UCDSU has partnered with M&K Meats Ltd to launch their Clever Cuisine scheme, offering UCD students weekly packs of four easy-to-cook meals made from fresh meat and vegetables for just €10.
The scheme arose following a survey of 500 UCD students that showed 81% had skipped meals in the previous month in order to pay unavoidable academic costs.
The survey also found that students tended to move away from home-cooked nutritious meals towards unhealthy junk food. As a result UCDSU have partnered with M&K Meats to develop a project with the goal of “making tasty, wholesome meals available to students at a fair and low price”. The project also aims to “ease the financial burden for students and their parents.”
Speaking on the scheme, UCDSU President Rachel Breslin said, “After [the survey] we looked at what we could do to solve this and try to make it better for students. There’s a model in Cork which is very similar to what we’re doing… we wanted to implement something very similar here so we thought up of Clever Cuisine where students are ordering online. I think that’s one of the main differences, that they can pre-pay and pick up their meals on a monday. That helps with students’ budgeting as well.”
Currently there are no vegetarian options on offer in the scheme. Breslin has said that this is “something we really want to get into. This is a trial period… we want to look at Halal and vegetarian options in the near future.”
The scheme is available to all UCD students at €10 and non-UCD students at €12. The extra €2 charged to non-UCD students will cover the cost of the website, printing and laser charges. UCDSU will not make any profit from the scheme. Breslin stated, “It’s a student-centred scheme. The only reason we’re doing this is so that students can avail from it… Anything that students want on the menu we’ll endeavor to have it. The scheme is flexible in that whatever students want we’ll try to cater for it.”
Meal packs can be ordered from www.clevercuisine.ie using a credit, laser or debit card. They will be available for collection every Monday from the Students’ Union
