Essentials for Fall

<p>[Vanderbilt</a> Dining - First-Year Meal Plan Overview](<a href=“http://www.vanderbilt.edu/dining/firstyearplan.php]Vanderbilt”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/dining/firstyearplan.php)
According to this, you get one meal per meal period + $200 meal money + 10 flex meals, all per semester. I do plan on having a refrigerator, I just don’t see what I’d need a microwave for… the only things I can think of that need microwaving are unhealthy and not anything I’d ever intend on eating, lol. And there are basement kitchens or something in the dorms, right? So on the very off chance that I ever want to make something myself, I can use those?
I sleep really late so the opening at 11am is okay for me :]</p>

<p>The mail arrived today and there was a flyer about Vanderbilt dining:
3 meals daily- you choose
1 meal/meal period (four meal periods daily)
$200 Meal Money/semester
10 Flex Meals/semester</p>

<p>So there are not 4 meals/day on the plan,only 3.</p>

<p>hope4freeride- thanks for pointing out that it’s actually 3 meals a day. I just looked it up and I think you’re right. I was kind of annoyed about being forced to pay for 4 meals a day, so at least now I know I’m not.
INVENIAMVIAM- I can’t decide about a microwave either, but I looked on the Commons website and under amenities for every house it lists “Common kitchen facility with oven, stove, microwave, dishwasher, and refrigerator/freezer”.
I also can’t decide about a TV, I’m not exactly sure where I’d put it, it might be kind of hard to transport a TV stand to Nashville and I don’t really want to buy one there. I would prefer to have a TV in my room though. Do most people have TVs in their rooms? And if so, where do they put them?</p>

<p>You will all be getting the same color flyer about the meal plan soon. Since we live in Nashville we just tend to get things a bit faster!
For what it’s worth, I was in Costco today and there was a Sanyo fridge in stainless steel for $119 and it was 2.4 cubic feet. It had a tiny little freezer section but I don’t think a Lean Cuisine box would fit in it.
For those who want to buy a fridge, microwave or TV, we have 2 Costcos, several Walmarts, a Sam’s Club, a Bed Bath and Beyond, a Best Buy, an hhgregg, at least 3-4 Targets, a Sears, and a Sears “scratch and dent” outlet but the prices are not always all that good there.</p>

<p>A microwave will let you cook mac n’ cheese from the common grounds at 12:00 am.</p>

<p>It WILL happen. Embrace it.</p>

<p>Ok…having a brain freeze but what does this phrase mean…we also got the Dining postcard in VA today
so…does it mean there are 4 meal periods? no comprendo<br>
I looked around the Commons Dining page and it appears to be open for long stretches daily rather than in short bursts per 3 traditional meals a day</p>

<p>1 meal/meal period (four meal periods daily)</p>

<p>There are four meal plan periods. I’m not sure about the exact times but basically there’s one for breakfast, lunch, dinner (which goes until 11 or 12), and then the 4th meal which goes up until breakfast. So in a single day you could use 4 of your allotted meal plans.</p>

<p>not true. you pick 3 of those</p>

<p>Okay, the three meals thing makes sense. It always seemed weird to me that we’d be paying for four meals/day, lol.</p>

<p>

Maybe. If so, I’ll go to the common kitchen and do it there. I’m not stuffing a microwave in my room though…</p>

<p>i hear that is kinda an annoying thing to do (walk all the way to the common kitchen). wouldn’t you just put it in a corner of the room? i don’t know, just my perspective.</p>

<p>I mean, other people might want a microwave. I’ll like never use it and my roomie agrees. We’ve got a coffee maker though :] lol.</p>

<p>ya’ll should buy the “hotpots” of my generation which we used to make hot water for instant coffee and another strange popular thing made with Tang and instant Lipton and sugar called Russian Tea we used to package up at home before leaving for college.</p>

<p>we were forever leaving our hotpots plugged in all day and finding the water boiled away and the thing on meltdown…</p>

<p>son at Duke used his microwave a lot, Vandy son will have a mini one and a tiny fridge…maybe it is your metabolism that measures your need for a microwave…if you eat every three hours…like my son does for instance…</p>

<p>there are so many mealtimes on the required freshman meal plan that he will never go hungry!</p>

<p>vandyclassof2013,</p>

<p>but you do get 10 flex meals which means you could technically eat in each of the 4 meal periods if you wanted to. or eat two meals in one period. just clarifying my previous statement.</p>

<p>also almost everyone i know had a microwave. it comes in handy for quick breakfast items in the room, macaroni, and reheating food. Microfridge is a good idea too.</p>

<p>

I know exactly what you’re talking about with the Russian Tea! We always called it something else, can’t really recall, but it is like by far my favorite drink of all time.</p>

<p>yes, homemade Russian tea was so very chic. The Tang part of the recipe was a sort of homage to Astronauts who clearly (according to the commercials)…drank Tang in outer space…my recipe included cinnamon, and lots of powdered everything and I made a jar for all my roommates every winter. I am sure it was chock full of energy and vitamins…and sugar.</p>

<p>what about bringing a coffee maker?</p>