<p>1 - can anyone give us some practical tips about using the Sodexo money ($700 per semester) from the GWorld card/meal plan?</p>
<ul>
<li><p>what are the hours of the Sodexo locations like?<br>
(i found them online awhile ago and i remember being unimpressed with the hours - not open for breakfast & closed on weekends, if memory serves... the website that's supposed to list the hours has been down for a few weeks)</p></li>
<li><p>tips for eating healthy at Sodexo locations?</p></li>
</ul>
<ol>
<li> do you find that you have to supplement the meal plan with additional money?</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><p>is $700 Sodexo/$1000 Colonial Cash enough money? too much money? it can be expensive to eat in DC if you're eating "out" a lot. how do you find it works for you? do you wind up grocery shopping and eating "in" mostly? is grocery shopping expensive? where do you do it - the watergate safeway?</p></li>
<li><p>are you careful about not using the Colonial Cash for non-food items so that you don't spend your food money on printing or school supplies, etc?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>any other tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I can’t really comment on healthy eating, since that’s foreign to my S. He is careful about not using Colonial Cash for non-food items, though, which does help $ last. For example, he doesn’t use it at the bookstore (he buys most books online anyway). He’s responsible for paying for his own books & Colonial Cash would be our $. He will use Colonail Cash at CVS, but that’s usually not for very much.</p>
<p>Given these parameters, he has not had any trouble with his Colonail Cash/Sodexo $ lasting for the year. Freshman year, he did not do much grocery shopping since there was only a microwave for cooking in the room. By sophomore year, he was doing alot more cooking. He’s not much of a breakfast eater, so that saved $. He’s also not a coffee drinker, so no trips to Starbucks.</p>
<p>He’s going into his junior year, so there will be considerably less $ put on his Gworld card. This may be the first year we’ll have to add anything.</p>
<p>His experience is not necessarily the norm, however. It really depends on your child’s eating & spending habits.</p>
<p>More good questions I wish I asked my frosh year.</p>
<p>1 –Sodexho cash eligible places (this is how it was 2009-10, they have been known to tweak the options each year): There is a strong distaste for Sodexho at GW, but it’s not that bad. It’s open during the weekdays (bfst, lunch, din) and 1 place (WOW wingery, also in MC) is open 7 days/wk and has some late hours. The buffet place also has Sunday night dinner. All in the Marvin Center:
-There is a buffet place (by the ounce) that’s hit or miss [best bet for healthy eating]. I usually walk through it to see what they have before settling on somewhere else to eat. Buffet salads are good.
-The Wendy’s is your standard Wendy’s. Except they have a $1.49 value menu (!) instead the standard 99c value menu.<br>
-There’s an “ethnic” place that rotates Mexican and Indian food. Both are pretty good actually. The Mexican is a decent Sodexho alternative to Chipotle, surprisingly.
-There’s a make-your-own sandwich place that is decent. After the second time you will probably get tired of making your own sandwich and will want someone to make it for you. Pretty cheap.
-There’s a Chinese place that’s mediocre.
-Pizza/Italian place I would avoid.
-WOW is a wing place on floor 5 of MC. It’s a wing/burger/salad place that has a bunch of comfy couches and TVs to watch sports. Its expensive but a good place to burn your Sodexho money when that time comes.
-Smoothie place on the first floor. Kind of like Jamba Juice, pretty good.
-There are places to buy snacks and fresh fruit in J street, also.
That’s it for the required places to spend your Sodexho $.</p>
<ol>
<li>$700/$1000 is not enough money for the semester. Where is your frosh living? Most frosh dorms don’t have kitchens, and it’s against Housing’s rules to bring anything you can cook with. Eating out every meal will cost more than $1700.</li>
</ol>
<p>The Watergate Safeway (aka Soviet Safeway) is pretty bad. 95% of GW students go to Trader Joes on Penn. If you want to save money, you can go to TJ’s and load up on microwavable food, premade salads, snacks, etc and eat in your room. Keeping cereal and milk around will save money, too.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about spending all your Sodexho and colonial cash $. All the places that take these also take cash and credit. The only exception I can think of is printing. But bring your own printer. Most ppl try to spend all this money first because it is like a no-interest bank account.</p>
<p>Most students go to Ivory tower to eat in that food court, or somewhere around campus (there are a ton of places to eat around campus that take colonial cash, check the GWorld website). In terms out eating out-out, most people do this on weekends and leave GW’s campus and go to Dupont, Georgetown, U Street, Chinatown, Adams Morgan, etc for nice meals with their floormates/friends. Dining is really expensive in DC (unless you are from NYC), so conserve during the week and treat yourself to nice meals during the weekend.</p>
<p>It was enough for my D, who usually had cereal in the morning in her room for breakfast and made sandwiches for lunch, plus fruit and yogurt. She used her food money at the grocery store for those items. In fact, she found out that by the second semester she had enough credits to qualify as a sophomore, and got a refund of some of the money we paid into the meal plan.</p>
<p>Most people just carry them in reusable bags. If I bought enough stuff I would split a cab home with 1 or 2 of my roommates ($3-4/person). It’s only a 10-15 min walk from Madison though. Some people also buy collapsible metal cage things on wheels.</p>
<p>WMJ - yes, assuming at least 15 of her credits are transferred.</p>
<p>I usually spent $2000 on on-campus food a semester. </p>
<p>I found lunches to be $8-11. </p>
<p>The pizza place is actually good. The buffet can be good-- ask/look at what they have and see if you like it. </p>
<p>Wendy’s is a good decently priced place. I’d usually spend $7ish there.</p>
<p>I’m not sure where all takes Gworld around anymore. There’s a popular pizza place across from Thurston. There’s Subway, Starbucks, etc. </p>
<p>When a meal place isn’t required down the line, I wouldn’t get it-- unless you live on campus, in which case you might as well.</p>
<p>I mostly ate out. Dorms rarely have nice kitchens,… and you’re often too tired/lazy/not interested in trying to cook. So, I spent the money. Is eating out there cheap? No. Likely to occur? Yes.</p>