Free meals for VU students
VU has partnered with SecondBite to provide students with free, healthy frozen meals to eat at home.
Find out about the program and where and when you can collect meals.
About the program
To support our students, Victoria University has partnered with SecondBite, a local not-for-profit organisation, to provide free healthy frozen meals to eat at home.
SecondBite is a leading national food rescue organisation that works with a range of food suppliers to rescue surplus fresh food from across the network, and redistributes it to local charities and non-profits around Australia. These groups run food programs to support people in need in their communities.
With latest figures revealing that more than 5 million people in Australia experience food insecurity at least once in the course of a year, SecondBite exists to make sure that good food is getting to people who need it most, rather than to landfill.
VU is thrilled to partner with SecondBite to provide meals to our students while pursuing our commitment to Planetary Health:
In all that we do in our research, our teaching, on our campuses and in our communities, we work to improve the health and wellbeing of our local and global communities, and the planet that we share.
About the meals
The frozen meals prepared by SecondBite come in either 1kg packs (providing 3-4 standard servings) or 250g packs, which provide a single serve meal.
As the meals are prepared based on ingredients available to SecondBite at the time, there is no set menu or option to order specific meals. As such, stock availability will vary and there is no guarantee a particular option will be available on collection.
Meal options are limited to vegetarian or non-vegetarian (containing meat), and availability is limited to the options delivered by SecondBite each week.
Where & when to collect meals
The frozen meal packs will be available for you to collect from Footscray Park Campus - no registration required.
Meals will be available for collection during the following times each week:
- Mondays 1—3.30pm
- Thursdays 2—4.30pm
Meals can be collected from M124, Ground Level of Building M. Look out for the friendly VU Vollies.
Please note: The free meals service will close from Thursday 19 December 2024. The service will re-open from Monday 24 February 2025.
Student feedback
I absolutely love the idea behind the meals you guys are doing, especially for someone like myself, it has been very difficult to afford healthy meals during these lockdowns being out of work. This will make a big difference for many people! Thank you very much!
Brodie
I have enjoyed the food, and am very appreciative and grateful for the service being offered.
Tiffany
Thank you for the packed meals. The food is delicious. It saves me roughly $50 a week on groceries and cooking time.
Mai
I really appreciate the meals I am able to collect through this initiative, and they taste great too!
Taro
