food parcel ideas

Flat_Eric

My little brother is off to uni this month and being the kind person I am, I have told him that I will visit him at least once a month and will bring food parcels.....

Now apart from the essentials of beer ! and loo roll, what would make a perfect food parcel???

stacey809

Breakfast cereals. I was always running out when I was at uni. Probably because I ate it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper!!! Money for alcohol was much more important that a balanced diet.

lynzpower

A bargain little recipe bok and a couple of nice oven dishes from the pound shop.

Pizza base mix, sun dried tomatos, a selection of herbs and spices, some tins of beans, spaghetti, etc.

Olliebeak

Make sure he's got a tin opener!

How about some toiletries - so he doesn't HAVE to buy some?

Cleaning stuff? Bottles of OS spray cleaners - already made up with a label attached giving cleaning instructions with microfibre cloths/scourers to go with them.

thriftlady_2

Patak's curry pastes and coconut milk.

funkymonkey849

Posh things students can't usually afford, pesto, balsamic vinigar, spices/seasonings, stir fry sauces, coconut milk. Also some student staples, a packet of rice, dried sharwoods noodles. No food parcel would be complete without a homemade cake in my opinion!

Occasionally my mum sends me food when she's sending something for me in the post already she puts it in a box and fills out the space with all the out of date food in her cupboards :rotfl: Last time I got dried porcini mushrooms, 2 packets of fajita spice mix and a box of tacos

It's lovely getting a food parcel from home, even if all the stuff is dated 2006!

lostinrates

If you cook, then the odd box of cake/flapjacks/similar that can be shared is always popular with people in halls, (and helps with any disagreeents).

I think it depends on his facilities in halls. Some non-catering halls get very strict bout anything other than milk/snacks (because they lose money if people don'tbuy food in canteens etc). Some are happy for people to have the odd bowl of microwavable soup in halls and allow (or supply) some things like sandwich toasters/microwave etc.

greenbee

Pasta - students live on it (when they're not eating cereal of course!). Once you know what the kitchen's like and whether he has his own fridge in his room or a shared one you can decide whether to take a few home-made meals so that you know he's eating properly for a week after you visit!

Cakes/biscuits etc are great for sharing and will make him popular with his friends.

After the first visit, get him to make suggestions, as he'll start to get an idea of what kind of things he needs.

Actiongirl_2

Pasta sauce, pasta and chicken breast. Mum always used to treat me to M&S pasta sauce and decent pasta when she came to see me, so I could leave off the aldi stuff for a while - you can taste the difference and i really appreciated it!

Teabags
Fruit
Big bars of choc
Meat - I could never really afford it
Tuna for the pasta and sauce!
White wine
Red wine
Anything alcoholic really, towards the end of term, desperation used to set in. I was given some multi coloured liqeurs one year from the BHS sale - you know the kind of stocking filler size? We were so desperate and they tasted so bad, we drank them in coffee just for the alcohol! (we were first years though...)

Magpie.

Pasta & pasta sauces, cereal, tinned foods, biscuits. Mainly dry foods that will see him through the month and are quick and easy.

helping_hubby

When I was at uni I really appreciated it when my parents bought me things like toothpaste, shampoo, deoderant, washing powder etc as these things were quite pricey and would eat into my weekly budget very quickly. Although these days you get own brand equivalents which keep costs down more.

Other than that I would just stock up on his favourites...things like chocolate, biscuits and crisps, that way he can spend his food budget on real food like super noodles and baked beans