<p>yes....no.....? any opinions. if i got one it would be one with lesser meals, because i dont really think i would eat that many full meals a day... i dont know.... regardless.... are they cost effective? is the food decent, i know it wont be the best, but is it decent? things of that nature</p>
<p>It depends on how often you plan to eat off campus. If you think you'll seldom do it, then it's a nice thing to get. Most people usually get tired of the food after a semester and switch to declining balance. As for the food itself, it depends on whether you're used to dining at fancy restaurants or whether home cooking is awesome or not. People who usually do this end up hating the food in the end. I like the food here though, as I don't exactly get the best quality food back home.
On the other hand, there are usually special days where the food selection expands and it becomes worth it to check out. Like for Valentines' Day where they had a chocolate fountain and strawberries by the bunch. They even had cakes for giveaway where one could use icing to spell out a message for someone. Last Thursday, they had one of those special days, where the theme was "Under the Sea" and as you might expect, a lot of seafood was being served there (shrimp, scallop, fried fish, mussels were some of them), though the more exotic seafoods like crab legs, lobster, weren't present.</p>
<p>I think the food is ok. I would recommend a 10 meal per week. That worked out fine for me. They always have pizza and make deli sandwiches. They have cereal stations. Like It'sGr82BeAGator said, Valentines Day was pretty good. Sometimes they make these weird dishes. It just depends on the week. Gator Dining usually will have rotisserie chicken. I've heard of some colleges where the food is really good. Gator Dining not bad. Flex Bucks is great. Just stick to 10 or 14 meals though.</p>
<p>I guess the 10 meal per week plan is good, but the 14 would be better. After all, you would like to have some home cooking and your basic food, especially for breakfast(cereal, bagels, etc).</p>
<p>Son has the 150 block plan. There are times you eat on campus a lot then other times you eat out more than you thought. This means you can eat 21 meals one week and 6 the next. Also after the fall, you change to declining balance if you don't eat as much. The money carries over to the next year. Meals do not.</p>
<p>The 150 block seemed like a reasonable compromise for my D before the fall semester started. But at the end of it, she forfeited about 30 meals and there were many times where she just took out a carry-out box, which counts as a full meal no matter how little is in it. Seems that a busy schedule and a few trips home, including the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, deprived her of the opportunity to use a bunch of them. This semester, she switched to the declining balance option, but had to commit to the value of the minimum meal plan ($1,285) since she started with a meal plan and you have to commit to it for both semesters. </p>
<p>In hindsight, a better approach would have been to just deposit $1,000 in the DB plan and supplement as necessary, which is very convenient and easy to do.</p>
<p>i was thinking about getting the 150 block but then i started looking at the price. its $1300. 300 of which is flex bucks. that means 1000 dollars are going toward the actual meals. $1000 divided by 150 meals is like $6.67 a meal. that seems like alot per meal. how much is it to just get into the dining facilities without using the meal plan? i just went to fsu cause my brother goes there and for me to just get into the dining place without having the meal plan is only 6.50 so it seems alot to me to have each meal cost 6.67 for the 150 meal plan. granted, the price for the dining hall was at fsu, does anyone know how much it costs for the dining halls at uf? it seems to me that it would be cheaper for me to just bring $1300 and just spend it when i feel the need.</p>
<p>Just wait until school starts to see what your schedule is. I didn't get a meal plan, just cook with friends. Sometimes I skip meals and just snack so it wouldn't be cost effective for me.</p>
<p>first year (19 mpw), summer (14), second year (150 block)</p>
<p>If you do get a meal plan I would recommend 150 block or 10 mpw.</p>
<p>The meals at the dining halls are about (not exact): </p>
<p>Breakfast- $5.60 ish
Lunch/Dinner- $ 7.60 ish </p>
<p>I had the 150 block for my first semester here and I ended up with 40+ meals left. (All money wasted.) I used up all my flex bucks. AND, I would take some of my friends to eat with my meal plan until they stopped letting us do that, so I didn't really eat there that much. </p>
<p>So, I switched to declining balance but I dont like that I'm limited to eating at establishments at UF only. Sometimes I want to take some of that money and use it at outside restaurants but I cant. </p>
<p>I would recommend just paying as you go and not getting any of the plans UNLESS you do like eating at the dining halls.</p>
<p>I would not reccomend getting a Meal plan, pretty much everyone I know that got one had leftover meals at the end, which ends up being wasted money and cancels out any of the discount you might have gotten by getting the meal plan.</p>
<p>I would just put whatever you were going to spend on a meal plan in a declining balance acount.</p>