<p>What meal plan should I get as an incoming freshman?</p>
<p>Depends on how much you eat and how much time you’ll have to eat</p>
<p>I suggest getting a bigger one than you think you might need. (150 over 125). If you don’t use it all it carries over to the winter. So this way you don’t have to worry about running out.</p>
<p>I’m guessing 200 is too much?</p>
<p>I think it depends on whether you are a boy or a girl. My daughters never used even the minimum amount of meals. But it seems like the guys are better about getting the most out of the meal plan. You can change the plan mid semester, so if you start with one plan and see it is not working out, you can make a change. A lot depends on your own personal eating habits, and how much other money you have available. If the meal plan is all you are going to have to eat, then you will probably use it more, than if you have extra money and will be able to get outside food if you want.</p>
<p>200 is too much for most people. 150 seems to be adequate for most of my friends, but I used like 390/400 for the entire freshman year haha. That’s just me though. I rarely seen someone use it all.</p>
<p>I was thinking about doing the unlimited one but that’s cause I’ll be raising my son and not having much money on the side as it is… n I could always just get my son food from it if we run out. I just think I’d feel a lot safer if I knew that there isn’t a chance of me starving to death.</p>
<p>dont get the unlimited. Even 200 is too much for many people, trust me.</p>
<p>I think 150 was perfect, I dropped down to the 125 second semester for blue bucks and still had meals left over. But that’s just me. You can always get friends to swipe you in too.</p>
<p>
Scott, there is a certain economy of scale in that if you average the “value” of the plan over a higher number you are paying slightly less per meal (eg. $10 per meal instead of $11 per meal so roughly 10% savings.)</p>
<p>So what works best in your personal situation having a child will depend on where you’re living, your availability to cook and how good you are at managing money. For example, if you do not eat a “full nutritional breakfast” then in essence you’ve paid $10 or $11 for $.50 worth of cereal and milk. If you use your meal plan to have a grilled cheese and an apple for lunch, you’ve paid $10 - $11 for something you again could have provided for yourself and your son at home for less than $1. So in essence, you’d be paying 10x more than you would need to. Then again, if you would not be available to prepare breakfast/lunch at what I am assuming would be an apartment, then yes, you might feel “safer” with the unlimited plan. If you can cut the cost of your plan by, say, $400 for argument sake and use that $100 a month toward groceries from the market, etc., you’d be further ahead. But if you might have trouble setting aside your savings from the meal plan, yes, you’d be “safer” having the meal plan. Make sense?</p>
<p>My son is about to be a junior and since he has some skin in the game he has come to realize that using a “meal” from his plan for breakfast is not cost effective, and that in truth he really only has the schedule to accommodate one “large” meal a day. Since he will be living in Northwood, his plan is to take the 75-meal off campus plan and use the difference for groceries. For example, clam linguinni is cheap and easy to make and tasty and will stay in the fridge for longer than regular meat (because the canned clams are preserved differently than regular meat.) It seriously costs less than a single dorm meal to cook, and can feed a student or small family for a number of days by just adding a little olive oil when reheating. Add a fresh salad and you’re golden.</p>
<p>Go with what you’re comfortable with but trust that there are smart ways to save money for the important stuff, and one of those ways is to either use your meal plan well or reduce your meal plan accordingly. Learning to shop and cook well is a key ingredient to raising a child – brains need good food and kids cost money ;)</p>
<p>Get the 125. You get $300 dining dollars (which can often get you better food than whats at the dining halls) and worst case scenario, i’m sure there will be lots of people with extra meals at your dorm willing to guest you in.</p>