Which Dining Plan to Choose? Help please :)

<p>Seriously, all these plans with different options (Dinex, flex dollars) are really confusing me...</p>

<p>So I have only three questions:
1. What plan is optimal for a regular person who eats 3 meals a day? RGB? Why isn't 42 meals per two weeks an option? Since don't people usually eat 3 meals a day? (14+3=42)
2. What's the difference between Dinex and Flexible Dollars, and do they expire every two weeks?
3. Is the food good? I heard people who say it's a nightmare, yet Princeton Review ranks it as one of the schools with the best food.</p>

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<p>Wait, what? Princeton Review rated it as the worst food last year…</p>

<p>Anyway, least blocks, most dineX. Doesnt seem like enough, but trust me, youll thank me. Most of the places charge extra for the good stuff, and its nice to have that sort of “flexibility”. You arent going to eat 3x a day at school, you just arent.</p>

<p>They switched to a new provider this year, overhauled menus and opened up a couple new places, and the food is pretty great now.</p>

<p>That said, get the SMALLEST meal plan you can. Trust me. I had the same philosophy - “Oh, I eat three meals a day, I’ll get a nice big plan.” This is the height of foolishness; you’d have to be inhuman to spend all the blocks that you get with a big plan - you can only spend one block per eating period. The periods are:</p>

<p>2 AM - 10:30 is breakfast.
10:30 to 4 PM is lunch.
4 PM to 8 PM is dinner.
8 PM to 2 AM is “late night.”</p>

<p>If you’re anything like most people, you’ll rarely be up in time for breakfast at 10:30 and end up using your lunch block as your breakfast block, then go eat dinner with friends later. Trust me when I say you’ll rarely get around to three square meals a day, or if you do, you’ll put one of them on dineX. You will also not spend very many blocks on the weekends since usually people like to go out and eat elsewhere. </p>

<p>I would go for the smallest color and smallest plan you can get - trust me, you’ll save a ton in the long run, and you can spend DineX at any eating establishment, so it’s always best to have as much DineX as you can and as few blocks.</p>

<p>The plan with least meals is Red plan (11/12/13 per week) which in my opinion is not your best buy. About 16 weeks for the first semester. The least meal with most DineX is $2225/semi, 11 meals/week, $675 DineX, 16 weeks. </p>

<p>Say you never eat breakfast or just have cereals in the dorm, still need 3 other meals. I don’t know about other people but I won’t go out 3 times a week to eat, well not every week in the semester.</p>

<p>The Blue plan with 14 meals per week sounds more reasonable to me. It’s possible that you’ll end up wasting 1 or 2 blocks a week, but each block worth less money in the blue plan. </p>

<p>BTW if I just want to have cereal for breakfast, do I buy fresh milk everyday or there’s a place to store big milk bottles, like a mini fridge (which I need to buy)</p>

<p>As a freshman last year my S took the highest Red plan (27 meals + DineX) and ended up switching to the lowest Red plan (22 meals + DineX) during the first two weeks of classes. He is not typically a breakfast person so he would generally only eat lunch/dinner. As most people are saying here get the least number of meals and most DineX you can get. The DineX money is accepted at some off campus locations. Hope this helps.</p>

<p>"BTW if I just want to have cereal for breakfast, do I buy fresh milk everyday or there’s a place to store big milk bottles, like a mini fridge (which I need to buy) "</p>

<p>You can by milk from Giant Eagle and store it in the mini fridge you bring to campus. (Don’t rent buying is cheaper)</p>

<p>garage12, you’d spend DineX for those 3 meals. DineX is just as good as blocks, but you can spend it on anything and at Entropy, whereas with blocks you can’t.</p>

<p>Also, at the end of every 2 week period, your blocks disappear if there are any left. Let’s say it’s Saturday night and I have 10 blocks left. I can only possibly spend 8 if I eat during every possible meal period, so… there goes that money. Blocks are really just one big money grind, and that’s why so few upperclassmen get meal plans.</p>

<p>I had the small blue plan. I ended up wasting closer to 10-15 blocks a week. trust us students when we say that no matter how much you eat, you will always magically have blocks left at the end of the period on a blue plan. Get a red plan and you’ll be better off.</p>

<p>Let’s say it’s Saturday night and I have 10 blocks left.
???
Haha, it’s even hilarious to read this sentence
I’ll sure get the red plan, 12 meals/week?
I mean sure you can use DineX to buy food, but probably not for block price which is $8.8.</p>

<p>I was talking about a bigger plan in that scenario. More like a blue/green plan.</p>

<p>And in some places the food is cheaper without a block, or the exact same price.</p>

<p>Dinner prices are higher than lunch which is higher than breakfast.</p>

<p>Always use blocks on dinners and late night FIRST.</p>

<p>There is no reason to use a block for breakfast-- it’s cheaper in dinex / cash.</p>

<p>The price figured into the plans is based on an average of the cost…</p>

<p>Do not buy a meal plan of 3 blocks a day-- it is wasteful. If you get hungry, use dinex for the less expensive meals.</p>

