Eager to be based on campus for my first year, I chose to live in catered halls. A self-confessed foodie, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, and stories I’d heard involving cockroaches didn’t help! After three weeks here, I can confirm that going catered isn’t for everyone, but I’ve enjoyed the experience so far.
The Routines For Meals
Everyone in catered halls will agree that mealtimes are reminiscent of the school dinner days. You queue up with your trays, and within two days, you and your friends already have your own table. You can generally sit wherever you want with whoever you want though, making meal times ideal for socialising if you want to meet more people in your halls.
Breakfast and dinner are eaten in the dining hall, though only a few blurry eyed students stumble down in the morning between 7:45-9:30, but lunch is almost always on the go with your student ID acting as a meal card. Being able to buy snacks from almost every food outlet on campus (excluding mooch and costa) is great. Even Starbucks now accept meal cards, allowing the typical ‘white girl’ status to be maintained as students strut to lectures with their pumpkin spice lattes in hand.
If you haven’t spent all of your weekly allowance come Sunday evening, the urge to splurge it all on snacks is too real. A smart idea if you’ll make these snacks last the week, but not so smart if you’re feeling particularly peckish that night (Oreos, Maltesers and a Snickers bar were consumed in one sitting – I regret nothing.)
The Food
There’s been a few moans from fussy eaters, but most seem to happily chow down whatever’s on offer. The kitchen team try to keep things interesting with themed nights – Mexican night’s fajitas and wedges were both winners. I’m definitely the envy of my self-catered friends as I trek back to halls after a long day of lectures greeted by a hot meal, whilst they return to their flat only to discover they forgot to defrost that batch of Bolognese, cursing their mother’s advice to freeze all their leftovers.
With special dietary requirements to consider, kitchen staff are accommodating of intolerances/allergies people have – those with requirements just have to accept that it’s unlikely to be the most exciting meal of their life. Every night a vegetarian option is provided, which is much appreciated by veggies like myself, and also those who are trying to eat less meat. However, you do need to be prepared to eat ALL the Quorn! Quorn meatballs, Quorn sausages, Quorn mince…if I can’t run like Mo Farah soon I’ll be very disappointed.
You’ll discover early on that if you enjoy your food (like me), some self-control is needed when it comes to the puddings on offer most nights. The main dish is plated out by the kitchen staff, but you can help yourself to sides and vegetables. Loads of fresh fruit is available at every meal too, along with 10 salad items, so there’s really no excuse to not eat healthily in catered halls!
Not having the added stress of buying and cooking food for myself has definitely eased the transition from home to university, and bar the savoury porridge (who made this a thing?!) and overly diluted fruit juice, the food isn’t half bad.
Edited by Nicole Swain
Sources:
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