But with meals prepared by a qualified chef for $5, St Kevin’s College appears to be offering one.
The school’s kitchen will be offering the frozen meals from the canteen fortnightly, starting on February 19, from 2-4pm.
St Kevin’s kitchen site manager Laney Millar said her team catered for up to 95 people each day and often had food left over.
Rather than throw it out, she decided it would be better to plate it up and sell meals to the community at cost price.
"Hostel food isn’t what it used to be. We have served up a lot of variety, from porterhouse steak to ham," Mrs Millar said.
"We thought of it as a service to the people. Not everyone qualifies for meals on wheels, or it could be people going to the hostel for surgery and can’t cook themselves."
Mrs Millar’s husband Bruce is the chef, and the pair have owned restaurants in the past.
She would see how much demand there was for the meals before looking at reducing or increasing the supply.
"We’ll give it a try and see if there is a need," she said.
"It’s got to be better than fattening up the pigs."