<p>Also, block includes a beverage-- which can also be considered a waste of money. </p>

<p>Even if you are a weight gaining mission- do not buy a plan with 3 meals a day- it’s a tremendous waste of money!</p>

<p>The meal plans sound very inflexible and not good for the art kid who lives on air for a few days and then devours the contents of the refrigerator in a 1/2 hour raid on the third day repeating the cycle endlessly. Is there a plan for that? It seems to me that there should be a special meal plan for the students at CFA. Meal plans for artists/musicians/actors should be structured so as to prepare them for post-college life, aka abject poverty --it could be called the VanGogh Plan with 5 meal blocks and $20 Dinex per week–every CFA will achieve the haunted, gaunt look of the artist even before foundation year is complete…</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses everyone.</p>

<p>I’m going to sign up for the “Red” plan $2225/semester with $675 spending dollars/semester.</p>

<p>Also it’s listed as “flexible spending dollars” but there’s also an option for Dinextra on the bottom, are these terms used synonymously? Thanks. </p>

<p>Oh and one last but IMPORTANT question: if I run out of flexible dollars/Dinex, I can always recharge, or pay in cash right? </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/dining/undergraduate/diningplaninfo_u/2010-2011-meal-plan-agreement.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cmu.edu/dining/undergraduate/diningplaninfo_u/2010-2011-meal-plan-agreement.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Yes, DineXtra and flexible dollars are the same thing. And yes, you can always pay in cash anywhere on campus.</p>

<p>@ meowmix
You can add extra dinex at anytime or simply use cash or “Plaid cash”
The one thing to watch out for-- the cashier always hits blocks first, then dinex then plaid cash…if you want something diferent-- just make sure they do it as requested so you don’t waste blocks on breaksfast.
This is the first year that dinex rolled over week to week - a few years ago it was use it or loose it…so people would literally go to Entropy and spend money on double marked up stuff. Like a a Dannon Yogurt for $3 instead of $1…I was so mad as a parent that it was a forced waste of my money!
Now dinex goes over the semester and can be used at off campus eateries such as sub way. </p>

<p>You can also link your ID card (which serves as your room key too) to your PNC bank account (the other monopoly on campus) …and use that cash. You can open a bank acct anywhere-- but CMU partnered with PNC so that your ID card can serve as a bank debit card at campus venues.</p>

<p>@ Fineartsmom…Ha–don’t plan for a life of poverty for your S-- he may be the next Picasso and achieve fame an fortune before he dies! In a year there is no obligation to take a meal plan-- and that is exactly what my D did-- she is on a cash only system this year and it was about half the cost of her freshman yearand she is certainly not starving nor living on frozen food.</p>

<p>One last option -if you go Greek - you can eat in their dining plan with your blocks…the general theory for Greek food on any college campus is that it’s pretty good- being prepared by a hired chef. I have no idea which Greek houses have food…but that would not be a driver to finding a house you liked - it would be the people that draw you in…not the food (perhaps booze). Greek students can possibly add thoughts on where there’s food and if it’s tasty?</p>

<p>Yeah, the stuff at Entropy definitely is double marked up. Sometimes more. A box of cereal will run you $6-$7, and we’re talking like… Lucky Charms. But you can also spend dineX ordering from Vocellis or at Eat n’ Park, which is where most freshmen seem to sink it.</p>

<p>i know that PiKA, SigEp, and AEPi have chef’s, but i am not sure about the others. I would agree that the fraternity food is usually good, but don’t kid yourself… it’s nowhere close to remotely healthy. I’ve avoided frat lunch all week just because I’d prefer not to have a pile of grease in my stomach during my afternoon finals. Unlimited drinks are a huge plus though… early in the fall semester the UC marketplace downsized all milks from bottles to the elementary school cartons and it was one of the saddest times of my life. Now 24/7 access to fresh gallons in the fridge is AMAZING. but that might just be me being weird haha…</p>

<p>sororities don’t really have chef’s/meal plans, but start dating a guy in a fraternity that does and you’ll get invited over to meals… if you become a regular they may ask you to enroll on the meal plan</p>

<p>I would agree that one of the lower meal plans is best… but as a perpetually hungry male college student i will say that too many blocks can not be a BAD thing. Your parents wasting money on those blocks is bad, but i mean, extra food is always welcome. it was for me, but if money is not a concern for you, then by all means go for one of the higher plans and don’t shed a tear when some blocks go unused. if you’re trying to be more thrifty, take one of the smaller plans and scavenge for food when at all possible, and then spend cash (wisely, i.e. at giant eagle and not at entropy) to fill in the gaps.</p>

<p>Hey where do we find our 9 Digit ID Card #?</p>

<p>On the dining form, in the top right hand corner they want us to fill it out… but I have no idea what mine is. </p>

<p>Also, can I sign up for DineXtra later on in the semester?</p>

<p>If you haven’t yet memorized it your parents probably know it.</p>

<p>OH its just our social security # right?</p>

<p>yeah its just your SS#</p>