Northern Illinois University (NIU) is offering a Huskie Fresh meal kit service so students can cook for themselves with much of the prep work already done. Offerings include balsamic chicken, chickpea bowls, sloppy joes, stuffed peppers and more. To cut down on costs and be more sustainable, the kits are available for pick-up in the Student Center rather than being mailed. And “10% of the profits will be donated to the Student Assistance Fund,” Nutrition Education Coordinator Meg Burnham told NIU Today.
“The fun part about the kit is that our customers are still cooking, only we’ve taken the tedious steps out of the process and the customer is left with the more enjoyable final cook-off and warm fresh meal to serve their family and friends,” Burnham said.
Campus Dining hired a Nutrition & Dietetics Graduate Assistant to get the project started. Depth has been added to stand out from other meal kit services by teaming with the School of Health Studies, where eight nutrition undergraduates have joined the effort to create nutrition and culinary highlights, plus TikTok-style cooking videos for each shared recipe.
“Huskie Fresh is a convenient, nutritious and affordable alternative to going grocery shopping that gives customers a fun and interactive cooking experience. The best part is that the entire menu was developed and prepared by NIU students,” said John Boswell, director of Retail Dining.
