<p>My S's school, Stanford, discussed going trayless but decided against it. One reason given was that they want to encourage discussions among students and faculty during meals. Getting up and down for multiple trips would disturb that flow of conversation. 95% of students live on campus and use cafeterias for all 4 years. That would be a lot of plate balancing.</p>
<p>I would find it incredibly difficult not to have a tray. Since you have to carry your food to your table, the tray is your temporary table. Utensils, plate, salad plate, drink, dessert plate (maybe?). I would not appreciate having to go back, wait in line again for another item while carrying my valuables, and coming back to the table where perhaps my place had been cleared off too soon or taken by someone else.</p>
<p>I maintain that students are smart enough to take only the amount of food they plan to eat if gently reminded why that is a good idea. Also, I don't like the argument that going trayless uses less water/soap. If you have no tray, the table should be washed between student diners. In reality, tables probably don't get washed between users, so your dining surface is dirty. Yuck. I'd rather have a clean tray underneath my plates.</p>
<p>gladmom - the article I read said that studies have shown that 25-30% less food needs to be prepared when cafeterias go trayless. It is almost a crime that kids take so much, then throw out so much.</p>
<p>^But our college kids are smart and care about many important issues. If schools publicized the problems and costs of wasted food, I'll bet that the students would change their behaviors to a significant degree. Many people have made positive changes in their lives, such as recycling, quitting smoking and so on. Wasting food seems like an easy problem to address. They should at least be given a chance to change before facing a trayless cafeteria.</p>
<p>My school doesn't use trays. We didn't get trays in high school either :) We get trays at SoupPlantation, but must get up like 5 times to go peruse desserts and soups and other things. If there's like 10 kids at your table, 1-2 getting up doesn't disrupt the flow really. Sometimes you don't have time to sit and chat as it is. Also, how often do you wash the table at home? Although yeah we have table cloths but you are eating off a plate.</p>
<p>Unless you are Michael Phelps, you should be able to get all the food you want/need on 1-2 plates. You have 2 hands. Maybe get up for the drink/dessert, the plate will still be on the table when you get back. You get some exercise :) My dining hall is set up food-court style, so there are multiple areas for multiple things, and with tables/chairs in every area.</p>
<p>I definitely think that it reduces the amount of plates kids take, and ergo how much food they eat. Reducing number of plates as well as no trays definitely reduces water, energy, and time consumption.</p>
<p>Our school took the trays away last year when there was a drought in an effort to save water - there was an uproar at first, but then people got used to it, and they haven't brought them back this year. It's really not that big of a deal to have to get up once or twice - most people would get up and go back for seconds/dessert anyway even when we did have trays. It can be a little bit of a hassle to get everything to the dishwashing area, but if you clean your plate, you can stack everything :) Plus, it's a pretty safe place, so you can pretty much leave your valuables to mark the table between trips.</p>
<p>At home you know exactly what has been on the table and who put it there, unlike in a public setting. Utensils often start on the table and then go to your mouth. Napkins are often put on a table, and then used to wipe your mouth. I just think a tray is much nicer.</p>
<p>Students can learn to take only the food they will really eat. They don't have to be forced to do so.</p>
<p>we aren;t allowed to bring bags in, but if it really bothers you i bet you could bring a cute placemat :)
my utensils stay on my plate, and i only grab the napkin from the dispenser when im gonna use it, but that's just my habits.</p>
<p>i guess it would be nice/sanitary for them to wipe the tables, my school does have a person who occassionally wipes tables but idk what the system is really at UC Davis. it would save a lot more time/energy/water for them to just wipe off the tables instead of washing 30,000X3 trays a day.</p>
<p>Why would someone put their silverware on the table? Most students get food that they either eat with their hands or grab a spoon for their cereal, and keep the spoon in the cereal bowl the whole time. So in other words, I do not care what has been rotting on the table (not that they are dirty because they are kept cleaned at all times). I eat off of a plate, like every other student. </p>
<p>Regarding napkins, we have napkin trays, so no, they do not start on the table. The napkin tray is a pretty amazing innovation to keep us students germ free.</p>
<p>And most kids do not care about wasting food. If they can fill their tray up with goodies and realize later that they do not want the food that they chose, they will just throw it away. I know I would. You feel much hungrier then you really are when you walk around a buffet. Everything looks good, so you grab some of everything.</p>
<p>CaliT: I maintain that people often learn new behaviors for a good cause. For example, our family has been recycling all possible items for many years, even though it would be much easier to just dump the stuff into the garbage can. Most people in our town do so also. </p>
<p>Explain to students the results of their behaviors and give them a chance to change. I'll bet they would do it. It would actually require less effort on their part to take less food.</p>
