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People in catered accommodation
Hello.
I just want to ask your opinions on the catered food.
What type of food do you get?What would be a usual breakfast,lunch,dinner?
What times are meals served?
What is the food like?
Do you get a choice or do you just go down to the canteen(or whatever) to be told 'right you're having x'...
I'm a bit funny about food and might have to prepare myself for catered halls that is all!
Thanks!
I just want to ask your opinions on the catered food.
What type of food do you get?What would be a usual breakfast,lunch,dinner?
What times are meals served?
What is the food like?
Do you get a choice or do you just go down to the canteen(or whatever) to be told 'right you're having x'...
I'm a bit funny about food and might have to prepare myself for catered halls that is all!
Thanks!
I am never up for breakfast and do not eat it anyway, but I think they have cereal, fruit, yoghurts, etc that kind of stuff.
Lunch is not always provided in some unis, but at mine there is a coffee shop which sells pasties, sandwiches, and all the usual stuff like crisps, drinks and chocs.
Dinner is a mixture. It is open between 5-7 pm which is perfect for me. Always has chips, potatoes and veg. Then has a wide range of other stuff depending on what day it is.
No it is not food that you'd get in a 5 star restaurant but it isn't as bad as some people make out!
Lunch is not always provided in some unis, but at mine there is a coffee shop which sells pasties, sandwiches, and all the usual stuff like crisps, drinks and chocs.
Dinner is a mixture. It is open between 5-7 pm which is perfect for me. Always has chips, potatoes and veg. Then has a wide range of other stuff depending on what day it is.
No it is not food that you'd get in a 5 star restaurant but it isn't as bad as some people make out!
There was a big "my food tastes like corrogated cardboard" thread a few months back, that had a load of info in it.
I believe it's different at every uni. I know at some uni's you can chose how many meals you want a week - 5, 10, 15 etc - and then you can have them whenever you want, but only that number. So with 5 "credits" you could have dinner 5 nights, or dinner 2, breakfast two and lunch once, or breakfast, lunch and dinner ones day, then just breakfast twice more, etc etc.
Though not all do it this way.
I believe it's different at every uni. I know at some uni's you can chose how many meals you want a week - 5, 10, 15 etc - and then you can have them whenever you want, but only that number. So with 5 "credits" you could have dinner 5 nights, or dinner 2, breakfast two and lunch once, or breakfast, lunch and dinner ones day, then just breakfast twice more, etc etc.
Though not all do it this way.
Breakfast is from 8-9 on weekdays. There are eggs (fried and scrambled), bacon, sausages, hashbrowns, beans, porridge, cereal, fruit. Mmmm, it's good. Except on weekends, there's brunch instead, which is from 11-12:30, and they serve weird stuff like... spring rolls. Not good ones, either. So that's not very good.
Dinner is pretty bad most of the time. We get a choice of three main dishes (two meat and one vegetarian) plus soup, salad, bread, vegetables, and dessert.
Dinner is pretty bad most of the time. We get a choice of three main dishes (two meat and one vegetarian) plus soup, salad, bread, vegetables, and dessert.
I noticed you're applying to Kent. If you decide to go there, the 'catered' accommodation is actually more like breakfast. Breakfast is the only meal included in the price of your accomm, although if you don't have breakfast you can get money off dinner. The food is horrible too; if you don't want your food covered in grease and oil then your only option is a jacket potato!
Ah yes I know Kent's catered is one meal only...so not very catered really!
That's useful*note to self-if you go to Kent don't go for catered!*
Hmm,the meals sounds a lot healthier than I'd imagine uni meals to be.I visualised a table full of burgers,chips,kebabs etc etc.
That's useful*note to self-if you go to Kent don't go for catered!*
Hmm,the meals sounds a lot healthier than I'd imagine uni meals to be.I visualised a table full of burgers,chips,kebabs etc etc.
Lady_Muck
I'm not expecting any more than school dinners, to be honest. Filling, yet un nutritional and unhealthy. Yet oh-so good at the same time!
That's what I'm imagining.School dinners.
My school dinners were incredibly rank though.
If you go to Kent, it's best to live in either Park Wood or Tyler Court. Tyler Court is better but you pay for it!
