PAUL: Shameless plug, my wife is the best. go follow her.
[Music]
NATALIE: Hi there, my name is Natalie Nation
PAUL: and I'm Paul
NATALIE: And you're watching
Feed That Nation. Tonight we are
finishing up National Nutrition Month, the month of March, where I've
been talking about eating well for
college students and tonight our topic
is cooking eating and shopping for food
when you live with roommates. So
obviously I've got my current and my
favorite roommate here but we're gonna
be talking about some of our past
college living situations, what we did
when we lived with other people for food,
and just kind of talking through some
pros and cons of those situations and
giving some tips. So I can get started so
my most significant living situation
before I got married and moved in with
Paul was I lived with one roommate in an
apartment with a full kitchen
my roommate's name was Danielle. Hi
Danielle! I'd say on a scale of never to
every single day every single meal we
probably ate maybe half of our meals
together. We did pretty much all of our
grocery shopping together and we
probably we cooked together probably
about as often as we ate together so
about half the time depending on our
schedules of course. Some nights you know
we would eat dinner together some nights
we wouldn't. Some days we would eat meals
at the same time but they would be
completely different meals sometimes we
would cook and eat the same foods at the
same time, it really depended. But I'd say
probably about fifty maybe seventy
percent of the time we would eat meals
together. So Paul, why don't you go ahead
and describe you've got kind of two
different situation so why don't you
describe the first one
PAUL: so my sophomore
year of college I moved into an
apartment with three other guys I went
to high school with so we all knew each
other pretty well all grew up in
Rochester, went to the high school. And our
situation was we actually were pretty
organized we would eat dinner together
most every night most weekdays and we
would get the same
so someone would make a grocery run on
the weekend and a couple of us would
help cook and others would clean after
the meal and usually we ate together at
the same time and weekends it was kind
of just whoever's around it's on your
own but we kept track of who bought what
and how much they paid for it
were all engineers so we like
spreadsheets and that was how we managed
everything and it worked pretty well
yeah and I ate meals with Paul quite a
bit at this point in his life and I can
confirm they ate dinner together pretty
much every single night they would take
turns cooking they would make menus it
was very cute and unusually domestic I
think for a group of college boys just
unusually domestic I think that's the
best way to put it that's a compliment
so describe for me your other situation
where you had roommates and you were
living somewhere else so once I
graduated I started graduate school at
the U and moved in with some guys I knew
from marching band and the feel of their
high school friends so we lived in a
small house there were six of us total
and we hardly ever ate meals together
when we did it was kind of a big deal as
a celebration it was community time but
other times we would just whenever we're
hungry we'd go into the kitchen make
some food and eat it we would do grocery
runs together got a lot of the same food
and one would split the cost between
everyone but I would mark down you know
I don't want to eat yogurt this week and
then I wouldn't pay for that so that was
kind of our method and but it was on
your own for cooking the food on your
own for cleaning up after yourself so a
bit different than what I started with
yeah so obviously between the three
situations we've just described there's
a lot of different I guess ways that you
can coexist with a roommate obviously
one we haven't mentioned
is where you live with people that you
don't know and people that you don't
like and people that you never see but
obviously that's not the most ideal
situation not one that we have a whole
lot of experience talking about so we're
going to be just talking about different
pros and cons of living cooking eating
situations with kind of the different
tiers of roommate involvement so Paul
tell me a couple of pros and cons of the
situation you describe living in the
house where you were living with several
people you did the grocery shopping
together and split the costs but you
didn't eat very many of your meals
together and say probably like none of
your meals together barring special
occasions so describe what was good
about that what was bad about that what
was good was definitely being able to
get the same food so he could get some
bulk foods and that way the cost was a
bit cheaper and that saved some space in
the fridge versus everyone each having
their own half gallon of milk so I was
definitely a pro another pro being that
we could eat whatever I wanted so maybe
I don't get home till 7 or 8 I could eat
then I get home I'm hungry at 4:00 I can
eat that so it's a lot of flexibility
but you do have that benefit of eating
the same foods a couple cons fridge
space comes back so even if you're
buying the same groceries you might be
cooking similar things and both ending
up with leftovers and that takes up
space in the fridge so that was
something that we had to deal with
another piece would be if you're making
your own food then you have to do the
cooking but then you also stopped to do
your own cleaning which is fine but as
long as people do their own cleaning
right stuff can build up in the sink and
sometimes you gotta you gotta get that
taken care of
so obviously the flexibility piece is
something that you really liked when you
were living in the house because you got
to kind of work that around your crazy
grad student schedule and I can imagine
that for someone who is really
independent maybe
for somebody who's moving into a living
situation where they're not very
familiar with their roommates I mean you
didn't know some of them and you knew of
others so they weren't complete
strangers but Revere somebody going into
a living situation where your
acquaintances at best may be a situation
where you are all taken care of most of
your own food would be more ideal for
you so definitely something to think
about when thinking about my situation
with my roommate Danielle which was kind
of in the middle you know we ate and
cooked together probably about 50% of
the time and we went grocery shopping
together
I think the pros for us were that when
our schedules matched up it was so nice
