Everyone says a meal plan is good for the first few weeks. Does this happen for everyone? They use the meal plan for a bit before getting sick of it and start cooking by themselves? Or is this exaggerated?
It depends on the college and the kid. Some schools require frosh to have the meal plan. Life is easier when someone else cooks for. You have another 60 years of cooking ahead of you, I don’t know what the rush would be. When you visit colleges, you can often eat in the dining hall if you ask so you can judge for yourself.
Yeah true, its just that I feel like everyone complains that they get sick of the food quickly.
My daughter is on a full meal plan. Initially she thought she would bump down next semester but she loves the convenience of the dining halls and fully utilizes it. The kitchen in the dorm is not that well equipped and they are only allowed one small mini fridge per room so not enough space to really store stuff for cooking. I think it would be different if she was in an apartment and had access to a car.
I think many students do get sick of the meal plan but those in dorms don’t have a kitchen to cook in not to mention that time for grocery shopping is difficult and eating out is often unhealthy and expensive. My student had three levels of meal plans to choose from. I selected the most basic. I am glad I did because on the weekends he often has other opportunities and as a pledge his fraternity gives him dinner once a week. I can’t imagine not being on the meal plan. Even though my son gets tired of the food, he needs the convenience of it.
I think the reality is that they’re cooking for thousands of students, so it’s hard to replicate the cooking that mom does for a family of 4 or 5. They do what they can, but it’s simply hard to cook in that sort of quantity and to keep the ideas fresh. There’s bound to be a lot of repetition of the things that work and the things that kids want.
(Just a parenthetical correction that I hope that it’s not JUST mom cooking at home. Dads and siblings and kids hopefully are all helping with this delightful task!)
I had the meal plan all four year and missed it when I work/lived on campus during the summers and had to do all my own meals.
I like breakfast and it benefited me that breakfast is hard to mess up. My only complain was the occasional wet scrambled eggs. They did fix that when we complained. The cafeteria next to the upper class dorms served special occasion meals and I remember one excellent fish meal for a Jewish holiday. (Yes, I still remember after all these years and regret not knowing what it was.)
The main compliant people have is seasoning. If you are used to certain spices or hot sauces, etc. bring some with you.
My DD is picky and didn’t like the meal plan. But now she is responsible for going shopping, cooking and it is extra work.
I myself was quite happy to have people cook for me all 4 years. But I dropped the breakfast from the plan as I could make myself some oatmeal for much cheaper.
My daughter loves her meal plan. She is in her second year at her school and raves about the food. It’s a big school, so there are a lot of different dining halls to choose from. She and her friends look at the different menus each night and pick the place they want based on the theme. She will be moving off campus next year, but is talking about keeping a small meal plan so she can still eat at the good dining halls once in a while.
My daughter (freshman) loved her meal plan at first, but now the meals are all the same ones so she is getting bored. Heck, at home I usually rotate the same stuff so really she should be getting much more variety at school. They occasionally do themed meal weeks, with cuisine from other countries, and that is something she enjoys. At her school the freshman are required to purchase the meal plan so she didn’t have a choice.