Random household issues -- questions asked and answered here

Prags, how are your son's cooking skills? They sound lacking. Meal plan might've been the way to go, but hopefully he naturally likes healthy foods?

tim1_2 wrote:Prags, how are your son's cooking skills?  They sound lacking.  Meal plan might've been the way to go, but hopefully he naturally likes healthy foods?

He actually took a cooking class once. But, yeah, his culinary skills are not quite there.

The meal plan at Ottawa U is a waste of money. All it is is you top-up your student card with X dollars, and there is a fixed portion that is used for non-food purchases (books, etc), while the rest is to buy meals. The advantage is that with a meal plan your food purchases are tax-exempt and they run some promotions (like pop for a buck, for example, or automatic draws for prizes). But then you end up buying meals at Starbucks, Subways and other similar eateries; they have a cafeteria but it's notoriously expensive. So it's not like a meal plan you pay a fixed cost and then you can have a number of breakfast/lunch/dinner meals. No, you still have to budget your money and, essentially, you are always "eating out". Assuming he only uses it 5 days a week (he is going to come home on weekends to work) that's roughly 155 days for the two semesters, and the *cheapest* meal plan comes out to $14.83 per day on food. If you don't use all of it there are deadlines for getting a refund and it will cost you a $25 admin fee to get the refund. But don't worry, $14.83/day eating at restaurants -- you won't be needing a refund (especially for out of town students who are there 7 days a week -- that's $10.60 per day).

I've outlined several breakfast, lunch and supper ideas, averaged out the costs, threw in a pizza ordered out once a week ($10 each in a group) and a bit more for Chinese one a month, and it came out to about $9/day averaged out. So we are budgeting $10/week on food (likely even less since he's probably not going to be leaving home empty handed on weekends).

Is this the kid that is a pretty light-eater?

tim1_2 wrote:Is this the kid that is a pretty light-eater?

Nope. Although he probably eats a lot less now than he used to.

wprager wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:Is this the kid that is a pretty light-eater?

Nope.  Although he probably eats a lot less now than he used to.

You're son will figure it out. I have absolutely no doubt. If I can figure how to feed myself then you have nothing to worry about.

prags i would say that your son will learn how to budget real fast if you give him a certain budget and you let him deal with it without helping him out if he runs out. going hungry or having to line-up at the free food caf at uni will teach him a thing or two about healthy living. be strict and within a semester he'll be cooking YOU dinners.

Ramen noodles.

That is all.

shabbs wrote:Ramen noodles.

That is all.

That requires boiling water. Although he has a microwave safe bowl (meant for oatmeal) which he can then use in the microwave. Good idea, shabbs. I'll buy him a case (but don't tell mom).

Still a problem with proteins, though. When I was in university, hot dogs (tube steaks, as some people call 'em) were the easiest way to get proteins. I'd heat up 2-3 of them in the morning (no buns, no mess), or add them to the aforementioned ramen or KD or what not. They've become damn expensive, though. The chicken ones are OK but he's not a great fan (likes them broiled). Frozen meatballs is another simple way (except keeping the frozen is a bit of a problem with a tiny freezer; plus he doesn't like them).

Heh. Ramen noodles are basically a bag of salt and carbs. The sodium level in those things is off the charts. I don't touch them any more but man did I love 'em. Ha ha.

He'll figure it out. This is his time to not have is parents watching out over everything he does. He might get sick a few times due to lack of nutrional balance. But like I said he'll figure it out.

shabbs wrote:Heh. Ramen noodles are basically a bag of salt and carbs. The sodium level in those things is off the charts. I don't touch them any more but man did I love 'em. Ha ha.

And I don't eat hotdogs for breakfast anymore either

DirtyDave wrote:He'll figure it out. This is his time to not have is parents watching out over everything he does. He might get sick a few times due to lack of nutrional balance. But like I said he'll figure it out.

Oh, absolutely. He's got money loaded up in his student card and a bit still on his debit card, so he won't starve unless he wants to (although I have this awful feeling when he finishes his Walmart shift tonight he'll walk out of that store with a couple bags of not-so-nutritional-but-oh-so-on-clearance goodies.

I keep telling my wife that he's not going to eat veggies, and likely not too much fruit, but it'll be exactly like it was when he was living at home; he'll just eat less overall.

So on weekends, when he comes home, I suggested we hide all the regular food and just stuff the fridge with veggies/fruit.

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:Heh. Ramen noodles are basically a bag of salt and carbs. The sodium level in those things is off the charts. I don't touch them any more but man did I love 'em. Ha ha.

And I don't eat hotdogs for breakfast anymore either

Yep. We can't live like we used to... ahhhh the good old days...

#oldz

I eat bacon every day, that's kind of like hot dogs.

Ev wrote:I eat bacon every day, that's kind of like hot dogs.

But so much tastier...

Mmmmm bacon.

BACONATOR DIET FTW

Here we go...

been eating keto for 2 months now and it is amazing.