<p>And my vote is to keep the trays for many different reasons. Regarding utensils, people should feel free to eat food that requires utensils, and it shouldn't be difficult or unsanitary to do so.</p>
<p>gladmom - but they have to value that good cause, and if they don't value it, then it's not going to happen. So many kids have such a sense of entitlement these days, that I just don't see that behavior catching on with the quantity of kids needed to make a difference. Cafeterias could also set up utensil caddies at each table with knives, spoons, forks, etc. so that kids don't have to worry about juggling them. They also might not take utensils they don't end up using, then end up going through the dishwashing cycle anyway.</p>
<p>It's interesting that of the kids who have posted here, whose schools have gone trayless, they have said it takes very little time to get used to it.</p>
<p>I agree that utensil/napkin/condiment caddies at each table would make it easier to be trayless. Some extra effort on the part of the school would be involved in keep those caddies supplied.</p>
<p>It's too bad that you may be right about kids not caring about food wastage. It's hard for me to believe that if a kid were presented with the negative consequences that he would continue in his/her same wasteful ways. But then I am not an 18-year-old on an all-you-can-eat meal plan. I only know how I, an aging baby-boomer, would behave.</p>
<p>My bet is that it works best in places that choose to go trayless 100% of the time. You are forced to develop a mindset of carrying everything in one trip, or making a second trip as needed. </p>
<p>And yes, as their parents, we see things differently. Honestly, when given the option of a tray vs. carrying my stuff, I usually choose no tray. If I do take a tray, I almost always go back for my drinks. It is inevitable that I can't hold a tray completely parallel to the floor, and something always ends up on the tray. When I'm holding just a plate, or just a glass, it just seems easier to not spill, but then again, I do not overload my plate. </p>
<p>Just wondering when was the last time you were in a college cafeteria. I often eat there when visiting my daughter, and it is shameful how much food is thrown out. However, when you go to the ala carte food place, where you are charged by the item on your food card, kids tend to buy just what they will eat, and less gets thrown out.</p>
<p>teri, I ate in a college cafeteria last September on move-in day. Things were too hectic for me to notice anything about food waste. I am sure you are right that if students paid-per-item, food waste would go down substantially. </p>
<p>I always choose to use a tray at a cafeteria. I keep hold of the drink with a couple of fingers from one hand that is also holding the tray and manage just fine. I would find it difficult to manage plates, cups, etc. while also having to pull out money or credit cards, especially if there is no good place to park them all if you don't have a tray. I guess most college students swipe their card and then collect food items.</p>
<p>I would not be comfortable leaving my food unattended while going back into the line. Fortunately, my H is usually with me while dining at cafeterias and can watch over things if I have to go back for additional items.</p>
<p>The whole thing about saving food has me a bit baffled. My school works on a points system, where each item of food is a certain number of points, and you purchase a plan with a certain number of points--therefore, it's a lot more like life after college, where not everything is an all you can eat buffet. Works for us. I rarely see uneaten food, except when a dish is particularly inedible. Rather than relying on something like removing trays, even though it has been proven to work, this actually might teach kids about moderation too. Maybe.</p>
<p>We've also solved the whole saving water dilemma too, as I'm pretty sure the cafeteria staff don't bother to wash the trays.</p>
<p>right at some schools you pay for what you eat so you think twice about adding too much to your tray; cafeterias are awkward enough without having a tray.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how much the students posting here eat, but the athletes I know can't even get enough with trays on a three meal a day plan - they need "fourth meal", which parents have to pay for beyond the 21 meals a week plan. Going trayless makes it very difficult for them to get enough to eat when they can only pass through the food line once a meal. Food is one thing I can't justify scrimping on.</p>
<p>My school went trayless and despite I and several of my friends attempts at throwing the numbers by throwing away more food than usual during the trial week reported signifigantly less food being thrown away. It was kind of annoying for a couple weeks but now the only real difference is that whenever someone drops a plate I loudly exclaim "that wouldn't happen if we had trays!" even though if we had trays it's just be them dropping a tray instead of a plate. Also we have to make more trips between the table and food-getting-area but that's not that bad.</p>
<p>I think a couple halls have trays still, they just got rid of them at the buffet place. The ones that still have them are "sled proof" trays though.</p>
<p>edit: We don't have silly things like once through food lines. Everything is either pay by the item or all you can eat buffet where you can go to the different areas several times. I'm honestly shocked that some places have as crappy food systems as what you're describing (21 meals a week? The points system is a bit easier to swallow but still) instead of actual modern dining halls but I guess my school is better than most (all but 2 to be specific) in that regard. If you can only go through the line once then yeah, the no tray thing would be really annoying. Otherwise it's just sort of annoying.</p>