The original thread had some pretty awesome answers but the last post on there was from 2015… and we are in 2019 now (Yay happy new year) so I’m just wondering if anyone could provide some more up to date info! Thank you!
@gnozjg666 I’ll play. 
My D is a freshman at NYU - she lives in a dorm and has the required meal plan. Her schedule is very full so she has trouble getting to the two dining halls she likes and ends up paying for food more than she’d like. She pays her own expenses outside of the meal plan, she gives herself an “allowance” of $50 a week with $10 more put aside for larger weeks. It seems like a lot of money to me but NYC is expensive. Her allowance goes non-dining-hall food, coffee, metro/uber rides, cleaning supplies and dorm supplies, weekend activities and shows (she loves the chance to get student tickets and has really taken advantage of that). She says she watches every penny and it’s pretty tight!
@gnozjg666 Current sophomore here! Last year, I lived in a dorm without a dining hall and often didn’t have time to eat during typical dining hall hours (I would be busy through lunch and dinner times) so I ate out/got takeout a lot. I think I spent roughly $50 a week which covered non-nyu food/drinks (like coffee!), a metrocard (which can be quite expensive 
), cleaning supplies, school supplies (new notebooks for the spring semester), and anything I bought while at NYU (I stayed over a good part of winter and spring break too).
I spent more than a lot of people–I know people who spent much less than I did (I also know people who spent a lot MORE than I did). The NYU meal plan can cover a lot and a lot of people I know found they had extra swipes at the end of the semester. I’d say with the NYU-required meal plan, you shouldn’t really need to spend any more money on things other than dorm necessities, transportation, and fun activities (like movies, shows, etc). Note that if you stay over J-Term, your meal plan won’t work.
For budgeting purposes, if you want to eat out at a restaurant, I’d estimate ~$20-30 a meal (depending what you get, includes tax + tip). Fast-casual places tend to range from $10-20, and you can definitely find <$10 places near NYU and around the city. A round-trip on the subway costs $5.50 ($2.75 each way), but ticket prices might rise soon to $6 round-trip. Haven’t been grocery shopping in NYC just yet (spent last semester abroad, which I can talk about if anyone wants me to).
Thank you for the replies!!! They are very helpful. I know this is already mentioned, but just want to check that it is possible for ppl to eat off of the nyu meal plan and not go out to eat at all? What else can you use the meal plan for?
@Faultystart
Also although completely unrelated to this thread, pLEASE talk about your semester abroad!!!