<p>I'm a commuter so if I ever buy something to eat it's in the ackerman center..for a change of scenery, a week ago I went to try out something in the dorming areas, particularly bruin cafe and some other place and it was quite confusing. I stood in line but realized you had to pay for the food first unlike at panda express. I noticed people handing cashiers their bruincards...can anyone explain how this goes?</p>
<p>Usually people living in the dorms have “swipes” they can use to purchase food. I usually got friends who lived in the dorms to swipe me because it was a lot cheaper/better value than actually purchasing it with money. You can also load your BruinCard with money and purchase whatever you want at the dorms using your bruincard, but the prices aren’t the best in my opinion. When you get to the front, you just tell the person that you want to pay with your bruincard money and they will charge you and give you what you want or let you in.</p>
<p>I didn’t live in the dorms but ate dinners in the dining halls for 2 years. It is pretty easy. You first deposit money onto your BruinCard (the easiest way is online); you can set up an alert to tell you when your balance is low so you can add more. And then you just give the person your BruinCard to swipe, and tell them you’re paying with EasyPay.</p>
<p>They also have “non-resident meal plans”, but they are really not worth it. In fact, when I was there, even if you ate every single meal there, paying from the BruinCard with EasyPay every time was actually cheaper combined than the dining plan. Not to mention the flexibility to not eat there every time.</p>
<p>So at BruinCafe you order at the cashiers. You tell them what you want, then hand them your BruinCard for payment (as suggested above, you can deposit money into your card and use the “easy pay” option). Then they give you a receipt, to which you exchange for your food when you pick it up. Smoothies are picked up at the right-most of the restaurant; sandwhiches and salad and other entrees in the center. Coffee and pastries at the left-most of the restaurant.</p>
<p>Thanks for the thorough answers guys. I’ll try it out now. thanks again.</p>
<p>Can I eat at res. halls with my family when they visit? How would I go about doing this?</p>
<p>@oceanpartier What is your meal plan? If you have a premier meal plan, just bring your family and tell the person at the cashier that you want to swipe in however many people you have. If you do not have a premier meal plan, the easiest way to get your family in is to deposit money into your BruinCard and tell the cashier that you want to use EasyPay for your family.</p>
<p>Oh I don’t have a meal plan at all, is that allowed? We just keep hearing the food is good.</p>
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You don’t need a meal plan. That’s what I’ve been trying to say. And in fact the meal plan is worse than just purchasing each meal individually.</p>
<p>If you have a BruinCard, deposit some money on that slab of plastic and you can pay for everyone using Easy Pay! If you don’t have a BruinCard then I’m not sure… Front desk meal tickets?</p>
<p>Ohhh okay! Thanks!</p>