Student tips and recipes book - her 1st time living away

miniondancer

Hello all, now that I’ve found how to log in again I will try and post occasionally. : P

Background is, I’m a disorganized and hapzard in my own life but good at organizing others so my partners mum has asked me to make a book for her youngest daughter who got the grades she needed and is about to start uni next month. She knows I wanted to get daughter something and that making this etc would be right up my street.

At this minute we aren’t clear on whether she is going to halls or digs but do know she will have to budget for herself. She has never been away from home except for a week with her friends this summer and by the end of the week they were all sick of the sight of each other.

So was going to include in book, easy breakfast recipes, quick lunches that can be taken on campus and other meals plus a few easy cheap things that can be taken to parties where you bring stuff with you for all to share, she doesn’t drink

She will start with basics and BF intends to go see her every weekend or take her home if she wants to come home and then leave her back so they can take any things needed at that point to made anything in particular

apart from book when it’s made we are going to give her a sickness kit so that she can self treat most things without having to go and look for a chemist or buy overpriced stuff if there is only brands available in a petrol station or corner shop

So can I have your ideas and thoughts please?

Thanks in advance

DomRavioli

Give her this site's address.

She can ask as she goes.

I'd also suggest the student room forums - a little more relevant than this board (more young people there who are students/recent grads).

Islandmaid

My son is off to Uni too, I have been 'training' him for the last few months in cooking, washing, cleaning etc and most importantly, budgeting.

I bought him the 'How to boil and egg' cookery book, and asked him to pick a few recipes and helped him to cook them for us.

There are still a good few weeks before they 'go' so a crash course in survival cooking is still possible - you will go to a lot of trouble in writing a lovely student guide, and she will live off noodles and toast LOL

My advise would be wait till the accomodation is confirmed, then you will know if it's catered or not, then get the young lady in question to work with the adults around her to help as much as possible, what does she like to eat, how much is her budget, what are her cost etc and build up a stock of very basics, salt, pepper, herbs, rice, noodles etc

Good luck BTW X

miniondancer

DomRavioli wrote: »

Give her this site's address.

She can ask as she goes.

I'd also suggest the student room forums - a little more relevant than this board (more young people there who are students/recent grads).

According to the mother she wouldnt look up stuff like that and would just rather spend her time on fb/ twitter etc

Thanks Dom

victor2

Part of being a student is learning to fend for yourself. IME, they all prefer to learn the hard way, rather than take advice from older, theoretically wiser, people.
Some essential items, like an iron and/or basic cooking utensils perhaps? If in student halls, a lot is provided, but still useful to have some items of their own. Not sure a sickness kit will be appreciated very much - bathroom essentials perhaps?

miniondancer

Islandmaid wrote: »

My advise would be wait till the accomodation is confirmed, then you will know if it's catered or not, then get the young lady in question to work with the adults around her to help as much as possible, what does she like to eat, how much is her budget, what are her cost etc and build up a stock of very basics, salt, pepper, herbs, rice, noodles etc

Good luck BTW X

Thank you Islandmaid, will work on getting her stuff together for "sick bucket"

upoiupou

miniondancer wrote: »

apart from book when it’s made we are going to give her a sickness kit so that she can self treat most things without having to go and look for a chemist or buy overpriced stuff if there is only brands available in a petrol station or corner shop

Maybe call it a healthcare kit?

Islandmaid

upoiupou wrote: »

Maybe call it a healthcare kit?

Also, make sure she see's her GP before going, check injections are upto date and also get the new Menengitis jab, I also got my son to get a check up at the dentists too - I,d rather be mollycoddling than risk Menengitis

If she doesn't appear to be engaging with the whole Uni thing, it could be that she is scared of going, but doesn't want to look silly - just a thought

[Deleted User]

When my grandson Ben started at Uni two years ago I started a 'Ben box' which was a square plastic box with all the things he likes in there, and every time he goes back after his break I have a full Ben box to keep him going
One of those ones fromWilko's for a couple of quid.He has a large jar of coffee,tomato ketchup, rice ,pasta,biggest box of wheetabix I can find soap,shower gel,loo rolls baked beans he likes those revolting fray bentos pies in a tin and says they are brilliant for a quick cheap hot meal take the lid off bung in the oven ,cook and eat in the tin (saves washing up )


He has discovered the delights of shopping in Aldis and can buy 10 stubbie lager bottles for £1.99, the boys in his shared house get these in on a saturday night as its cheaper than the pub. fresh fruit and veg he buys as he goes along but he now cooks a mean lasagne and a pretty good chilli as well He has a delightful french girlfriend who likes to practice her cooking on him.They learn as we did years ago by trial and error I think

miniondancer

victor2 wrote: »

Part of being a student is learning to fend for yourself. IME, they all prefer to learn the hard way, rather than take advice from older, theoretically wiser, people.
Some essential items, like an iron and/or basic cooking utensils perhaps? If in student halls, a lot is provided, but still useful to have some items of their own. Not sure a sickness kit will be appreciated very much - bathroom essentials perhaps?

Thanks for your reply victor2, actually she doesnt have a clue how to use an iron and has no intention of learning, Iwe have offered repeatedly)

she has worked out how much she "needs" to live on each week on top of her student loan and essentials come first to her such as clothes because you cant be seen out in the same outfit twice and has said she doesnt want to look for a job because it might affect her studies yet her mum and dad have told her that they arent an unlimited bank but she sees them as that at this moment they should be to support her

thats part of why we want her have something personalised which she can look to for reference – her parents have tried to bring her up with old style ingrained into her but she doesnt seem to be interested at this point but maybe when she is short of money she might be different

victor2

miniondancer wrote: »

Thanks for your reply victor2, actually she doesnt have a clue how to use an iron and has no intention of learning, Iwe have offered repeatedly)...

It's often surprising what extra skills students learn. They're essentially all in it together, and when the finances start to dry up, they learn to budget. Trips to visit our DDs at uni would invariably involve us taking them to a supermarket and buying a load of stuff they used to take for granted when living at home.
I do like JackieO's suggestion though - she will probably appreciate such a thing (even if not publicly!) and remember it fondly way beyond her student years.