to be able to prepare food together and
then eat together it was really nice a
for us just to get to spend time
together because we were friends we are
friends but when you're in two
completely different college programs
with different jobs it can be hard to
spend time together so meals were really
where we got to connect through like
deciding what to make and cooking it
together and then sitting down to eat
and then obviously sharing the duty of
cleaning gaps so that was really nice
wow I did a lot of their dishes well we
did most of the cooking when you came
over so it's true so definitely that was
a pro for us is that when we were both
free and home at the same time to eat
meals together it was really nice to get
to spend time together over a meal and I
also liked the flexibility of you know
if I have a class a night class once a
week where I have to eat at like 4:30
p.m. and then I don't get home until
9:00 there isn't really that like
pressure of oh well we were gonna eat
dinner together or well I guess now I
have to you know there wasn't that
pressure there or anything like that it
was nice to be able to be flexible and
definitely it was really nice that we
did grocery shopping together and we
split the costs we had a spreadsheet
that we were tracking on to keep it sort
of even but after a while of living
together we sort of knew ok grocery
shopping for the two of us if we go once
a week barring any like large unusual
costs like allergy medication which is
like stupidly expensive or whatever the
case
was our bill was gonna be about the same
so we would just say well I paid last
week you'll pay this week or if someone
had gotten groceries the other person
will get the Domino's cuz we also got
Domino's probably about once a week ish
so that was definitely nice about our
situation and then Paul went to go ahead
pros and cons for your living situation
in the apartment with your high school
friends the biggest pro was definitely
having people to help cook and have
helped clean and even even if not all of
us were cooking we were usually sitting
in the room watching TV so it's just a
community time that we had pretty much
every day to talk with each other wow we
were all introverts we didn't talk that
much
Ferb can confirm and is then good to
have that time together it was actually
a really big Pro for me because I was in
the marching band so I'd be at
rehearsals from 4 to 6 sometimes later
6:37 and I would get home and there'll
be food already made I just have to
reheat it sometimes so that worked out
really well and then obviously I did a
lot of the cleaning while I was in
marching band and made sure they didn't
have to deal with that and then once we
were in the spring we traded off doobies
and still ate food together so that's
obviously a really big plus a downside
of that is you're more structured so if
you're someone who's got a busy schedule
you've got marching band you've got
night class you've got whatever it is
then you might not always be home while
other people are eating dinner and you
have to eat your own food or heat it up
afterwards I think it really comes down
to what your preferences are honestly it
was a great situation I'm struggling to
come up with cons well there was and if
any of pause roommates end up watching
this video I do genuinely like you guys
a lot but Paul definitely eats the most
vegetables of you guys and so when the
four of you were living to
whoever was in charge of making the meal
which was usually not Paul as he said
they usually wouldn't prepare anything
with vegetables outside of like a
marinara sauce or like sautéing some
onions for like tacos or something so
Paul didn't have a lot of say and if he
wanted vegetables he'd have to go out of
his way to make them yeah we would
usually get maybe like an onion of a
bell pepper and a tomato and that'd be
about it and I would probably eat over
half those I throw them in scrambled
eggs put them in tacos whatever but
usually if I didn't say hey we should
saute onion then it wouldn't happen so
that's that's a con potentially is if
you have different different eating
habits different things you like to eat
than your roommates so there's
definitely some compromise that happens
there yeah or if you are somebody who
prefers a particular eating pattern
maybe you're vegetarian vegan maybe for
health reasons you are gluten free or
something else like that a super
communal food situation might not be as
ideal for you because if you're
vegetarian and everyone else in your
apartment eats meat well they're going
to want to eat meat likely when they're
preparing food and that means that you
might not be able to eat it so one of
the biggest tips for any roommate
situation whether you're talking about
groceries whether you're talking about
whether you're having people over what
you do in the apartment
big big big tip is communication I know
that sounds obvious but there are so
many situations that I've had personally
that I've heard my friends talk about
where the issues you're having are
really stemming from the fact that
you're not communicating what you need
or what you want with the people you're
living with so in cases where you're
going into a new situation or maybe
you're not loving the situation you're
in currently with you know eating
cooking cleaning it is really important
to kind of say that so let's say that
Paul really didn't love that his
roommates never ever made
vegetables it might be something that he
would say like guys do you think we
could do this more or maybe Danielle and
I were kind of lacks about our tracking
of budgeting and spreadsheet and we were
okay with that but if I wasn't okay and
I wanted us to track it more stringently
it would be up to me to say that to her
because otherwise how would she know so
jumping off from communication to sort
of sub points within that are
communicating about your budgeting and
tracking of expenses when you are living
in a communal food situation because not
every person not every college student
is going to be in the same place
financially that you might be and this
could go a number of ways maybe you are
the roommate who is in a pretty good
financial situation and you really want
to prioritize organic fruits and
vegetables you really want to go to a
more luxurious grocery store to get
items that you like that's fine but if
you are sharing grocery expenses you
need to be aware that your roommates
might not be in the same situation as
you maybe they are struggling a little
bit more financially and they would
prefer to go to a less expensive grocery
