<p>Thanks, as I said “just as I see it”. </p>
<p>I am all for letting our kids grow up and take on responsibilities (even for food) on campus. The point is to help them transition into adulthood.</p>
<p>Mesquite<em>Girl 24 & SEA</em>Tide: I think I’m going to suggest to D to start off without a meal plan as you are planning (we need to discuss it but I’m not wasting Skype time 
but I want to make sure I understand: if she only has the $300 in Dining Dollars on her ACT card and no meals, when she goes to Fresh Foods for breakfast she can either swipe her ACT card & they’ll deduct the $6.xx or she can use her debit card and pay for it that way, right? </p>
<p>When she gets back home, she’s planning on doing some bulk cooking & freezing (gumbo, sauce & meatballs, etc.) DH & I send her back with frozen goodies every time she came home & that worked for her. Her roommates this year are planning on taking turns cooking dinner for the group a couple of nights a week (we’ll see how that works out ;)</p>
<p>I know that freshmen are not allowed to change or downgrade their meal plans in the second semester, but do sophomores have more leeway for flexibility. i.e. can you sign up for the silver plan for first sem. and downgrade to bronze for the second sem.?</p>
<p>yes but…you lose any left over meals from the 1st semester. From the website: All meal plans are sold as a yearly contract. You will billed for the meal plan selected in fall and automatically billed for the same meal plan in spring on your Student Receivables account. Rollover meals do not apply to cancelled or downgraded meal plans.</p>
<p>can you upgrade?</p>
<p>If you were to cook a hot meal from scratch in Riverside (which has ovens but no cooktops) are there alternatives, other than the microwave, with which to make a meal? Electric skillets and George Foreman grills are prohibited and you need to plan ahead and be organized to cook with a slow cooker (which is allowed in the suite) so you can eat in a timely manner.</p>
<p>Son may want to cook healthier meals this year and we’re trying to figure out ways he could do so without a cooktop. Dining hall meals were fine first semester, but he quickly grew tired of the lack of variety and the preponderance of fried food. After a while, even eating at the food court lost its appeal. He will occasionally dine at the Strip for a variety of ethnic food.</p>
<p>You can downgrade but you lose roll over meals plus you pay a downgrade fee. There is no fee to upgrade and you can do so anytime throughout the semester and they will prorate the cost. </p>
<p>To me it makes sense to start small and see how things are going after the first month. If it looks like you’ll need more meals then upgrade to the next higher plan. It won’t cost you anything extra this way and it could end up saving you a lot of money on wasted meals.</p>
<p>Oh, that makes sense. Thanks, NJ, may have to rethink the original plan for silver.</p>
<p>Yes, you can always upgrade a meal plan. They’d probably even waive the fee for changing a meal plan if one was upgrading.</p>
<p>RobD, the price for a meal is the same regardless of the method of payment. I often use the term “cash price” when referring to the cost of a meal when not using a dining plan, but one can pay by cash/Dining Dollars/Bama Cash/Debit/Credit. Departmental authorizations would probably get a 20% or so discount, but few students will be using those. :)</p>
<p>Also, good idea on freezing meals so all she needs to do is heat them up. I’ll sometimes freeze fruit (frozen bananas, yum!), but haven’t tried freezing prepared meals.</p>
<p>I, too, agree with robotbldmom when it comes to meal plan choices. Go low. You can always upgrade.</p>
<p>There are plenty of opportunities to eat all over that campus. Go to a meeting or two every week. There’s always food.</p>
<p>Montegut, I understand that your son’s schedule is hectic but encourage him to go the Strip a couple of times a week. Some of the eateries there are quite good. I gave my son a gift card to Subway, and he’s used it. Also, have him check with his new roommates about car availability. My son does not have wheels, either. But that has never stopped him from going where he needed to go. When living on campus, he either got a ride from a roommate or friend or walked everywhere. </p>
<p>Publix has this student/parent card that one can purchase. If you want to help your student to budget for food, consider buying one. You can reload it when it gets low. Even if a student goes there just for water, sodas, fruits and veggies and snacks, it may be a good investment.</p>
<p>I am sure that my son will live off of Ramen Noodles and pizza.</p>
<p>Believe me, even eating ramen noodles grows old fast but there is so much more that you can do in a microwave. Bed Bath and Beyond (or other stores) sell all kinds of microwave cooking gadgets for those with no cooktop.</p>
<p>There are some really good microwave cookbooks out there. You can steam vegetables in the microwave to add to many items -even carrots (steamed) added to ramen is better than ramen alone. Edamame is an easily steamed snack (cook two minutes). There are many soups and stews that are canned
(look for lower salt alternatives). You can make bacon in a microwave for a quick BLT. I am not saying that this is gourmet cooking but it can be a handy alternative.</p>
<p>Crock pots are a good option, prepare all ingredients the night before,pop in crock pot and a few hours later, have a meal. Good for homemade stews and soups.</p>
<p>So the dorm kitchens don’t have a cook top? I didn’t realize that. When we peeked at the kitchen in Ridgecrest during BB, it looked like there were stove tops. Do they just not work or do some dorms have stove tops and some don’t?</p>
<p>stovetops in the main kitchen on the floor, but in the suites just fridge and microwave and whatever you bring in that’s approved off of the list.
