Actually, letting to is pretty easy once you actually do it. The kids don’t starve. And that ends up being one less thing to worry about over time. Plus, when they are first preparing food on their own, you get the added advantage of your kid actually calling you from time to time for cooking advice.
Based on my kids experience the only flash point is produce. Some kids eat a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables every day, they expect a bowl of apples in the fridge for snacking, and since you can’t buy ahead (at least more than a week’s worth) someone needs to be restocking. Other kids consider the raisins in the granola bar to be their daily intake of a fruit or vegetable, and they don’t want to be responsible for figuring out what to do with yellow beets, kohlrabi and a huge bag of zucchini.
Your son won’t starve, but if after a month or two the arrangement is falling apart (too much junk food, nobody willing to buy a bag of carrots or a bowls worth of bananas, kids living on sugary cereal three meals a day) he will likely ask to go back on the meal plan (or the smallest plan possible, since he’ll likely be used to grabbing his own breakfast and lunch by then).
Just don’t over-estimate the cost savings. It takes a lot of discipline for a college kid to maintain a healthy diet, maintain a social life, AND save money on food. If your son can whip up a pot of chili, a salad and a corn bread and call it a dinner party- yes, cost savings. If the group’s idea of entertaining is the local sushi bar then no- you ain’t saving money by going off the meal plan!!! And coffee… aaargh. Once Starbucks or its equivalent enters the picture, kiss the savings goodbye. It becomes a habit that’s hard to break.
My son just finished his first year of college in Montreal and is moving off campus next year…I just sent him the link to the video. That just made my day.
On the more practical side, this summer we are teaching him to grocery shop (look at unit prices; stock up on sale items; read the weekly flyer for specials) and how to cook.
Why do people wait until kids are college age to teach those things?
Given that I had to schlep my kids to the grocery store throughout early childhood, there was an abundance of teachable moments in comparison shopping. When they were in elementary school it was routine practice for the kids to be responsible for finding stuff on our list and bringing it back to the cart.
Cooking also was pretty much a shared activity, started in early childhood-- I assumed that by the time they were 12 a kid should be able to prepare the basics – fry an egg, cook a pot of pasta, etc. Age 16 with a driver’s license? Then definitely should be able to do a grocery store run.
I mean… good for you for doing the teaching now… better late than never – but these are basic and very simple life skills that everyone needs and can definitely be taught early on.
“Based on my kids experience the only flash point is produce.”
True with a lot of produce but some things easily keep - carrots, apples, oranges, grapefruit can easily last a few weeks.
However, if one is totally off the meal plan, to eat healthily and a range of foods, a weekly trip to the grocery should be anticipated.
I think one thing to clarify is whether this is being done as a cost-savings measure. The original post didn’t say anything about saving money, but other posters are assuming that.
When ds2 went off the meal plan we set an amount, and it was his job to live within his means. We gave him $XX a month and put $XX month on his dining card so that that he could use it in the dining hall (not likely as he didn’t like the overpriced food) or at the food court/school convenience store. That way I was reasonably assured a portion of that money went to real food. But it was his job to figure out how to feed himself. He did a pretty good job. Most of the food court things were Subway rather than Taco Bell, and he quickly realized that the convenience store was ridiculously expensive. If his friend group ever did a big meal, they went in on it together and cooked together. But like someone above, he made a lot of omelets.