Food Education for young adult students

[FoodandNutritionstudent]

Hi there,

I am a third-year university food and nutrition student currently developing a product for a course project and would love to hear your thoughts on the idea.

Meal Kit Club is a food box subscription paid for in full each term. Available to collect from university once a week, the box has pre-weighed ingredients for the student to prepare and cook by following the recipe cards at home. Very similar to the current market leaders like Hello Fresh and Gousto these will be targeted at students focusing on cost, time, feasibility (equipment), and level of difficulty.
They are low-cost and available to adapt to individual dietary requirements.

The main focus of the Meal Kit Club is to improve the cookery confidence and skills of young adult students, create independence, fun experiences, and improve their diet and food choices.

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the product and idea.
Thank you for your time

I like this idea! My daughter would probably be interested in a student friendly version of Gousto - if vegetarians can be accommodated and the recipes are quick!

It’s good from a budgeting point of view too!

Likewise for my DD (also a vegetarian). She's already a competent cook and eats well already so wouldn't need the education bit. Delivery to her halls is a bit limited so that might be an issue.

Sounds like a good idea. Would be good if there was a big focus on accessibility so students who might have a harder time with the independence aspect of uni (SEND or going at 17 potentially) could benefit.

For my DC I wouldn’t subscribe to this as I want them to also learn how to budget and understand the prices in different supermarkets, to research and find their own recipes. To work out how to cook for one, how to cook in a group. To plan ahead and simply have the chore of going to the supermarket.

Love it, mine have hello fresh and save a portion until the next day. Plenty of singles might be interested too

One of mine is autistic and her dsis is too busy to shop (really she's studying and semi pro sport and work)

Good idea as even I am out off by some of the complex meals advertised by those boxes. Have you thought how you'll show them the steps of cooking / prepping? My friend send me a gusto recipe and I liked how the pictures showed how it should look step by step. Or even producing QR codes with videos? My favourite cook book that I still refer to now is called the ultimate student cookbook and I like how that's set out etc and shows your real basics I think everything thinks you should just know.

@Bratnews

For my DC I wouldn’t subscribe to this as I want them to also learn how to budget and understand the prices in different supermarkets, to research and find their own recipes. To work out how to cook for one, how to cook in a group. To plan ahead and simply have the chore of going to the supermarket.

This is my thinking too, but I can see there are some who would use it.

Personally, I think budgeting and time planning etc is all part of what you should be learning a University alongside your degree. More and more I foresee some young people starting work at 21/22 and still not having those pretty basic life skills.

This might also go down well with healthcare students on placement who’ve got limited time to shop

@SometimesRavenSometimesParrot I agree - my daughter will be on placements soon and if she knew she had ingredients and recipes for her meals without having to think about it too much I can see how this would be really useful.

She can cook and budget very well so no concerns about not having those skills - it’s about time saving and ensuring they eat well from my point of view.

I think it's a good idea for some students, eg, on placements as others have said

And healthier than a takeaway!

[quote LaLaFlottes]@SometimesRavenSometimesParrot I agree - my daughter will be on placements soon and if she knew she had ingredients and recipes for her meals without having to think about it too much I can see how this would be really useful.

She can cook and budget very well so no concerns about not having those skills - it’s about time saving and ensuring they eat well from my point of view.[/quote]
Agree - I had a friend who’s placement was miles away so she was out 6am to 6pm on placement then did a 7-11 shift in the library, 5 days a week. Something like this would have really made her life easier.

As it was she lived on smoothies, cuppa soups, ramen and dairy lea products for about six months

I like that idea but think it should be a stepping stone to more independent budgeting and planning, so maybe that could be considered in the design?