Meal Plannin’

As I mentioned on the home page, one of my goals for this summer is to really develop my cooking skills while figuring out how to cook for myself for the first time. So far so good! I made an awesome meal last night that involved chicken, zucchini, and brown rice. It was just as delicious today when I had the leftovers for lunch.

Even though I’m learning how to fend for myself now, I don’t really expect it to continue once school starts up again. There’s usually too much to think about in terms of classes and all of the organizations I’m involved with, so I won’t want to have to worry about making the time to cook or figure out my next meal. Luckily, dining on campus isn’t too shabby, and there are many different meal plans available for students.

As a freshman, you’re required to have a meal plan (they’re probably assuming you’re not ready to fend for yourself). You can chose from the Gold 19, 14, 10, or Unlimited. Each number corresponds to the number of meal swipes you get per week, which allows you to choose the one that works best with your lifestyle. For instance, if you’re not a breakfast person, you could opt for two meals per day. Each plan also comes with Flex Points (the few swipes, the more flex points you get), which are dollars that you can spend on food pretty much anywhere on campus such as the Students’ Exchange, Quiznos, or Chic-fil-a. These options definitely provide a welcomed change from the all you can eat dining options at the University Center and the Commons (Caf).

Upperclassmen have even more options for meal plans (if they choose to have one at all). There are Block meal plans that let you get a certain number of meals per semester that you can use anytime. You can even use these meals to “swipe” a friend without a meal plan into a dining hall.

I’m going to stick with one of the Gold meal plans, because they seem to work best with my busy schedule. My absolute favorite place to use my meal plan on campus is one of the stations in the Campus Center food court: Zoca. It has mexican food–burritos, tacos, quesadillas, etc. I can’t wait to get a taco salad when school is back in session.