store and purchase less expensive items
I mean that's not why organic food can
be pretty expensive so definitely and
communication communication
communication definitely make sure
you're saying to your roommates sort of
what you're hoping for what you can
afford what you can't and making that
very clear rather than leaving it a gray
area because especially when money is
involved it can get really sticky really
fast the other side of that is if you
and your roommates decide that you're
going to share expenses such a good idea
to be tracking that in a spreadsheet or
in an app so you guys all know what
you're buying definitely be reimbursing
each other frequently I would say I
don't know how often you guys reimburse
each other in the apartment but not
often have it in the house in the house
I think we've been mowed each
every couple weeks okay that was more
frequent yeah but definitely set the
expectation for if you go grocery
shopping and one person pays are you
expected to pay them back that week are
you expected to pick up the next bill
what is that gonna look like definitely
be the bee you should be the person
who's more on top of it don't just let
it slide and let it slide let it slide
be the person who is on top of it and it
really comes down to just setting
expectations as soon as you can really
whether it is that you're not paying
back in a week in two weeks or whether
you're gonna wait and just track
everything till the end of the semester
if you don't say anything then no one
else might so be proactive in setting
expectations so that if you are more
financially insecure that you really
mates know that that they're comfortable
with that and just making sure that
you're talking about expectations for
budget expectations for cooking and
cleaning there's almost this unwritten
rule where if you do most of the cooking
then you shouldn't be doing anything
cleaning that's someone else's job but
if you don't say that then maybe
someone's gonna end up cooking and then
cleaning and doing all the work so you
really want to make sure everyone's on
the same page about that and obviously
people are different not everyone's
going to be as straightforward as open
about what they're expecting but you've
got to understand your roommates and
figure out how to work together as a
community as a team yeah I like that
word team so I think communication along
with the managing of expectations and
the keeping track of the budgeting which
all kind of again fit back into that
broader theme of communication is
probably the biggest tip I have for
anybody in any kind of communal living
situation I mean
like technically we are roommates along
with being married and communication for
us around like hey I just finished
dinner would you mind emptying the
dishwasher or let's get groceries this
week you know talking about it being
clear about it just like I don't know
talking I already said that so to wrap
it up I just also wanted to share a
couple of things that I've learned about
living in communal housing situations
particularly in college apartments
although these several of these will
apply for off-campus living situations
as well and again a lot of this is going
to sound like common sense but you do
not want to be that person at like 10
p.m. with a broken refrigerator and have
no idea what to do so just bear with me
for a second when you move into your
apartment you should know where the
breakers are for all the fuses on the
outlets in your apartment and if you
notice all of a sudden that you've just
plugged in your toaster and your blender
and you turn on the oven and all of a
sudden half of your kitchen is dark Wow
you should know where to look for that
breaker switch how to reset it and then
hopefully that'll be the end of your
problems we've had a couple of
situations in our apartment where like
our hot-water heater wasn't working or
our fridge shut off for some reason but
we knew okay before we panic let's go
look at the breaker and let's reset it
and both times that that was the case
and it just fixed it but also be aware
if you're living in a specially campus
housing be aware of the number to call
if you all of a sudden realize that your
fridge is not working anymore it's not
running it's like 60 degrees um I had
that happen to me living at a college
apartment our fridge just kind of turned
off and we don't know what happened or
why but we knew right away what number
to call and our facilities on campus was
super great they brought us a new fridge
like the next day which is so nice but
definitely keep those numbers handy put
them on your fridge arguably and just be
aware of the different ways that you can
problem-solve when things are going
wrong I'd say also a tangent
that is I find it really helpful to keep
a thermometer just a little thermometer
in my fridge and my freezer so that if
I'm ever concerned about whether or not
it's working the way it should I can
just look at the thermometer and know oh
yeah my freezer is below freezing yes my
fridge is below 41 degrees we're good
another tip and this is gonna sound
really dumb but I didn't grow up in a
house with a garbage disposal so I had
to learn this one the hard way
but when I'm washing dishes if there's a
garbage disposal
I'm not putting small utensils or small
pieces of silverware into the sink with
the garbage disposal because I would say
in a living situation this is so funny
Renae if you see this I'm sorry I'm
calling you out but I was with a
roommate who was deaf and could not hear
and did not realize that there was a
spoon in the garbage disposal and she
turned it on and it made the most awful
noise and one of our spoons got super
super chewed up so we learned that one
the hard way definitely not her fault it
was really funny it's still really funny
but if you're washing dishes don't put
small stuff in the side at the garbage
disposal just just don't bad idea don't
do it thank you guys so much for
watching and for joining me this
national nutrition month I hope you guys
found these videos helpful I absolutely
love talking about nutrition and college
life so the fact that I could do a whole
month of videos combining my two
favorite topics is kind of the best
thing ever also super glad I got to do a
video with my husband so you guys could
meet him he's great we love him and so
be sure if you like this video go ahead
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and other just fun weird stuff we have a
weird time over on my blog to be honest
but
until next time my name is Natalie
nation and I'm Paul and we'll see you
soon
