<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>Which dining plan would you recommend for first year students and why? Unlimited, Plus 15 or Plus 13? </p>
<p>thanks in advance</p>
<p>Try the 15 for first semester, get a lower plan if you feel 15 is too much for second semester. Unless you’re certain that you’ll eat 3 meals a day, don’t get unlimited.</p>
<p>[site:talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia</a> meal plan - Google Search](<a href=“site:talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia meal plan]site:talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia - Google Search”>site:talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia meal plan - Google Search)</p>
<p>Depends on how you use the Dining Plan.</p>
<p>See for me I didn’t use the Plus Dollars all that much… 5 plus dollars for a half a dozen hot wings? Outrageous. But I’d love to pop into the dining hall to get ingredients. One time I got a togo box just to fill it up with dressing to use for beer can chicken marinade. And it’s always nice to pop in during breaks just to get coconut cake =) I never ate 3 full meals a day, but to me the plus dollars you get for downgrading aren’t worth all that much.</p>
<p>Also when sweet peppers are selling for 1.00 - 1.50 each at Barracks (and Harris Teeter prices sometimes reach 3-4 dollars), it was always nice to go to the salad bar and stock up there.</p>
<p>I hear that the athletic dining plan doesn’t explicitly forbid non-athletes to join … they just don’t tell you that. I don’t know the real scoop though – my roommate last year somehow got access into JPJ.</p>
<p>I personally used the Plus 15 my first semester and since I lived in the farthest away alderman dorms and I didn’t like Runk or Ohill nearly as much as Newcomb, I barely used up half my meals each week. I personally love having more plus dollars because it gives you money to use at Greenberry’s (their hot chocolate during winter is amazing) and the pav. I’d rather eat chick-fil-a chicken than sketchy Ohill chicken any day, so for me the plus dollars are totally worth it. It’s also nice to have lots of plus dollars as a first year because you can use them at crossroads (first floor of Ohill) on food items. That being said, of course, everyone is used to different eating habits. The reasons I didn’t use a gazillion meals is that at home, I was used to eating no breakfast, a small lunch, and a big dinner. So I’d eat dinner at a dining hall, and use plus dollars for food during the day. Try and think about how many meals you regularly eat at home. For me, a smaller plan makes sense and I get by just great on Plus 10 (becomes available to you second semester). For someone else though, that plan might starve them!</p>
<p>Aww, O-Hill chicken isn’t that sketchy. </p>
<p>They apparently don’t premarinade the chicken they put on the grill very often, so I don’t eat that. In short, their grilled meats are sketchy indeed because they don’t slow-cook, don’t use braising techniques and cut all sorts of culinary corners. You can’t just call it cajun chicken because you put cajun seasoning on it and then sear it for 5 minutes…</p>
<p>But when they do fried chicken or baked chicken, it comes out very well. They cook it just right, nice and juicy. OMG. Probably because ARAMARK has an experienced chef do that, whereas dining hall workers do the grilling…</p>
<p>Although I think dining hall worker (and student?) Miguel was responsible for pizzas at one point … and ARAMARK was getting constant complimenting left and right. I heard he left, pity.</p>
<p>The other thing is to check the dining hall menus – you can preview what they’re serving before you go to the dining hall to see if it’s worth it. I think that should go in the FY guide. Invaluable.</p>
<p>Oh yes, the dining hall page with the menus is definitely invaluable. I don’t go to a dining hall without checking around and seeing what’s available</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure Miguel and Thomas (Stir-Fry) went to a private catering company.</p>
<p>ARAMARK wasn’t interested in competing for them? Or did they pick up substantially more responsibilities that weren’t available at UVA?</p>
<p>I don’t exactly understand how guest meals work, and can you use your own meals for guests? Also, what are all the places that plus dollars can be used on campus? What about the extra advantage account (I think that’s what it’s called) money?</p>
