dd has got her first choice accommodation today so she is very pleased - we have just had a little online spending spree and we are off to Ikea at the weekend!

pasta That was the number one thing people forgot to bring on my child's university "What to and what not to bring" list!

DS1 has had an email today asking to choose which day/time slot he would like to move in. Can choose between 5th Sept up to the 12th. Bearing in mind that I will have just gone back to work on the 7th (work in a school) and DH away the weekend of the 5th we have plumped for the 12th. DS has emailed them back with the time slot too. His building was new last year, so only one set of students have been in there, should still be newish inside.

I have offered to make a big pan of curry for him to take up and have said I will show him how to make it before he goes (one pot kind of curry, bung in the oven for an hour). His level of cooking is putting a pizza in the oven or hot dogs into a pan.

He has a FB chat going on with his flat mates.

My mum is busy buying him none perishable stuff, so all is good.

DS will get a minimum loan which he will use for accommodation - it will be about £1200 short of what is actually needed, which we will pay. We will then give him around £400 a month. Am hoping he might get himself a part time job but then again I have been hoping for this since he started college two years ago .

Thanks everyone - don't feel so daft now - so cake, alcohol AND loo roll will be an ice breaker!

Loo roll! DD has shared bathroom/loo so what do they do? Keep a roll in room and take on each visit, share purchases in organised way, or everyone sponges off the one person who buys it?! I guess she'll have to work that one out for herself.

PUGaLUGS, please may I have your curry recipe?

Of course you can Horsemad

Large pot of coconut yoghurt (plain Greek yoghurt will do if coconut unavailable).
150ml single cream
1/4 jar Pataks madras paste
3/4 jar Pataks tikka masala paste
Water - I usually fill the yoghurt pot to halfway
4 chicken breasts cut into small pieces

Mix all together in an oven proof dish, pop a lid on and put into the oven at 190 for an hour.

You can depending how hot you like your curry put the whole jar of tikka masala paste in and leave out the madras or you could do half and half.

This feeds four of us. Easily doubled.

I have also bought packets of Tilda pilau rice for the microwave when they have been on offer for DS.

PUGaLUGS your finance plan is the same as ours.
However I looked at it it came out the same.

So if we paid accommodation and DD lived off maintenance loan it worked out at about £95 a week. However I don't think budgeting with 3 payments a year is easy and I know that my DD would find that difficult at the moment.

DD has a friend with divorced parents who will be getting max loan, grant plus bursery from uni. I used this table on money saving expert (point 13) to find out what the maximum loan plus grant is for student with low income household and added £2000 for the bursery www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes

This worked out at about £97 a week too.

So we have gone for £400 a month. She'll be working in the holidays. We'll be at home eating stew!