Ranked: The worst meals given to students by their unis whilst in isolation

Thousands of students in the UK are now isolating in their halls and houses for at least two weeks due to a rising number of coronavirus cases across 60 universities. And for freshers and international students in catered halls, this means a lot of uni provided meals.

Whilst some meals are pretty great, like Oxford students getting Haagen Dazs ice cream for dessert, there has been some absolutely disastrous meals served to students in halls.

Edinburgh students seem to be surviving on coleslaw sandwiches and an abundance of crisps. Students have been sharing their isolation food meals and hauls provided by their unis on TikTok and there is a lot of variation in quality.

These are just some of the meals given to students by their unis, ranked from happily eat again to the worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth:

Roast chicken dinner and strawberry cheesecake

@claaracolaT-5 days ##fyp ##quarantinemeals♬ Freak (feat. REI AMI) – Sub Urban

Right let’s start off with the best one. Of course Oxford students are going to be given the best food. One student at Keble College, Clara, has been documenting her daily food deliveries and they are definitely the best I’ve seen so far.

Easily the most delicious looking one and the one Clara rated highly, was a roast chicken dinner and a strawberry cheesecake for dessert. I’d happily stay in quarantine all term if I got daily cheesecake deliveries.

Sausage, hash brown and egg sandwich, curry and Haagen Dazs ice cream

@claaracolaWatch me jump in on the trend to then give up on day 3 ##quarantinemeals♬ All TikTok Mashup (JVKE – Upside Down) – JVKE 🌩

On Clara’s first day she was delivered a sausage, hash brown and egg breakfast sandwich. Delicious.

And then for dinner she gets a chicken curry, complete with naan and then to follow up a Haagen Dazs ice cream. This is why you go to Oxford people. The fancy ice cream.

Bacon sandwich and profiteroles!

@claaracolaI attempted transitions today ##quarantinemeals ##fyp♬ Figure It Out – Blu DeTiger

Just yum. Edinburgh students must be seething right now.

Pastry breakfast, chicken and garlic bread and sandwich oh and a care package

@claaracolaExtra points for the vegan shower gel ##quarantinemeals ##fyp♬ Backyard Boy – Claire Rosinkranz

So if croissants, chicken, garlic bread and a sandwich weren’t nice enough, the staff at Keble College also provided Clara with a care package. Yes that’s right they gifted her vegan shower gel, Maltesers, popcorn and a Twirl bar.

Pastry breakfast, mozzarella, tomato and olive salad and then a chicken curry

@claaracolaThis is slowing becoming a salad review series ##quarantinemeals ##fyp♬ Mad at Disney – salem ilese

This is a nice day of food, nothing wow but would defo be enough to get you through the day.

Every morning Clara gets juice, fruit, cereal and a yoghurt alongside her pastries or sandwich. That’s more than any student eats in a normal breakfast. Oxford are clearly splashing the cash on nice food.

Roast pork

@saragammonhaven’t worn makeup in daysssss♬ original sound – Sara Gammon

We interrupt the nice Oxford meals with a Cambridge meal. Classic, the two best unis in the country get the nicest quarantine food. Yet another reason for Durham students to be pissed off for getting that rejection letter.

Sara is an American student studying at Cambridge so likely had to quarantine for two weeks when she arrived. And on a Sunday afternoon she was given a nice looking roast pork lunch.

Chicken and bean wrap

@saragammon ♬ original sound – Sara Gammon

Another meal for Sara, now I can’t tell if this wrap is meant to be cold or hot because the beans don’t look appetising if cold. But there’s guac and plenty of food in the wrap so points for that.

She was also provided with cookies, tea and coffee.

Breakfast, pulled pork and then salad

@claaracolaI learnt to tailor trousers today ##quarantinemeals ##fyp♬ Supalonely (feat. Gus Dapperton) – BENEE

This is where it starts to go down hill and we surprisingly return to Oxford. Clara is given her standard breakfast, and then what appears to be pulled pork with potatoes and sneaky cauliflower they’ve snuck into the meal. Honestly looks a little dry and very unappealing.

Her final meal of the day was a salad that had everything lined up in neat little lines, including some very dry looking chicken and what I presume is cheddar cheese. Why do people put cheddar in salads? Does not work.

Points for the chocolate muffin tho.

Supermarket haul with foods that don’t go together

@sophiebutterzzzGlasgow uni quarantine haul student support are Gems 💖💖😳 ##glasgowuni ##murano ##coronavirüs ##quarantine♬ original sound – Soophiy

It appears that Glasgow uni can’t be arsed to cook meals for their students and instead are going for a supermarket haul delivery. Well the students haven’t got anything else to do except make their own food.

However the food provided by the uni wouldn’t really make any meals. Sophie was delivered a bag that contained: Heinz beans, custard creams, Walkers crisps, coffee, Uncle Ben’s rice, super noodles, pasta, hot chocolate, juice cartons, sweet corn, jam, pasta sauce, tea, cereal bars, tuna and milk.

Now to me the only meal you could make out of those random items is some pasta and sauce. Maybe some weird tuna, sweetcorn and rice combo, which I imagine would taste like shite.

Also jam but no bread? That’s just cruel.

Another Glasgow haul

@jessie.a.taylorWeek 1 of uni and the flat has corona and we’re all in quarantine 🥳🥳 ##fyp ##survivalpack ##glasgow ##uni ##glasgowuniversity ##mooies♬ Rating – astuanta

Again a Glasgow student showed off what they got from Glasgow uni on TikTok. Jessie’s pack included pasta, porridge, cookies, jam, milk, Heinz beans and a mug shot that she savagely rated 1/10 for having more palm oil than chicken. Says it all really.

Edinburgh’s coleslaw sandwich

@ktreesolationThey really do be treatin us- the food we haven’t used by the end of the isolation will be given to the homeless ##isolation ##food ##uni ##university♬ original sound – Ktree

And now we come to the disaster that is Edinburgh. I’ve never seen such a selection of dry and cardboard looking food ever. The meals they were provided included croissants, fruit and Mars bars which is where the good food ends.

Easily one of the most offending items an Edinburgh student on TikTok received was a coleslaw sandwich and then an egg sandwich. Ew.

Eaten a meal worse than these provided by your uni? Get in touch [email protected]

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