<p>Hey, can any current students give advice on which meal plan is the best?</p>
<p>And whilst you're at it can anyone explain how they work? Do you pay for meals with declining dollars or meal plans?</p>
<p>i stopped doing the meal plan after freshman year, as most do. i got a standard 10 meal/week plan (more than enough, since you don't want to eat every meal in a dining hall). it came with a few hundred dollars in declining dollars (more than enough). so, when you want a meal, you swipe your card at one of the dining halls and use up one of your 10 meals. now, if you just want a bag of chips, or some gum, etc, you buy that with the declining dollars. or sometimes, certain campus dining facilities offer things that don't count as one of your 10 "meals." weinstein used to have sushi, for example, but since it didn't count as a "meal", you had to use your declining dollars for that. i think the java city coffee shop also takes declining dollars. you'll probably find that the novelty of the meal plan wears off quickly, so i recommend doing the minimum</p>
<p>anyone else want to offer advice?</p>
<p>I lived in Weinstein and had 19 meals a week. It worked very well for me. I didn't have the money to eat out, and it's impossible to cook much in a tiny room with only a tiny fridge and microwave.</p>
<p>If you're going to eat in your room, I also advise you not to eat over your keyboard. :P I did a lot freshman year, and I eventually stopped after the second or third catastrophic spill. My keyboard was pretty gunky by May.</p>
<p>The main distinction between mean plans are the tradition per week plans and flex. In per week, you can choose between 5, 10, 14, or 19 meals a week (except traditional dorms can't have 5). They regulate how often you can eat by having time restrictions, i.e. you can only have (at most) one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner, and one late night dinner, but with this comes with more declining dollars. With the flex plan, you just have a fixed amount of meals (113, 175, et. cet) with no time restrictions, but fewer declining dollars.</p>
<p>What I don't like is that the 14-meal plan sounds the most practical, but it also seems rather silly. It's $115/semester more than the 10-meal plan, but only $20/semester less than the 19-meal plan. o_O Go figure.</p>
<p>I'd figure just either go with 10 or 19 at those prices.</p>
<p>Take the smallest one you can.</p>
<p>how do meals work with commuter students? can u still swipe your card for a meal, etc?</p>
<p>and i agree-take the smallest one you can--NYC is filled with awesome places to eat for a few bucks.</p>
<p>hey matt - I'm thinking of commuting, whereabouts are you?</p>
<p>I have the 10 meal/week plan (cuz I currently live in Brittany) and I think I use like, 4 meals max. Just because I'm too lazy to go to a dining hall and I don't have time because my class times are awkward. Try to get a flex plan, because then you can swipe in at any time. The one I had, you could only swipe in once every meal period. It was weird, but it didn't matter for me cuz I don't go too often.</p>
<p>what are the time periods for each meal because I am just curious how long the gaps are between each of the meals.</p>
<p>Breakfast is until 11, lunch until 4, dinner until 9, and late night until midnight</p>
<p>i heard some stay open till 2 in the morning, not sure</p>
<p>upstein is open until 1 am on weekdays (minus fridays) but it counts as breakfast if you eat after midnight</p>
<p>do you guys recommend that someone living in apt style bother getting a meal plan?</p>
<p>It depends. What's your schedule like? If you have classes around lunch and dinner times, it might make sense for you to get like 10 meals a week. If you think you might be too busy to shop for food, cook, and clean dishes, then maybe you want a few more meals a week.</p>
<p>I am definitely against getting a meal plan. I actually wrote an essay for writing the essay class on the awefull meal plans (you will learn to hate that class). 2 main points.</p>
<p>1) The cost average out to ~$8.50 per meal. If u spend that on breakfast, its a big waste of money, there are lots of places where you can find better food at a cheaper price.
2) The food is aweful - salads are not fresh, eggs that comes in cardboard boxes, the recycle the food and use them to make soup. basically you will get sick of the food really quickly.</p>
<p>Anyone living in a traditional dorm, get the 10 meal. You could also get the flex which gives u ~10 more meals and 100$ less in decling dollars. With the flex you could treat your friends to meals and hence waste them, or you could get lots of cereals. (you can only use 1 meal plan per meal session e.g. 1 swipe for lunch on one day) </p>
<p>For others, don't get it, if you are in a hurry, just buy it from the dining halls and pay cash.</p>
<p>how much is it per meal at the dining halls?</p>
<p>someone told me you can get the flex plan too with a traditional dorm, is this true? And what are the benefits of each. Is the flex plan better?</p>