I had catered accommodation last year and it was OK though IMO not worth the extra money. I didn't really like the food they served which tended to be choices of stuff like meatballs or lasagne. I mean it's ok but sometimes I used to get so jealous of the people who could nip to the supermarket and get exactly what they wanted. Plus IMO it was hugely overpriced 
It worked out to be like £4 for a meal that was of school dinner standard 
Also, I must mention, if your a vegatarian I would seriously advice against catered halls. There was usually only one option for my vegatarian friends to choose from and it didn't exactly look pleasant. The comparisons that people made to vomit weren't completly unfounded
It worked out to be like £4 for a meal that was of school dinner standard Also, I must mention, if your a vegatarian I would seriously advice against catered halls. There was usually only one option for my vegatarian friends to choose from and it didn't exactly look pleasant. The comparisons that people made to vomit weren't completly unfounded
hallucination
If you go to Kent, it's best to live in either Park Wood or Tyler Court. Tyler Court is better but you pay for it!
Tyler Court is beauuutiful.I stayed there in October and my gawd,it was like,a zillion times better than the accommodation at the uni I was at!
It's well worth the price(whatever that is...but I know my friend who is in Tyler Court is always complaining about how she has no money whatsoever...she can't afford chocolate!)
--------------
envious
I had catered accommodation last year and it was OK though IMO not worth the extra money. I didn't really like the food they served which tended to be choices of stuff like meatballs or lasagne. I mean it's ok but sometimes I used to get so jealous of the people who could nip to the supermarket and get exactly what they wanted. Plus IMO it was hugely overpriced It worked out to be like £4 for a meal that was of school dinner standard
Also, I must mention, if your a vegatarian I would seriously advice against catered halls. There was usually only one option for my vegatarian friends to choose from and it didn't exactly look pleasant. The comparisons that people made to vomit weren't completly unfounded
It worked out to be like £4 for a meal that was of school dinner standard Also, I must mention, if your a vegatarian I would seriously advice against catered halls. There was usually only one option for my vegatarian friends to choose from and it didn't exactly look pleasant. The comparisons that people made to vomit weren't completly unfounded
I have a friend who is vegetarian and is at Sheffield,catered.One night they fed her a green pizza!
The reason I am considering catered is that it just seems more sociable...plus I can't cook and I can never be bothered to go shopping/make some decent food.
£4 a MEAL?Wow.
cherrychocolate
Tyler Court is beauuutiful.I stayed there in October and my gawd,it was like,a zillion times better than the accommodation at the uni I was at!
It's well worth the price(whatever that is...but I know my friend who is in Tyler Court is always complaining about how she has no money whatsoever...she can't afford chocolate!)
--------------
I have a friend who is vegetarian and is at Sheffield,catered.One night they fed her a green pizza!
The reason I am considering catered is that it just seems more sociable...plus I can't cook and I can never be bothered to go shopping/make some decent food.
£4 a MEAL?Wow.
It's well worth the price(whatever that is...but I know my friend who is in Tyler Court is always complaining about how she has no money whatsoever...she can't afford chocolate!)
--------------
I have a friend who is vegetarian and is at Sheffield,catered.One night they fed her a green pizza!
The reason I am considering catered is that it just seems more sociable...plus I can't cook and I can never be bothered to go shopping/make some decent food.
£4 a MEAL?Wow.
for what it's worth i really don't think self-catered is less sociable than catered - for one you can cook together with your flat anyway, and secondly my friends in catered always seem to eat with the same people anyway! i guess you'd get to know more people by sight but i certainly don't feel like i'm isolated by not eating with everyone in my block!
Also, at home i was so lazy with eating - i never made anything to eat until i was dying from starvation, at which point i couldn't wait to make anything properly so ate crap. I was worried i'd do this all the time at uni but i just don't - it's more fun when it's your own place and you can cook whatever you want, and you can go shopping with your mates/order tescos online. It does work out cheaper too
Going self-catered is definitely not less sociable - more so I think. In my block at Sussex we sometimes cook dinner for each other or have dinner parties (very sophisticated I know!) and it's so much nicer having control over what you eat. In my experience, self-catered accommodation is usually of a better standard too e.g you have a dining table and chairs which can double as a social area for having friends over. My friends in catered at Kent always had to squeeze into someones room!
Abbie
for what it's worth i really don't think self-catered is less sociable than catered - for one you can cook together with your flat anyway, and secondly my friends in catered always seem to eat with the same people anyway! i guess you'd get to know more people by sight but i certainly don't feel like i'm isolated by not eating with everyone in my block!