Also, I read pretty closely the contract for this year, doesn’t look easy to downgrade, or maybe that was to cancel…
DS is going with the 90 plan, that’s about where we ended up last year.</p>
<p>I believe that the Ridgecrest full kitchens (that are shared by floors; not the ones in the suites) have regular ovens. I think sophocles was saying that Riverside doesn’t have the cooktops.</p>
<p>It is such a blessing that Publix is essentially right on campus (and as my DH frequently points out, has a fantastic beer selection Even picking up a frozen Stouffer’s mac & cheese and a bagged salad mix can be a much cheaper alternative, especially if you have a crazy schedule. You can just reach into the freezer. </p>
<p>One thing we picked up for D last year that she used a lot was the Pasta & More microwave set [Amazon.com:</a> Pasta N More 5 Piece Microwave Pasta Cooker Set with Bonus Cookbook: Kitchen & Dining](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Pasta-More-Microwave-Cooker-Cookbook/dp/B0017VIO36]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Pasta-More-Microwave-Cooker-Cookbook/dp/B0017VIO36)
Quick, easy and it worked. Sent her down with the big packs of parmesan cheese from Costco (see we support you AL34!) and a bottle of good olive oil and she was set for a simple supper. Steam some broccoli or cut up a pepper and you’re good to go.</p>
<p>There are cooktops in the Ridgecrest South common kitchen…but not in Riverside (if I remember correctly). Don’t know what’s in Lakeside.</p>
<p>Many things that are cooked on a cooktop can either be cooked in a microwave or cooked in an oven. Some pans can even go in the oven…so consider having one of those. A student could even fry an egg in the oven if he wanted…Pam or oil in pan, preheat pan in oven, add eggs, continue to cook for a minute or two…done.</p>
<p>D is in Riverside East, so I guess she won’t have a cooktop available. She will be disappointed. We did get her a microwave rice and pasta cooker, but she would rather use a stovetop for the pasta. Guess we’ll practice making her favorite (beef stroganoff) using a microwave only (and take the pots & pan set back to the store) :(</p>
<p>Wish these little differences were made more clear on the housing website.</p>
<p>Bamamomof3: we always use the stovetop for pasta as well; D was thinking the microwave pasta cooker was going to be an epic fail, but it worked really well!</p>
<p>Rob glad to hear that! We made rice in it to see how well it worked and we were pleased, but haven’t tried pasta. Will do that soon :)</p>
<p>We have the Progressive Rice & Pasta cooker (also shown on the page RobD linked to). I use it primarily for making rice, which it does really well, but I’ve also steamed veggies in there and made pasta. I had to experiment with the pasta to get the timing right, but once I got the timing down, I couldn’t tell the difference between pasta cooked on the stove and pasta cooked in the microwave. It’s probably worth your time to experiment at home (with the caveat, of course, that all microwaves are different); I know my D would not be willing to experiment at school.</p>