University Cafe a total ripoff!!!

Dunroamin

Loanranger wrote: »

I don't understand the need to have hot food in the middle of your day. I used to be out of the house at work for 12 hours five days a week and just took a sandwich with me and some fruit and had a hot meal when I got home.
.

Agreed.

Having worked in and around education for many years, having a hot meal was a rarity for both me and everybody else. Most working people eat sandwiches for lunch.

bestpud

How does a hot meal keep you going longer?

Surely it's more to do with the nutritional value of the food than the temperature?

Do you have a slow cooker? They are fab - stick the food in in the morning and it's ready (and usually smelling lovely!) when you get home.

Maybe a sandwich lunch will appeal more if you know you will have a cooked meal waiting for you at home?

purt

Must admit in my seven years of university I don't think microwaves or kettles were ever supplied for students. Electricity costs would make it prohibitive for the university I would have thought. Not to mention the health and safety implications - students scalding themselves and suing etc.

With that said, we should all be nice to fellow moneysavers.

SmallL

General rule of thumb s that eating out is much much more expensive than takng your own wherever you are.
Im currently in uni and i have swapped a 'cold' breakfast for a tin of soup that i have with a couple of slices of bread before heading out.

40-60p for a can of soup + 5-10p for two slices of bread
And i just take cold lunch of pasta in a tomato and basil sauce with sweetcorn and peas for lunch/ nothing if im not in too late.

Char_pdc

porgie1985 wrote: »

Right,

I just wondered if anyone else has had this problem, and whether they managed to solve it!

My university has a cafe where you can buy food (obv). However, they don't have microwave or kettle facilities for students who wish to bring their own food and heat it up plus even for a bit of hot water it's 50p!!! I point blank refuse to buy food from there which is going to end up costing me upto £25 a week. In the winter i'm going to be out of my house for nearly 12 hours a day and going to need something hot to keep me going. I've tried putting soup in a thermos but it's gone cold by lunch

So, my question is, has anyone either petitioned for microwave at uni/already got the facility at uni or got any ideas on how I can keep food warm until lunch?

Any ideas would be very gratefully recieved! Thanks guys xxx
:T

I think it depends on the university tbh.

When I was an undergraduate I didn't have access to a microwave/kettle facilities. I just either used a thermos flask, ate cold food, or if I wanted something hot wandered off campus as there were a number of local cafes around selling food at cheaper prices.

I appreciate that 50p might seem steep for hot water (think it cost 20-30p when I was an undergraduate). But if you only had cold food and wanted something hot, could you make the best of the situation by taking some tea bags or something like that? Then you could at least make a hot drink?

I know what you mean about needing something warm in the winter - lecture theatres aren't always the warmest places.

rachhh

Most places heat baby food up for free, you could try that if you desperately need something warm, lol!
Or just go to an off campus, cheaper cafe!
As a student, surely you must know someone in halls/living nearby uni that would let you use their facilities once or twice a week? Hot food for lunch everyday is hardly a necessity, the majority of the working population take cold food for lunch during their working day and I'm sure they're doing just fine!

Spendless

I can't eat cold meals for several meals on the trot before I long for something warm. What do you currently eat for breakfast? If it's cereal then I wonder if you swapping that meal to something warm, eg scrambled eggs on toast or porridge would help? Then do a sandwich for lunch.

My 1st thought re the flask was that you weren't getting it hot enough prior to pouring it in. It's a long time since I used one for my lunch though.

porgie1985

Thanks guys for all your helpful responses, you have restored my faith in MSE! I'm still a little confused as to how I managed to offend people so much by asking.

It's just preference that I want something hot during the long winter days. I use public transport and walk a lot and it's the best way to warm up after you've been out, that's just me though, I understand not everyone feels the same.

I don't know anyone living in halls or close by...yet! Only been there 6 weeks and all the people I know are adult learners like me and travel in as I do.

I am most definitely going to invest in a better flask, and between now and then I've bought cup a soups and pots of noodles and pasta etc which I can just add hot water to, even if it is 50p a pop! £2.50 for the week is better than £25 for the week!

I'm also going to see if we can have a communal area. In all honesty I can't imagine a lot of people using it.

Thanks again for your support!

Medstudent

I guess I am fortunate that my uni provides both, and sporadically even teabags and coffee! (although that is only on the campus I am currently based at)

I always kick myself when I don't bring my own lunch and end up spending up to ten times as much for a meal that generally doesn't taste as good, or is as healthy as what I would normally bring.

lushlifesaver

as a student rep I asked our faculty if we could have a kettle and microwave for student use and i also asked higher up in the university. It was always met with the same responses:'who would clean it?' 'who would make sure it was abused/damaged?''who would maintain it?'

Tbh I think it was stupid as it could easily be that they provide one separately to the uni vendor and do it on a faculty basis rather than just a free for all. Furthermore how will some students ever learn to respect areas/items that are for communal use if they are never trusted to do so in the first place?!