University of Mississippi students missing home can get a taste of what they are longing for with the home-cooked food services provided by North Mississippi locals.
Aimee Iceman, known as the Ole Miss Food Nanny, and Deanne Neely Hill, known as the Old Miss Godmother, are widely recognized and loved home cooks providing food services to students. While each approaches her food services differently, both have a passion for creating quality meals with local ingredients.
Iceman, who often makes comfort food, provides meal plans as well as special food requests, all made with meat and eggs from local farmers four times a week. In a typical week, Iceman provides food for around 50 people.
“As much as I can, I locally source things,” Iceman said. “For one, you know it’s local and supporting other locals, but I also want to make sure that I know where the food comes from that’s going into these kids’ bellies, as well.”
Similarly, Hill prioritizes using her homegrown herbs in meals that are personalized to meet any dietary restrictions her clients may have. Hill estimates that she served around 200 meals in the past year.
“I grow my own herbs,” Hill said. “I watch what I put in there. I know that it’s good quality stuff, and if they’re looking for a little less of something, then I’ll tweak a recipe to not have a certain thing in it to provide for their nutritional or dietary needs.”
While Iceman often prepares meals that are portioned into individual servings, Hill primarily provides large portions of whatever a student orders.
“I’m not sitting there giving you a bowl of soup,” Hill said. “You call me up and you say ‘Could you make something for me?’ And, whatever it is, I make it. So, if you want a bowl of gumbo, you’re getting a pot of gumbo.”
Iceman began her food services last year, after her daughter, who is a student at the university, moved into her first apartment. Every Saturday, she would bring her daughter homemade meals from her home in Olive Branch, Miss., and she decided she wanted to provide the same for other students.
“On the way home from one of the (Ole Miss football) games I thought, I bet there are so many other parents out there that would want to be able to do this for their kid, but they’re not geographically able to,” Iceman said.
Iceman soon put this thought into action, and what started as making food for her daughter and friends turned into a food delivery service by September 2024. Since then, she has expanded her services to also include laundry, care packages and catering for tailgates and visitors.
Hill, an Oxford resident, began her meal service journey roughly five years ago, after getting to know families of university students while providing transportation services in Oxford.
“You start knowing the whole family when you’re carrying their kids,” Hill said. “I know their mamas. I know their brothers. When they come to town, I get to know their whole family”
The relationships that Hill formed led to parents calling on the ‘Old Miss Godmother’ to take home-cooked meals to their children.
“Then (cooking for sick students) spread by word of mouth, and then it’s more that students were missing home-cooked meals or needed something nutritious or couldn’t stand the meals on campus anymore,” Hill said.
Though Iceman and Hill provide many types of meals, both find that students enjoy a mix of comfort food and variety.
“Comfort food, I do a lot of,” Iceman said. “I do a lot of homemade lasagna. I do tamales, chicken alfredo and buffalo chicken mac and cheese. But I also do healthier options as well. Steak bowls, chicken bowls and shrimp bowls, I’ll do a lot of those. The kids love those.”
Hill also finds the students she serves ordering different kinds of meals, with popular items varying from chicken parmesan to chicken and broccoli.
“The kids seem to like my chicken parm,” Hill said. “I think my chicken pot pie is really good. It just depends on which people. A lot of people love my chicken and chicken and broccoli, but they like the comfort foods like my mashed potatoes and roast beef or a pot roast.”
Evan Mayers, who has been a client of Iceman since the start of her business, chose to order meals to supplement his meal plan because of his busy schedule, but he found that he appreciated the comfort of a home-cooked meal.
“I found myself being in the library and doing school work,” Mayers, a senior public policy leadership major, said. “And coming home and cooking a meal did not sound like a feasible option with the amount of energy I had left. … One thing that I really enjoyed about Iceman’s meals was that they reminded me of home cooking.”
Joe Hagarty, a sophomore business management major, started ordering soup from Hill when he was sick, but he continued ordering to add quality meals to his diet.
“I had a meal plan, but it was nice to have a real meal instead of the same union food,” Hagarty said. “I loved the amount of food she would give and how truly incredible it was.”
Iceman hopes her services allow students to enjoy their time at the university with less stress.
“You guys are busy, and college should be the time of your life before you have to go to work as an adult, ’cause that’s what you’re gonna do the rest of your life,” Iceman said.
Hill shares the sentiment of nourishing the well-being of students.
“Nurturing is at the heart of what I do,” Hill said. “I realized how much it was helping the kids adjust to being here. … I really am a safe haven for these families from out of state. I know I am because their parents tell me I am.”
