I think them being able to cook their favourite meals is the best. I've got ds cooking his favourites himself in the last month and will write them down if he forgets ingredients .
It has to be easy enough for Uni as no one wants to do major cooking + associated washing up in shared halls + he likes some veggie /bean meals which reduce the costs.
I can't see he will have meat much as it is too expensive. Idea is he cooks half the days then has left over for lunch next day mostly.
On the list so far for my ds he likes and has cooked (I am writing this down to remind me really!) is Veggie Chilli, Courgette with lemon/tinned tuna pasta, Courgettes and Cannellini beans, Tenderstem broccoli & Butterbeans, Cheesy bacon pasta with peas, Sausage & Leek pasta, Spicy sausage (peppers tomato sauce) pasta, Broccoli pasta, Salmon Lemony &peas spaghetti, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Rotisserie chicken with chips then use left over chicken for Pesto and Chicken Pasta & Chicken noodle soup, Thai Green curry (Aldi packet), Salmon and Miso with Tenderstem broccoli/spinach soup. He likes the ready rice packets with soy sauce, peas and some added protein.
Breakfast will be ready made protein pancakes with honey/maple syrup & frozen berries + banana. He likes porridge but can't see him washing up the bowl straightaway to prevent it being like concrete.
Lunch he doesn't like jacket potatoes, sandwiches much but will have cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches 
. Only likes fried eggs, but likes with these with muffins with garlic spinach or spicy noodles . Likes bacon on a roll. Itzu frozen gyzo and noodles in miso broth are easy. Ready made falafel/pakora with salsa in a wrap. He doesn't mind fish fingers with salsa in a taco shell.
The idea is to get him to menu plan before shopping and have dishes that use up vegetables if he actually buys them. I am taking him to Tesco and Aldi and getting him to look at costs.
I will buy canned/jarred beans, lemon juice &stock cubes,miso soup, noodles, green Thai meal kit, soy sauce, pesto, tinned tomatoes, olive oil, jars of chilli beans and sauce , microwave baked beans, ketchup, pasta, honey, stock up freezer with frozen ready prepared onion, garlic, chilli, ginger packets. Plus peas and frozen spinach, the Itzu bits, chips and frozen fish fingers and frozen berries.
Dd who loves to cook normally lived on Daal, Beans and Jacket Potatoes and scrambled Egg for her first term.
I'm hoping that if he has easy things and by having a cupboard/freezer of main ingredients he will actually cook. As they are out often in the evenings they don't want to cook though!
Get your dc to look on Tik Tok. There's loads of meal creators like mob kitchen. We like Emily English and Natsnourishments. My main advice is get them cooking before they go though.