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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Helping financially with food shopping....

55 replies

Acacia123 · 07/03/2018 14:20

Hi, son is in first year and living in halls. He is struggling a bit and I want to help but without sending cash (I don't want to encourage partying!). I am sure I read somewhere about a 2 part Tesco card where I can put money in from here and he can use his half in store....but I can't find anything online. Anyone know anything about this or have any other ideas?

OP posts:
HSMMaCM · 09/03/2018 07:56

We give DD the money in small weekly amounts and I've told her if she runs out, because she's spent it on clothes or nights out, then she has to manage somehow until next week. She needs to learn to manage her own budget. I made it weekly though, so she's not broke for longer than the food in her cupboard will last.

She gets together with her housemates and they order all the heavy stuff to be delivered and then go out and do their fresh food shop alone.

If we visit, we do offer to bring something. Last visit she asked for cream eggs Grin.

sashh · 09/03/2018 08:39

Some unis have student cards, you can top up and the student can buy things in uni shops/canteen.

UCLAN's (a few years ago) gave a discount on food and you could only buy alcohol with a meal. s well as food you could buy books and stationary and things like memory sticks.

Obviously it is cheaper to buy your own food and cook but you can't spend it on a night out.

TheFairyCaravan · 09/03/2018 08:51

When DS2 was in halls I sent him a Tesco shop when he needed food. Now he’s near to an Aldi he asks for money when he’s going shopping. If he uses a fiver out of it for some beers I really don’t care.

We have no choice but to buy his food, and other bits, or he’d starve. He’s doing a nursing degree, the bursary doesn’t cover his rent and he’s been working part time since he 3 weeks after he started uni.

Needmoresleep · 09/03/2018 09:30

ElenaBothari, several places offer courses, either students ones or Chalet Host ones. DD's couse was a week of general (student) cookery, shopping and menu planning and a second week of housekeeing and menus, useful for chalet hosts. (The school's owner got her flat cleaned from top to bottom every other week!) I will PM the name of the school she went to. It was expensive but great fun, especially as the other students were the same age. However it would not be hard to replicate at home. It probably is not right, but school demands in Yr 13 are so heavy that many kids will get away with doing virtualy nothing at home. But no reason why, post exams, they should not be encouraged to take over the family budget and plan and cook meals for a week or two. Plus be remined of basic cleaning and hygiene. (Different chopping boards etc)

Whilst she was doing the course, we had a student doing an internship in London living with us, who was amazed at how much (risotto, cake, quiche, bread etc) DD learnt in her first day. As much as this girl had learnt in her whole Food Tech GCSE.

DD has just moved flats and is now with some "clean freaks", and her next year's flat mates are similar. They are all different, but she is very relieved to be with people who live ordered lives, so no longer comes home to find her food eaten or her pans and crockery used. Having the skills that put her on the same page, could well lead her to sharing with people who take a similarly ordered approach to both social life and study, and thus improve her whole university experience. Or put another way, turning up to University with basic life skills (budgeting, cooking, cleaning etc) in place means one less challenge when you get there and thus more chance of thriving.

mojito55 · 09/03/2018 09:48

A PP's suggestion of a big shop of essentials when you drop them off at uni is a good one. My parents did this, just the staple items like one of those huge bags of pasta that I'd never be able to carry myself, tins of soup, rice, loo roll etc. Way easier to figure dinner out when you've got the basics in Smile

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