<p>How much to people actually eat at the cafeterias? I have 2 options as far as meal plans go, and they cost the same.
c is cost
m is munch money - money you can use at local retailers and buisnesses (Zappo's, BK, Sbarro's, etc)
cm is cafeteria meals</p>
<p>1) 19 Weekly Block C: $1668 MM: $150 CM:19 Per Week<br>
2) 15 Weekly Block C: $1668 MM: $200 CM:15 Per Week<br>
3) Semester Block C: $1455 MM: $250 8 Per Week Average </p>
<p>i've pretty much eliminated choice 3, but i'm not sure about the other two. I'm not a big eater, but I love to snack.</p>
<p>something ive learned - unless your extremely strapped for cash - go with as few meals as possible with the most amount of bonus $. you won't eat 3 times a day, and you'll find that you'll get pizza or chinese every now and then.</p>
<p>i like my 19 meal plan, i eat three meals a day in the campus center almost everyday, but I dont have any off campus options on the school plan. I think our meal plans are upwards of 3K too... and we pay the same regardless of how many meals we take on our plan.
I think a lot of it depends on how much you like your off campus options, but having 19 meals as a freshman makes life a lot easier.</p>
<p>I'm going to college next year, so I don't have personal experience, but based on what my brother has told me (he's in college), definately go with meal plan 2. Do you really think you'll want to eat in a dining hall for breakfast every morning if you have early classes? I know I'd prefer picking up a coffee/donut/bagel or something than having all-you-can-eat.</p>
<p>definitely don't do the 19 meal plan...BIG mistake. maybe it's different for girls, but most people don't even use up all their meals on a 15 meal plan. i'm on a 10 meal plan and only eat maybe 8 times a week in the dining halls at my school. it's been rare that i've used all 10, and that was mostly because i was dragged to lunch twice in one day by two groups of friends. you'll find that alot of the time you wont want caf food and will most likely buy from fast food or sandwich places, or dunkin donuts between classes. and you will order in food alot more than you expect. 2am pizza sounds mighty good on some nights...</p>
<p>You will almost never eat breakfast at the cafeteria, go with the 15 meals per week, you'll probably find out that is a little too much. At my school I have 15 meals per week and I usually only use around 10-11, and as far as breakfast, i use the equivalent of your mucho money for a milk and a power bar and that is fine.</p>
<p>Is it unreasonable for me to plan on <em>gasp</em> grocery shopping? Grocery stores have the same snack foods in bulk, so its cheaper just to go shopping for things like bread, sandwich meats, chips, soda, etc. and keep it in the mini-fridge. I am planning on getting a 2 meal a day meal plan, with no on-campus spending money, and buying food at the grocery store. Will this end up not working out for some reason?</p>
<p>I plan on going with some Sam's Club sized packs of munchies and diet soda...when I see how much of that I really use, i'll decide whether or not grocery shopping sounds good to me.</p>
<p>I personally use our 12-meal meal plan, which gives me 2/day 6 days/wk, which works nicely. You might check whether you can eat 2 meals in one meal period (i.e., 2 dinners--one at 5pm and another at 9pm) to use extra meals or have a latenight snack.</p>
<p>I have 19 meals every TWO weeks and I have troubles getting through that. Go with something small, since there's usually an option to upgrade in the first couple weeks.</p>
<p>In regards to herecomesthesun, there is no problem with grocery shopping, just remember that if you don't have a car, you'll be walking/busing with your arms full of groceries every week, and it usually takes about 1.5-2 hours to get there, shop, and get home. Also, even huge mini-fridges won't hold food for a week, so it's good to get a partial meal plan like you're doing.</p>
<p>I was on a 19 meal plan freshman year, and it worked well for me. If you think you will have early morning classes, eating breakfast in the cafeteria isn't a bad idea. This year I don't have class til the afternoon 2 days a week, so I eat breakfast in my room. I went down to a 17 meal plan and haven't had any problems with it.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that eating a small breakfast is actually healthier for you than skipping it completely, and it probably would help with staying awake in classes too :-) You don't want to be forced to skip meals if you would rather eat them, so if your college doesn't give you the opportunity to switch a few weeks into the semester, err on the side of being too hungry</p>
<p>I had 10 meals first semester because of Ramadan, and my mom convinced me to switch to 14 meals for this semester. I seriously wish I had stayed on 10, becuase although each additional meal only adds up to a few more bucks, I never end up using me meals and if I do I feel like I eat so much that I'm getting fat. I end up getting a lot of food from club events, occasionally eating out, and substituting coffee and study snacks for meals when I'm stressed out and don't have time to go to the caf. Plus for breakfast I usually just have cereal and coffee, which would probably turn out to be 50 cents to a dollar if I just bought the stuff myself at the grocery store instead.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and it matters whether you're a guy or a girl. Girls always have a lot more problems using all their meals. And also whether you're doing sports/working out a lot. And if you're one of those people with amazing metabolisms who are hungry all day.</p>
<p>It may be preferable to take fewer cafeteria meals and more munch money. My son almost never uses up his "meal blocks" (= cafeteria meals), but if he did he could always use the "dining dollars" (= munch money) to pay to eat in the cafeteria as well as commercial vendors. You probably will eat in the cafeteria less than you think.</p>
<p>You may want to check on what happens to weekly CM's if you don't use them during a week. Do you lose them or do they carry over?</p>