<p>Hi, I will be a sophomore next year. I am looking to live at Parkside Apartments, and noticed that the "Community Apartment Meal Plan" is required for all residents of Parkside Apartments. However, I was wondering if I could choose the Cardinal Meal Plan instead as I do not plan to cook that often... Thanks!! :)</p>
<p>I believe you can always choose a more expensive meal plan but not a cheaper one. They will never prevent you from buying MORE food from them. Many students prefer not to have to purchase so many campus meals after a while & figure out other ways to feed themselves. You can double-check with your RA but I'm pretty sure it's correct.</p>
<p>Yup, you can always upgrade, but have to do at least the minimum.</p>
<p>Are there "plenty" of vegan options offered at wherever the meal plans tell you to eat?</p>
<p>Beyond salad or a frozen patty that you have to heat up in the microwave...</p>
<p>My son changed his plan the second semester. I would probably go with the plan they offer the first semester and you can always buy extra food/meals. The second semester you can decide if it is worth the expense for a larger plan. It seems like many people had tons of money left over at the end of the semester even on the smaller plans and ended up going to that steak place on campus or buying a bunch of junk for everyone of their friends.
When I ate there during orientation there seemed to be lots of hot veggies and fruit.</p>
<p>Hello trojantransfer-
All meal plans basically allow you to eat at both dining halls, plus some discretionary money to eat wherever else on campus. I only ate at parkside dining hall last year (there are two) and from this particular hall, I'd say there were a fair number of vegan options. </p>
<p>Some off the top of my head are: vegetable soups, full salad bars, fresh fruit, sourdough bread for toast (That's the only bread that's usually vegan...) teriyaki tofu & veggies, baked potatoes, veggie burgers, rice, soy milk, they always have a couple vegetable entrees everyday. But yes, there are some pretty good vegan options at both halls sometimes. Somes not, or it can get boring. Depends on the day and the menu for that day, really. </p>
<p>That said, there is this one cafe where they have specially packaged vegan meals. Stuff like spring rolls, rice with seitan fish, tofu or tempeh chicken with spicy rice, pumpkin rice with squash, (lots of random but good combos); pad thai, vegan samosas, curry beans salad - meals that are not just vegetables and salads. :) </p>
<p>The little mart-like place at the lot on campus sells stuff like soymilk, almond and rice milk (this really impressed me), vegan granola bar-like stuff. In addition to stuff that's always vegan, like veggie sushi, nuts, fruit, etc. There's stuff like odwalla smoothie/drinks all over campus. There's a jamba juice on campus. Also noodle places that have pretty good noodles, or wahoos has a veggie bowl. Just like any place, you can always change your order a little different to make it vegan.</p>
<p>Futureholds, where is that steak place on campus? and you can use your dining dollars for that?</p>
<p>Thanks, tumbleweed! That was extremely detailed.</p>
<p>"where is that steak place on campus? and you can use your dining dollars for that?"
I think that is McCay's, which opened a little while ago. they only take Discretionary $$ [or real cash of course]
USC</a> Hospitality - Welcome to McKays
the Galen center also has great food- it's where the athletes eat [open for lunch only to the general public]]
usctrojans.com</a> - University of Southern California Official Athletic Site - Traditions</p>
<p>There used to be a place on campus where you can use dining dollars, but they knocked it down to build the new student center. Until that is finished, there will just be McKays.</p>
<p>Is the Galen Center open to non-athlete students too? Just for lunch? Dining dollars?</p>
<p>TrojanTransfer - The Parkside dining hall is very good, and has lots of vegetarian options - stir-fry, pasta, salads, good ethnic entrees. I didn't notice that they had specifically vegan options though.</p>
<p>Do you know about Honors House? It sounds like more of a vegan community with food being a fairly important part of the choice to live there. And apparently it has nothing to do with being "honors" exclusive, from what I can tell.</p>
<p>For those who are reading this thread because of an interest in meal plans generally, I have to put in a plug for the little-known all you can eat meal plan (I think it's called Express or something like that). My son is on it, and absolutely loves it because it allows him to eat 4 or 5 meals a day :) without thinking about whether he is using up meals. It actually cost less than the other meal plans this past semester by about $50. There are no dining dollars included, so that means he has to pay if he goes to the various fast food outlets around campus. But if you like eating without thinking about how much it's costing you, it's a great option. I think it's ideal for students who don't go home on the weekends or have a social life that involves leaving campus for meals a lot.</p>
<p>The Galen Center is discretionary only, and it's open to everyone at lunch and only athletes and their friends at dinner. So find someone who's on a team and go to dinner one night, haha.</p>
<p>I highly recommend Galen for lunch, but yeah Discresh or cash only.</p>
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<p>My D hates the dining halls with a passion, so she ends up using most of her Discresh early on and then hates life for the rest of the semester. To her credit she has never asked for more discresh dollars, and I view eating crappy food for a few years as a character-building exercise... heh, heh. Anyway, she is looking for an apartment for next year, which will free her from the tyranny of the meal plan. If you think about it, those meal plans are spendy, over $600/month. Assuming you are willing to do even modest cooking in an apartment, you can eat pretty well for $600/month.</p>
<p>Yea, my kids & their friends think the meal plan is a big ripoff. You can always buy whatever you want if you're not on a meal plan and have more options on where to eat on campus, the food court at University Village, & other locations. My D is happy her apartment on campus has a kitchen and no required meal plan. Folks who are not required to have a meal plan COULD always buy one if they felt it would be a good thing for them anyway. Most opt to figure out their meals on their own.</p>