<p>Each semester you are given 1049 points and 275 Terp Bucks with the standard meal plan. My question is how much food does this translate to? I have tried finding a menu that shows how many points items in the dining halls cost, but I have found nothing. I know it is a la carte, but how many points does a person spend on a meal and how many meals does this translate to a week? I know this differs from person to person but a specific answer would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I’m guessing your new, so the way I am organizing everything may seem weird, but I am trying to do it “store by store” in the dining hall. Also, each point is worth a dollar. I already started with dollars bellow and I’m to lazy to go back and fix them.</p>
<p>A steak-and-cheese sandwich or quesidilla (butchered that spelling but I don’t care) are about $6.50 each. They are of pretty comparable sizes and the steak-and-cheese is probably 9". Chicken fingers are about $4.50 for three (each about 3"). </p>
<p>Pizza (tastes terrible, avoid it all costs) is about $2.80 a slice for pepperoni and obviously a little less for cheese. Spaghetti is also served but I forgot how much it is.</p>
<p>Subs and raps range from $5.50 - $6.50. All raps come with chips or pretzels and a pickle. </p>
<p>Fountain Drinks were $1.60 for the average size (16 oz), but I usually got the $1 size (10 or 12 oz). Milk and fruit juices were a little more.</p>
<p>Desserts are expensive, about $.80 per cookie or small brownie. Those are really the only good desserts they have besides ice cream (which I forgot the price of).</p>
<p>Value meals (‘healthy specials’ that range daily) go between $7 and $8. Sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re not. But they always have enough food for a meal. </p>
<p>Cereal is about $1.50 for a small bowl and maybe $.80 for a bagel, apple, banana, etc. Salads were pretty inexpensive as well. There are other (sit down) breakfast foods, but you will usually not have time to eat them (which is a shame because those are probably the best meals at the diner). </p>
<p>Burgers, hot dogs, fried/grilled chicken sandwiches were all in the range of $2-$3. </p>
<p>Basically, you’ll probably spend about $6-$9 on a (typical) meal. Your probably expected to eat at the diner during the week and find your own food during the weekend (the diner closes at 7 PM on Fridays and Saturdays). If you do this you will have PLENTY of points leftover. If you don’t, you’ll probably run out near the end at the very worst (the guys I know who ran out the quickest ran out around 3 weeks before the semester ends, girls never run out). I went home every 2-3 weekends, so I had a lot of points near the end. I wouldn’t worry about this too much because you’ll become familiar with the diner VERY quickly (aka it becomes so repetitive) that you’ll get into a pattern of your ‘usual meals’ and know where to cut corners when it comes to prices soon enough. </p>
<p>Terp Bucks work at the convenience stores over campus. They buy things you would get a 7-11 except maybe $1-3 more expensive. Hope this helps :)</p>
<p>EDIT: Its pretty much expected that you will eat 2 meals a day from the diner. Eat more than that and you WILL run out. Also, my memory is a little fuzzy, so anyone should feel free to correct me if something is wrong.</p>
<p>Try the pasta down at South Campus diner, it’s pretty good but admittedly pricey. As for the convenience store prices, I disagree, in my experience it’s about the same as 7-Eleven. Wish they sold smokes lol.</p>
<p>Are you getting the points for 241 North or whatever the new dining hall is called?</p>
<p>I am a bit of a bargain hunter when it comes to food; so while $1-$3 might be a little more expensive, I guess the correct answer would be ‘non-sale’ priced food at a supermarket. </p>
<p>Honestly, I have no idea what the 241 North plan is like, so I guess not. I’m hoping the 1 on the dining service website means ‘1 visit’ because I think its suppose to be like a buffet? Whatever the case, I’ll probably wait until spring depending on what I hear from other people.</p>
<p>EDIT: 100 posts :)</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, people living on North Campus get X (can’t remember the number, don’t feel like looking it up) meals for 241 North and the South Campus people get less. You use up a ‘meal’ each time you go there, but it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. I think it’s meant to be a once-a-week treat. Don’t think I’m gonna have any since I’m gonna be living off-campus :|</p>
<p>And congrats lol.</p>
<p>Thanks for that informative post - it was exactly what I was looking for. I plan on just bringing some granola bars or something for breakfast since I have early classes and I have never eaten much in the morning so I will have the two meals a day most likely. Also the new diner gives you one meal there a week - 16 in total for North Campus and 4 total for South.</p>
<p>Yeah, that is pretty much what I did. You can always get more granola bars using TerpBucks (unless there is a specific kind you want, then you’ll probably need to bring your own). There isn’t really a line in the diner before 11 AM, so you could always grab an apple or a bagel or something. Or you could grab an extra piece of fruit at dinner and save it for the next day if the diner is really out of the way. </p>
<p>Also, if you meet the focus dates, you will have MORE than enough points near the end. This is because they give you a bit of leeway I guess near the end and because you most likely won’t stay to the very last day on campus.</p>
<p>Thanks for a great post! Could someone elaborate a bit more on breakfast?</p>
<p>Breakfast is pretty ordinary food (waffles, pancakes, sausage, bacon, etc.) I just posted that the thing about it being one of the best things at the diner is because its kind of hard to mess those things up ;)</p>
<p>Not trying to knock the diner (that hard at least), but a lot of people get tired of the food. I guess the breakfast food’s appeal is that its different and not bad.</p>
<p>My daughter is concerned that yesterday (she moved in on Friday) she got a salad and a drink and it was $10.00. Sounds like she is not going to be able to do this on a regular basis…she is a little concerned about using up her points too quickly. So $10 = 10 points, right? The dining dept. on the UMD website says you should shoot for an average of 65 points used per week. That would be less than $10 per day? Then she can supplement with a once a week visit to the new 251 dining hall(buffet) and her Terp Bucks? We picked the mid-level meal plan.</p>
<p>Granted she probably puts together a pretty big salad at the salad bar…LOL!</p>
<p>Drink water instead of soda. Soda is $1.60 per plastic cup ($1 for the small glass and sometimes they still charge you for a normal size glass :(), while water is free. Two sodas a day (lunch and dinner) add up fast if your that concerned.</p>
<p>Is it true that terp bucks never expire? Does that mean unused terp bucks will always be there as long as I remain in school?</p>
<p>@yakinomo, terp bucks expire along with resident points, at the end of each academic semester, however, Terrapin Express balances do not expire until you leave the University (and you can request a refund at that time).</p>
<p>Also, I am surprised by how many people are unaware of the following:</p>
<p>“Students living on the north side of campus have 16 Meals (one per week) included in the dining plan. Be sure to use your 251 Meal every week: each Monday you’ll have one Meal added to your card. <strong><em>Unused Meals expire at the end of the week</em></strong>.”</p>
<p>So USE YOUR 251 MEAL each week, or you will LOSE IT!</p>
<p>[University</a> of Maryland Dining Services Returning Students Fall 2011](<a href=“http://dining.umd.edu/returning-students-fall-2011]University”>http://dining.umd.edu/returning-students-fall-2011)</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>is there a focus date for terp bucks?
And for students living on north side of campus, is a meal included in the first week of school, or does it start at the second week of school?</p>
<p>There is no focus date for terp bucks and you could get a dinner from 251 last week (I think its only Monday-Friday).</p>
<p>EDIT: Actually, from the link above, it turns out UMD has gotten rid of all focus dates.</p>