Also, at home i was so lazy with eating - i never made anything to eat until i was dying from starvation, at which point i couldn't wait to make anything properly so ate crap. I was worried i'd do this all the time at uni but i just don't - it's more fun when it's your own place and you can cook whatever you want, and you can go shopping with your mates/order tescos online. It does work out cheaper too
Also, at home i was so lazy with eating - i never made anything to eat until i was dying from starvation, at which point i couldn't wait to make anything properly so ate crap. I was worried i'd do this all the time at uni but i just don't - it's more fun when it's your own place and you can cook whatever you want, and you can go shopping with your mates/order tescos online. It does work out cheaper too
I've been to uni before and was self catered and seriously,I HATED having to do my own shopping!The delivery charges were like £5.99 so that wasn't happening and I wasn't very friendly with most of my flatmates so we didn't really eat together/socialise.The supermarket was miles away and I'm so disgustingly weak I couldn't carry the bags home.
I think I'd socialise better in a situation where I am forced to go and eat with others,if you know what I mean...as opposed to 'Oh I'll wait until everyone is out the kitchen before going to eat...'
Oh and also I like the idea of the meals structuring my day.Last time I went to uni I found myself eating at the most ridiculous times(like,3am...) because my sleeping pattern was so screwed up.At least if I know I'm being fed at x time I'll make the effort to get up for it?
Or do people generally find they sleep at stupid times anyway?
It's also to stop me picking at food and snacking....if I don't have the food in I can't snack!
Or do people generally find they sleep at stupid times anyway?
It's also to stop me picking at food and snacking....if I don't have the food in I can't snack!
cherrychocolate
Oh and also I like the idea of the meals structuring my day.Last time I went to uni I found myself eating at the most ridiculous times(like,3am...) because my sleeping pattern was so screwed up.At least if I know I'm being fed at x time I'll make the effort to get up for it?
Or do people generally find they sleep at stupid times anyway?
It's also to stop me picking at food and snacking....if I don't have the food in I can't snack!
Or do people generally find they sleep at stupid times anyway?
It's also to stop me picking at food and snacking....if I don't have the food in I can't snack!
My boyfriend was catered at Bristol last year, and instead of making the effort to get up for breakfast at the right time etc, he just didn't eat! Stupid boy.
Hmm I generally sleep and get up at weird times when I'm at uni - having my own food means I can be more flexible in that respect. I can see your point though, I know at some universities catered accommodation can be more social - one of my friends was in catered accommodation in London and said that although the food wasn't great, dinner was a good opportunity to be social and meet new people. At some universities you can request a late dinner (if you're going to be out all day till 8pm for example) and they'll keep something for you.
hallucination
At some universities you can request a late dinner (if you're going to be out all day till 8pm for example) and they'll keep something for you.
That's definitely something worth looking into, in the experience of aforementioned boyfriend. He took an extra unit of Japanese that was scheduled at such a time that he always missed dinner on Monday and Friday nights. Obviously you won't know your timetable until you get to uni, but its certainly something to think about
Okay, for breakfast and lunch its usually self-service and we have a range of options available (including veggie options). Both run for at least two hours each day (and often longer) and as you can stick around much longer if you want, it really only means you have to turn up in those two hours (you can sit there eating all day if you like). You pay for what you eat on your swipe card.
For dinner, we have less choice, but get really, really good meals (I've included two random meals from the last week of term below), there's still a veggie option as well. We have to turn up within half an hour of 7pm for this but as most people go its not too bad. We have to purchase twenty tickets a term and that doesn't even cover half the years meals, so you could go catered and eat out for half the year without penalty and enjoy the lovely food at incredibly cheap and subsidies prices
- which is what nearly everyone hear does.
Two sample meals :
Grilled salmon with lemon
New potatoes and garden peas
Crème caramel
Mushrooms a la Greque
Chicken with honey & herbs
Scalloped potatoes and baby carrots
For dinner, we have less choice, but get really, really good meals (I've included two random meals from the last week of term below), there's still a veggie option as well. We have to turn up within half an hour of 7pm for this but as most people go its not too bad. We have to purchase twenty tickets a term and that doesn't even cover half the years meals, so you could go catered and eat out for half the year without penalty and enjoy the lovely food at incredibly cheap and subsidies prices
- which is what nearly everyone hear does.Two sample meals :
Grilled salmon with lemon
New potatoes and garden peas
Crème caramel
Mushrooms a la Greque
Chicken with honey & herbs
Scalloped potatoes and baby carrots
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