University Cafe a total ripoff!!!

alex21

porgie1985 wrote: »

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.

I wouldn't take comments from posters such as Custardy personally. A quick scan of their previous posts would seem that they have either an axe to grind or a massive superiority complex and take this pleasure in talking to everyone like this. My first bit of advice would be to invest in a really good flask. Some days if you take just hot water you could do a pot noodle or flavoured cous cous in a tupperware and all you would need is a fork. You do not have to justify wanting to eat something warm to anyone!! My 2nd bit of advice is to use the facility to ignore nasty and unhelpful comments. I am taking my own advice re Custardy. If you add nothing positive to my life........:D

~Chameleon~

Sunflower1227 wrote: »

These are really good, a friend uses one all the time, I know it is on the expensive side, but will pay for its self in the long term.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/16339/Thermos-King-Food-Flask

I use one of these and it's excellent at keeping food (soups, stews, chilli etc) hot for several hours. I fill mine at 7am and it's still hot enough to eat at 2pm

bouncydog1

Suggest a nice hot bowl of porridge before you leave in the morning, soup or a hot drink in a flask that you pour boiling water in, screw the lid on and leave for 5 mins before emptying and pouring boiling hot soup/drink in. Take your milk separately in a small bottle with a screw top so that your flask stays hot.

OH works on site from 7.00 a.m. in the morning in all weathers with no access to any kettles/microwaves etc and he always has hot food/drink at lunch time by using the above method.

Oh and office workers often don't have microwaves etc and the norm now in many places is for staff to have to purchase their own hot drinks from vending machines. There have been incidents with hot food exploding into the faces of individuals and some employers now won't provide the microwaves because they could be held liable for personal injury to their employees because they provided a microwave for their use.

I'm afraid I cannot see any reason why your Uni should provide you with that facility - it's not unreasonable!

Sarah715

As previous users have mentioned, it's definitely worth spending a little bit more on a thermos, as the cheap ones don't really tend to do the job well enough!!

jjblondie

A bit of a long shot, but does your university chaplaincy have a kitchen? We have one here at Warwick which anyone is free to come in and use, with a microwave, tea, coffee, oven and hobs.

glasgowsaver2011

yevsk wrote: »

I think Porgie actually has brought up a very relevant point for discussion in this forum. The cost of food for a student can really eat (pun intended) into his or her small weekly budget.

In the college I go to, we have a cafeteria much like the one described in the OP here, however you can bring in your own food if you wish. We also have a student common area on each campus and they all have a kettle and microwave.

Talk to your Student Union, Porgie. Unis and colleges should be doing all they can to lessen the financial strain on their students.

Take a tin of soup to uni with a ring pull lid.

Open and eat, - something like tomato is tasty enough cold.

It contains the same energy and nutrition hot as cold...

I too am a poor student

AppAddicted

They should provide public services but they wanna make a profit also. Just scandalous...

kboss2010

We have the same problem. As a class rep for postgrad students this was an issue raised with the department and they just said that it would be something they would look into on the new campus next year. No help to us at all.

Universities are no longer educational establishments for the benefit of students they are money-making machines with sub-contracted services and a bottom line. Sadly this is a product of years of under-investment and overspend during the 'free university days' which leaves current students paying for previous generations' education whilst the 30-somethings who got their degree for free sit in secure, well-paying grad jobs and we're working in ASDA/TESCO/Poundland for minimum wage. I honestly don't know how the '£9,000 a year tuition fee' students will cope, I was lucky enough to have only paid £1,500 p/yr for my undergrad. and I'm still struggling to earn enough to pay it back.

Every employer I have had provided us with microwave facilities and a kettle and some of those employers were food shops themselves. No excuse in my opinion for universities not to offer the same apart from being held ransom by the likes of coffee chains and private cafes. The staff have this facility and my undergraduate university offered the facility too.

Sadly, the same thing happened at my high school. We weren't allowed vending machines for drinks in the sixth form common room because this breached the contract with the caterers who could charge what they liked. The school even made school lunches compulsory for the first 2 years - shocking.

V_Chic_Chick

kboss2010 wrote: »

Sadly, the same thing happened at my high school. We weren't allowed vending machines for drinks in the sixth form common room because this breached the contract with the caterers who could charge what they liked. The school even made school lunches compulsory for the first 2 years - shocking.

The school I went to had compulsory school lunches (charged termly) from Y7 to Y11, and you weren't allowed off the school grounds either until the sixth form.

The food was vile to, to the extent that I just stopped eating lunch altogether by Y11. Count yourself lucky that you only had to eat school lunches for two years!

Sarri_2

Hmm, this doesn't solve the OP's problem but just in the interest of balance - I work at at a uni and the staff aren't provided with much in the way of facilities. In every building I've worked in there's been a small sink area, and then staff have clubbed together to buy a microwave, kettle, supplies (and on one occasion a fancy coffee machine!) The Uni facilities people will safety check any electrical equipment and then all the cleaning and tidying is done by us. Whilsts that's a lot easier to manage when there are only small groups of staff using the area a few people do still leave the kitchens in a state for others to clear up - I could see it being more problematic when it's open to anyone