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Cheap Isn't Always Cheaper: Teaching My Son to Eat Well on a Student Budget

Helping students eat well at university doesn't have to mean spending more. In this personal guide, I share what I'm learning about student food budgeting, meal planning, and teaching my son how to choose better-quality ingredients without wasting money.

PARENT GUIDES

Aisha Mello

9/3/20264 min read

Cheap Isn't Always Cheaper: Teaching My Son to Eat Well on a Student Budget

One of my sons is very frugal.

And as his mother, I genuinely love that about him.

Yari thinks about money. He doesn't like wasting it. He will compare prices, think twice before spending and quite happily choose the cheaper option.

Those are qualities I want him to keep.

But university taught me that there is another side to being careful with money that I hadn't really thought about before.

Sometimes our children need to learn that the cheapest food isn't necessarily the best value.

Yari loves food, but he's probably what I'd call a more typical student eater than his older brother.

He likes familiar food.

He likes fast food.

He's not necessarily looking at a vegetable he's never seen before and thinking, Ooh, let me experiment with that.

And when you're young, living on your own and watching your money, it can be very easy to think:

"This is cheaper, so I'll just eat this."

But cheaper isn't always better.

The Box That Came Home

When we first got him settled at university, we did what parents do.

We bought food.

Lots of food.

We wanted to make sure he had everything.

Then, when we later picked him up and brought him to our new home, there was still a whole box of things that hadn't been eaten.

That told me something.

It doesn't matter how much food a parent buys if it isn't food their student actually knows how — or wants — to use.

And that's an important lesson when you're preparing a young person to live independently.

We can stock the cupboards.

But eventually they have to learn how to stock their own.

Frugal Is Good. Too Frugal Can Become a Problem.

I don't want Yari to stop being careful with money.

Actually, I think being financially sensible at his age is brilliant.

What I want him to understand is that there is a difference between:

spending less

and

spending wisely.

You might be able to buy something very cheap for dinner tonight.

But what if spending a few pounds more buys you chicken, vegetables, rice and something that can become three meals?

Suddenly the "more expensive" option isn't actually more expensive at all.

It might be better food for less money per meal.

That's the skill I'm hoping he develops this year.

Not simply:

"How little can I spend?"

But:

"How much value can I get from what I spend?"

Cooking for One Changes the Equation

I think students sometimes look at good-quality ingredients and assume they're buying for a whole family.

But when you're cooking for one person, things can stretch.

A pack of chicken doesn't have to be one dinner.

It can become:

Chicken and rice tonight.

A chicken wrap tomorrow.

Chicken pasta the following day.

The same goes for mince.

Or salmon.

Or vegetables.

Or a pot of chilli.

You don't have to buy the cheapest possible food when you learn how to make better food last.

That's something I wish I'd focused on earlier.

Convenience Has a Price Too

Then there's fast food.

I'm not going to pretend my children are never going to eat it.

I like convenient food too.

And university should include pizza with friends and the occasional takeaway.

But convenience can become expensive surprisingly quickly.

One meal might look cheap.

Then another.

Then another.

And suddenly you've spent more money on food that isn't keeping you particularly full or giving your body very much than you would have spent buying groceries.

That's the balance I'm trying to teach.

This isn't about being perfect.

It's about making the everyday choices good enough that there's room for the fun ones too.

Watching His Brother Has Helped

One of the lovely things has been watching my sons inspire each other.

Zen, my older son, became far more adventurous in the kitchen than I expected.

He would send us photographs of meals he'd made, beautifully arranged on the plate — which, considering he's an art student, probably shouldn't have surprised me.

And we share those things as a family.

We talk all the time.

We show each other what we're eating.

We send pictures.

And I think seeing his brother cook has helped Yari realise:

"Actually, I can do this too."

He has cooked.

He just needs more confidence.

And that's okay.

He's two years younger.

He's learning.

This year he'll have his own studio, his own kitchen and even more responsibility for deciding what goes into his body.

And I'm excited to see what happens.

Food Is Part of Learning to Look After Yourself

As parents, we spend years choosing much of what our children eat.

Then suddenly we're not there.

That transition is bigger than I realised.

It's not only:

Can you cook?

It's:

Can you make good decisions for yourself?

Can you look after the body that's carrying you through lectures, assignments, late nights, sports, work, friendships and everything else university throws at you?

I want my sons to understand that food doesn't need to be expensive or complicated.

But their health is worth considering.

Being responsible with money shouldn't mean always choosing the lowest number on the shelf.

Sometimes being responsible means paying a little more, using everything you buy and getting several good meals from it.

That's a different kind of frugality.

And perhaps a more useful one.

One of the Reasons I Created The Student's First Ten Meals

The more I've watched my sons navigate university, the more I've realised that young people don't necessarily need hundreds of recipes.

They need a starting point.

A few meals they can make confidently.

A few ingredients they know how to stretch.

And enough experience to look inside a fridge and think:

"Okay. I can make something out of this."

That's exactly what The Student's First Ten Meals is designed to help them do.

Not gourmet cooking.

Not perfection.

Just the beginning of learning how to feed yourself well — without spending a fortune.

Explore The Student's First Ten Meals in the Before Uni Shop.