Hi, I'm Kristina. I study Industrial Economics at the University of Nottingham
and I'm just about to start my second year at uni. This video is going to be about
living at self-catered accommodation at the University of Nottingham.
I'm going to split this video into three parts. The first part is going to be about
the difference between self-catered and catered. The second part is going to be my experience,
and then the third part is just going to be some advice and things that I would do differently.
Okay, so the main differences between catered and self-catered is that with
catered the university provides food for the students. They don't tend to have a
kitchen in their area, it’s more of a pantry area where there is a kettle,
a microwave, maybe a toaster as well. But they tend to go to foodhalls to get their meals and
for lunch they get a university lunch card, where they can go to university restaurants,
and they have a certain budget on their lunch card which they are able to spend.
Self-catered tend to be off campus, so this will be relatively close to a lot of supermarkets. I
remember my accommodation was near a Lidl, a B&M, an Aldi, there were other supermarkets as well.
But we are located more closer to supermarket so that we can go and buy our food and cook.
We’re also given kitchens where we can share with our flatmates or if you live in a studio
you probably have a kitchen for yourself. There was a slight difference in layout as
well because with catered accommodations, it was more corridors of accommodation.
Whereas with self-catered the arrangement was more in flats, and they would share a specific kitchen.
Okay, so in terms of my experience, I have to say I loved living in self-catered accommodation.
I love the fact that I had the freedom to eat what I wanted, eat when I wanted. I really was just so
happy that I had that flexibility. I also found that a benefit of living in self-catered is if,
for example, one night I decided that me and my friends were going to go out and eat somewhere,
it was a lot easier to manage because we knew "Okay, we're all not going to cook this evening",
and it saved us a lot of money. Rather than if the university provided us food,
it'd be a bit more difficult to eat out because you have a scheduled meal for that time. I also
found with self-catered accommodation there was also that community atmosphere where you could
eat with your flatmates, you could eat with your friends, or even if you wanted to just
eat by yourself and you just wanted a quiet night in, you also have the choice to do that as well.
I always found that with me, it was a lot easier to make food in bulk and then split it throughout
the week. And by doing that it enabled me to kind of manage how much I was eating,
how much I was spending, and I found that a lot
easier. Whereas other people may have a different way and I think that was the
amazing thing about self catered. You just have the flexibility to prepare food how you want to.
But some advice that I would give you and some things I’d do differently, is that;
number one, shop for what you actually need. I found that whenever I would go to supermarkets,
I would be going to affordable supermarkets like Lidl and Aldi and Asda, but once I get there I
tended to find that I was shopping for four people when I was the only person I was shopping for.
So, I would say definitely figure out how much you're actually buying. Figure out how much you
are willing to spend, because you don't want to buy loads of food and then end up wasting it.
Now, as I previously mentioned, it's so important that you shop at affordable places. Places like
Lidl, places like Aldi, places for like Asda are very good to shop. And also make sure that
you're making an actual shopping list and not just going off of what's in your head. And one bonus
tip of advice that I would tell you that I don't think a lot of people tend to tell you, is bring
Tupperware. If you're like me and you like to meal prep, or you end up over making things and you're
going to save things for maybe a different day. It's so important that you bring some
containers or Tupperware containers that you can kind of store food in so that it is safe to eat.
So if you enjoyed what you heard, make sure you subscribe to the University of
Nottingham YouTube page. If you want to know more about me and my personal experience,
my personal YouTube channel will be linked down below in the description box.
And overall if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment down below.
I hope that you enjoyed this video and I hope you're looking forward to joining Nottingham.