<p>^ Yea second those questions. And when I visited for DOTL, I ate on the bottom level of newcomb, and someone told me that’s not the dining hall and that the dining hall is on the second floor, so I’m kind of confused now. What is that considered? Is that the C3 at Newbomb I see on the dining site? This is the place that has Chick-filet</p>
<p>And the meal plan meals, do they include the bottom level of newcomb that I just mentioned? Can someone explain how these meals work? I read somewhere that the meals are buffers, where you go in and slide your card and eat whatever you want?</p>
<p>Marcus, where you ate is an a la carte spot. Students can swipe their cards upon checking out there, but the dining hall on the 2nd floor is an “all you can eat” type place. Upstairs, you swipe your card on the way in the door and can eat there or take food out.</p>
<p>Dean J,</p>
<p>so can we use one of our meal plan meals when we check out our food from the a la carte spot?</p>
<p>No you can’t use meal plan meals for downstairs in newcomb. There are 3 places where you will use your meal plans: Newcomb Dining Hall (second floor), Ohill Dining Hall, and Runk Dining Hall (of course, if you’re an athlete, add on JPJ). These are the places where you use your meals. There are things called plus dollars that come with your meal plan. These are on your student ID card and act as almost like a debit card with which you can buy food from places like the first floor of newcomb (the pavilion), C3, Greenberry’s (in Alderman and Clark libraries), and Crossroads (convenience store on the first floor of Ohill). You use plus dollars just like you would regular money on a debit card (you pay for what you buy). With the meals, you swipe into the dining hall, and then there are several stations from which you can eat as much as you want while you’re in there. One swipe (one meal) is entrance to an all you can eat area.</p>
<p>For guest meals, you get a certain number per semester depending on your plan (generally 5). If you bring someone to a dining hall with you who is not a student, when you swipe in, you’ll tell the person swiping you in that you have a guest and they will take away a guest meal from your account. You cannot use your own meals for guests.</p>
<p>CavAdvantage is the extra account you’re referring to princetongirl. Money on CavAdvantage works very much like your plus dollars in that they are stored on your Student ID card and it’s used like a debit/credit card. The difference is that it’s not limited to food and it’s your own money. You load money into the account from a source like a credit card, and then the money is yours to spend wherever (including the bookstore, laundry rooms, food places, etc)</p>
<p>I had Unlimited & Plus 15 my first two semesters. I ate all three meals a day, but I switched because I wanted more variety in my food, and my schedule second semester didn’t allow me any time to eat at the dining hall for dinner… and then I wasn’t using up that many meals…so it really is up to you and your eating habits. Plus dollars are really convenient, but the pav and crossroads are really overpriced. Just my two cents.</p>
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<p>I swiped in my friends all the time first year (with my own meals), since I could cut in line at the Brown swipe in Newcomb and they couldn’t. One DOTL I swiped in 6 people with my meals at once (I had 13 or 15 /week or something outrageous I never went through). I’ve never used any of my guest meals… (no need, and also it would mean I have to stand in line and not cut at the Brown swipe).</p>
<p>I buy things for my friends with my plus dollars a lot too. But I do go to the Castle a lot when I have office hours and little time to get food and I just want something tasty before the hoards of students descend… 
One of my students bought me dinner once with her plus dollars so that I would stay late and help her, lol! I do end up using most of the plus dollars at least, though.</p>
<p>Thanks guys for the information, it was very helpful.</p>
<p>The meals every week don’t accumulate if they’re not used, right? So if there are meals leftover on tuesday night, they go to waste?</p>
<p>Yes, unless you have a semesterly plan as an upperclassman (my meals roll over from fall semester to spring semester, I get 100/semester or 200/yr). That is why I would always swipe my friends, I always had extra meals going to waste.</p>
<p>Haha I can’t wait for the Brown swiping power next year! Normally when I have a guest though, it’s pretty obvious (like it’s my mom or my dad or grandparents or something like that).</p>