<p>So if I miss breakfast, I have to pay extra for lunch? </p>
<p>Are all meals all-you-can-eat?</p>
<p>I'm asking about The Marketplace specifically.</p>
<p>Here's the deal with the freshmen meal plans:</p>
<p>You get 12 meals a week that's divided into the following:</p>
<p>1) 7 dinner/brunch
2) 5 Breakfast</p>
<p>And those are all-you-can-eat. </p>
<p>If you miss breakfast then you get something like $5 credit towards lunch at the marketplace only. Lunches at the marketplace (only served on weekdays) are a la carte so you pay for everything with food points. If you don't eat breakfast, then you can use that $5 credit. If you eat lunch on West then you are out of luck. On weekends the marketplace serves brunch (no breakfast I think) and that counts as one of your meals.</p>
<p>As for meal times:</p>
<p>1) Breakfast: 7:30 to 10 (?)
2) Lunch: 12-2:30
3) Brunch (sat/sun): 10-2
4) Dinner: 5-9</p>
<p>Of course, you also get a bunch of food points good for anywhere else on campus. All of the above information is for this past year, subject to change for the upcoming year.</p>
<p>Does the default freshman meal plan relatively cover all your food costs? It kind of worries me that they only give you 12 meals. I figure if I eat dinner 7 days a week and then brunch/lunch (is it regular lunch food?) 5 days a week, I still need to buy breakfast 7 days a week and get lunch 2 days a week. I don't think the food points will cover all that will it?</p>
<p>It should, you have up to $415 or something to spend on the extra meal plan I think...the stuff above just falls under the "board" part of your bill.</p>
<p>Eh...a lot of people do not eat all their 12 meals. I know I never ate a breakfast after the 2nd week of school. Some concerns I had before Duke are:</p>
<p>1) Are there enough meals? More than enough, you get tired of the MP after a while and meals only lock you in with regard to choices</p>
<p>2) What about lunch? You'll be on west lots of time for lunch and going back to east for lunch would take an hour or so. It's way too inconvenient</p>
<p>3) What about weekends? That's where the food points come in. A lot of people order food on weekends to supplement their diet.</p>
<p>4) Will the food points be enough? Ummmm...depends on how much you eat. I think they actually reduced the amount of food points for freshmen plans next year. This past year, the amount started out at 557 for the lowest level. In my experience, it'll probably not be enough since I know friends who blow through 100 points in a week. You can always add more.</p>
<p>I can't think of anymore ATM.</p>
<p>Albedo22: Your meal plan covers 7 dinner/brunches and 5 breakfasts. Lunches are not parts of that. Basically, you are responsible for lunch during the weekdays and 4 meals during the weekend (assuming you eat 3 meals a day).</p>
<p>Frankly, I think anything less than $500 is not enough to last a semester. A semester is 12 weeks plus finals week. Even if it's only 12 weeks, that's a little over $40 a week. That means you are looking at about $6 a day to cover what the meals don't. For me, $6 is about how much I'd spend for lunch on west (an entree plus drink, 2 burgers plus drink, w/e). I definitely go over on the weekends. So, unless I do grocery shopping and cook myself, I'd be hard pressed to stay within that budget. Those are just my thoughts.</p>
<p>Edit: I don't think I've seen this advice when I was considering this stuff last year but dollar bills are so useful. I'm always running out of them when I need to tip the delivery guy.</p>
<p>For the 5 group meals - it says I can choose to eat either breakfast or lunch. Maybe they changed it from before. I hear there's a grocery store and convenience store on campus - how are the prices there? Comparable to normal prices at Publix or Winn-Dixie?</p>
<p>I guess they changed it then. They have a grocery store on central campus (Uncle Harry's). You can get stuff delivered from there for a fee and there's also the convenience store under the market place. Prices are comparable, I think, to the regular prices at the major chains.</p>
<p>Edit: according to dining.duke.edu it's still the same. You get an all-you-can-eat breakfast or $5.25 towards an a lar carte lunch at the MP.</p>
<p>Do the east campus store and Uncle Harry's have frozen lasagnas, pizzas, etc.?</p>
<p>Yup, I've seen frozen pizzas, and lean cuisines, ham, bread, cheese, and other stuff there.</p>
<p>awesome :D thanks</p>
<p>Can we use the $5.25 breakfast credit as food point i.e. to buy lunch some where else (besides Marketplace)?</p>
<p>nope- you can only use the meal credit at the mp.</p>
<p>not having enough food is never a problem. personally, i ate breakfast at the mp like 5 times all year, and when i was a freshman, the meal credit equivalency program only began toward the end of my second semester. i probably added some food points , but nothing excessive... i don't know how it's changed, but we didn't have dinner at the mp on fridays or saturdays, which was perfect b/c we'd either order in using food points or go off campus to eat. but i'd eat dinner there pretty much every single night, and ALWAYS weekend brunch (it's the best meal / easily the most fun). i also generally order in a lot of food.</p>
<p>as for buying things like lean cuisines, frozen pizzas, packaged deli meats, cereals, etc. from east campus store / uncle harry's / lobby shop on west -- it's definitely more expensive than buying the same product at a real grocery store. (esp. when you're paying to have uncle harry's deliver food to you). but bear in mind, you're paying for not only the convenience of having it on campus and therefore walkable (or a bus ride away) but also to use it on food points or flex instead of real money.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a grocery store Whole Foods is just across the street from East Campus. It is located on Broad Street which is on the East side of the campus. It is a lot closer than Uncle Harry's.</p>
<p>Here is a link to Uncle Harry's and you can click on Maps & Directions on the left hand side to see where it is located:</p>
<p>Walking past Broad Street to the East is 9th Street which has many restaurants. Walking West on Main will take you to Brightleaf Square which also has more restaurants. There are many other restaurants located in the area around Brightleaf Square. These are not fast food places. </p>
<p>See this link for local info on restaurants:</p>