<p>Does MIT only have separate food places where you can get your food, or is there some sort of cafeteria, buffet style dining place (like some UCs)</p>
<p>MIT does have dining halls in some dorms, although they are not buffet-style. They are cafeteria-like -- there are different stations, such as stir-fry, burgers/fries, etc., and you go to a station and order what you'd like from the menu.</p>
<p>For lunch, most campus dining options are either cafeteria-style or actual restaurants. Since MIT has a debit-card-like system for its meal plan rather than a meal-based system, you can go to the Dunkin Donuts on campus, order a meal, and pay for it on your dining plan.</p>
<p>MacGregor has 1 buffet style dinner every week right now. ($6 for residents, $8 for non residents, 50% of that is you have preferred dining)
But whatever you are thinking, none buffet style, or not tied to any meal plan is awesome! Also a lot cheaper. You can eat where ever you want, when ever you want.
There are always free dinner food events at least twice a week open students... although they are mainly pizza, but sometimes there is thai food or chinese food. There are a few small restaurants near by, food in Kendall Square. you don't have to rush back to a dorm or dinning hall just to get a meal... I don't have classes till 11, so breakfast is just quick cereal.
I spend about 10$ during the week on food. $20~$30 on weekends for grocery shopping.</p>
<p>My friends from other colleges think MIT's food situation sucks, and then I go visit them and think theirs sucks.</p>
<p>The breakdown is this: there are 4 dining halls where you can get dinner 5 nights a week (Sunday-Thursday), and which serve items ala carte, so you pay for each item separately (aka not a buffet). Every other meal is up to you, and you can use the same "TechCash" you use to pay for the dining halls to pay at a bunch of cafes and such on campus which will have breakfast foods in the morning and sandwiches and lunch-y type stuff in the afternoon. There's also a grocery store on campus that you can use TechCash at, though grocery shopping is better done off campus because of prices.</p>
<p>For instance, my normal eating:
Breakfast- Cereal in my suite's kitchen (I live in Burton Conner, which has kitchens). Cost: ~$1</p>
<p>Lunch- I usually grab a cup of soup and a roll at Cafe 4, which is right off the infinite and super convenient because I'm always walking past there around lunchish time. Cost: ~$3, depending on the soup</p>
<p>Dinner- I usually cook for myself, but quality varies widely. If I'm feeling ambitious and not totally dead from practice, I'll cook up a chicken breast and have like spaghetti and a vegetable to go with it. If I'm tired, I'll microwave a can of soup. If I'm going to go eat with friends from another dorm at the dining halls, I'll order the stir-fry and bring a tupperware container and voila, I have leftovers for dinner the next night (entrees are around $8 without the preferred dining plan, but they give you enough food for a small family of pygmies). Cost: ~$2-5</p>
<p>Snacks throughout the day/night: ~$2-3</p>
<p>Considering the breakdown at colleges where they have the all you can eat dining hall system puts them at 7+ dollars a meal, I like our system. That, and it's totally flexible. I just really like it.</p>
<p>How would you rate the quality of the food? For example, if you get a burger or pizza, is it just like thawed frozen food or good stuff?</p>
<p>It varies. That's the whole point of not having only school-sponsored or catered dining, right? The quality of the food varies depending on where you go, almost all the options are independent businesses, subways, and dunkin donuts and teriyaki chicken and middle eastern food and anna's taqueria and cambridge grill in the student center... au bon pain in johnson, at kendall, the kendall food court, a bunch of food trucks all over campus... steam cafe and cafe 4 and even freaking bio cafe, I don't know what the concern is, there is no shortage of food at MIT.</p>
<p>Where do I like to eat? I like the burgers a lot at cambridge grill and their (stone oven? - whatever) pizza is pretty good their chicken is a bit dry. it's all made in a kitchen that you can see into. dunkin donuts is good for coolattas and the occasional donut or 5. Bullet Train chinese food up in lobdell is still my favorite though, i usually go for the hibachi chicken or soba chicken. But if the guy is there instead of the lady he doesn't know how to make pina colada smoothies and doesn't seem intent on learning either..</p>
<p>Breakfast, for me, is my own stuff I buy from Star Market. Lunch is the Student Center - I like the pizza or the teriyaki chicken, whichever places those are. Dinner might be Subway or ABP, though sometimes my hall will go to awesome off-campus places for dinner (O'Sullivans, Mary Chungs, "Awesome Noodle Place"). Some people cook a lot (not me, though my goal).</p>
<p>I wish there was a market closer to East Campus, but other than that, I'm fine with MIT's food situation =). Everyone finds the way they prefer.</p>
<p>I personally really like the dining hall food, but I've only eaten there 3 times, 2 of which were the stir fry. :P A brief survey of two friends currently sitting with me, though, supports the opinion that our food is in fact good, and I know one of my roommates and her friends like it a lot, too.</p>
<p>... but if you happen to not subscribe to that opinion, cook it yourself.</p>
<p>NW35 (the New Ashdown) has a buffet style dining hall. The chef is pretty good, but you might get bored of the food because she uses the same spices in the same way, so all the food might taste the same (day to day). But that doesn't mean that there's no variety. There's a different theme everyday, but each chef has his/her own style.</p>
<p>eh, I was just hoping it would be like UCs in that it was cafeteria buffet style cause I like to eat a lot, but I guess having kitchens in your dorms (or am I mistaken on this) is a plus seeing that UCs don't (or am I mistaken that too)</p>
<p>how much would you say you guys use on food per semester? and how much tech cash do you usually put in your card per semester?</p>
<p><em>cough</em>Simmons late night cafe is godly. especially their panini and bubble tea<em>cough</em></p>
<p>MIT does have kitchens in many of the dorms, so you can cook whatever you want for yourself. And if you cook for yourself, you can choose to put correspondingly less money in Tech Cash -- there is a grocery store in the student center which accepts Tech Cash, but it's quite expensive.</p>
<p>I spent about $800 per semester eating breakfast, lunch, and the occasional dinner on campus. My dorm also had a small convenience store, so I spent money there on snacks. I cooked for myself with friends most nights.</p>
<p>Also note that those living in FSILGs (rather than dorms) have their own "meal plans". While I am not familiar with the arrangements at frats, the ILG (Independent Living Group) where my son lives has a large group-prepared dinner every night, which is part of the housing fee for living there. (And I understand they have regular guests from other living situations who come there specifically for dinner.) He has breakfast and dinner there most days, and just gets lunch on campus (and takes advantage of other free food opportunities when they arise). His food costs are lower than we'd anticipated.</p>
<p>While freshmen don't have the option of living in FSILGs, after freshman year this option exists besides the dorms. (And oh yes, the ILG my son lives in is co-ed, as are most of the other ILGs.)</p>
<p>Just to clarify, ILGs will allow pledges to share their meals too - ie, if you pledge an FSILG, you don't have to wait until you're a sophomore to eat your dinners there. (This is the case with at least one ILG and some fraternities - I can't imagine any rejecting their pledges at dinner :D.)</p>
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While freshmen don't have the option of living in FSILGs...
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Just to clarify, ILGs will allow pledges to share their meals too...
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<p>Another clarification: There is at least one ILG (that of Mootmom's son - I know him IRL and have other friends who live there) that allows people to join the meal plan without pledging.</p>
<p>Also, several of the cultural houses in New House (e.g. French House) have the same group-cooking structure, and you can join them and get in on the food as a "social member" without actually living there.</p>