University Student Meal Plans! | British vs American

[@sanderson5857]

I go to a UK uni and the majority of people are ‘self-catered’ meaning you cook and provide food for yourself in a shared kitchen in your flat /hall . The other minority are in catered halls with breakfast, lunch and dinner provided for students included in the cost of their rent. You don’t tend to pick a specific meal plans, it is more dependent on your accommodation type. This only applies to 1st year mainly , most people tend to cook for them self in 2nd and 3rd year in private housing, but this is my experience it may differ at other unis.

[@DrDaveW]

Yes, I mainly cooked for myself (University of York, 1990 - ouch). The canteen food wasn’t too bad, on the on-campus college system meant there were six canteens to choose from, plus things like pizza counters. So actually having a catered meal from time-to-time was actually a bit of a treat. Generally, really good, and I now love cooking.

[@clsisman]

Yeah this is way more accurate than what was said in the video

[@janani1826]

Yeah my university doesn't even offer catered, it is all self catered and It is definitely much cheaper that way

[@sophieirwin3497]

Catered halls at university of Liverpool was exclusively for first years and the majority of first years were catered (which put parents at ease that amongst all the changes, first years had some decent meals). But it was only breakfast and dinner and at the halls canteen (about 6-8 halls per pretty decent sized canteen)

[@sophieirwin3497]

@@sanderson5857 interesting. I was there 2009-2013 when greenbank and Carnatic were still standing/not renovated

[@laceym314]

I was REQUIRED to have a meal plan my Freshman year at a state University in the US. It was very similar to Evan's experience. I chose the 14 meals per week but have no idea of the actual cost, but am probably still paying on it. Luckily my school was in a town that was very walkable with lots of alternate options for dining the remaining three years. Including a take-away frozen alcohol bar!

[@gracev8762]

Why was it required? I assume it was just to squeeze more money out of you but what was the reason they said?

[@gabrielaportillo299]

Yup! Us too at uva

[@mothturtle7897]

@@zeanna5034 US universities really seem to baby their Freshmen. Here it's like you're on your own. Although there *is* support if you seek it out. Probably the ideal is somewhere in the middle. I was already a decent cook by the time I went to uni. I would have so resented having to to sign up for a meal plan!

[@SGast]

@@zeanna5034 You have to remember that due to the different school system it is not uncommon for freshman to not be of age yet. So they justify it with not wanting to have underaged students living on there own or going hungry. If you start college once your older (20+) or live with family you can normally get a waiver for these requirements.

[@eclowe6594]

My university in the US required it for freshman and sophomores and then if you lived on campus as juniors and seniors you were required to as well. And the year after I graduated they added a smaller meal plan requirement for commuters. It's ridiculous

[@Law030811]

I went to the University of Portsmouth, which is a city university and not on its own campus. I lived in student halls all three years and there was no meal plan. I shared a kitchen with I think 7 other people, and you had to grocery shop yourself and prepare all your own meals. I enjoyed it.

[@missrosietee]

Australian uni culture is so different! We had no meal plans whatsoever and our choices on campus were kind of limited. We all had to cook and most of us lived off mi goreng :)

[@yaowsers77]

😲

[@c0ronariu5]

Same. I was like “meal plan, what meal plan?”

[@WouterWeggelaar]

same, but from the Netherlands! I'm not aware of meal plans over here. there's catering on campus, but that's more for guests / staff. As a student I just brought bread for lunch (I'm Dutch after all) and dinner was home cooked

[@barbararowley6077]

Also Australian. We had a variety of eateries in the Agora, plus there was a nice cafe in the Union building. One of the residential colleges (the most expensive) was catered, but the others were shared kitchens on each floor. Mind you, that was back in the ‘90’s.

[@chrstiania]

Same in Germany. there were canteens you could chose to go to (not at all connected to wherever you lived) and get a meal with student discount. but nothing remotely similar to a meal plan

[@katiegreenow3369]

I love evan being shocked that you can get alcohol in your student union in the UK when my uni turns into a nightclub on Wednesdays and Saturdays and has its own pub lol

[@tonypcoyle]

I was basically paid in beer at Uni. Working in Ents setting up bands and discos, running discos (I was the worst DJ evah!), Free beer when behind the decks! Yay! For a few other nights I'd work behind the bar at one of the other unions in the city (pulling pints, bussing glasses, changing kegs, keeping chillers stocked, and making endless toasties!!)

[@laulau194]

This is a strange one to watch as a Brit who went to university in the US. Also had to suffer the mandatory 14 meals a week plan in freshman year, but successfully fed myself for less for the next three (also in Philadelphia without dying).

[@Maisie_Goodwin]

Really don’t recommend going catered at uni in the UK, it’s often cheaper to cook for yourself and far easier to be social as you can invite people over for food or go out to eat meal without feeling obligated to eat at the Uni where you have already paid for your food in advance

[@JamieFrew]

I'd say that depends, I was in catered halls (big old Victorian hotel of a place) and the food worked out at pennies a meal when you compared the rent with the self catered halls. It was also much better food than I would have been cooking myself at the time.

[@meredythcosta6977]

My small Massachusetts state school has “all you care to eat” is required for all dorms that don’t have kitchens. It’s a little under $2000/semester but you could go whenever you wanted (like you could literally go just for water and fruit if you wanted, or go and spend 2-3 hours a day and fill up till puking). We also could use our “meal swipes” (which were the unlimited part) at the Dunkin’ Donuts on campus or at the daily food trucks on the academic campus (so if you had 4 classes a day and couldn’t get to the dining hall for lunch or whatever you could stop at the food truck). We also get “clipper cash” that we could use around town (mostly spent at the convenience store in the middle of the academic and residential campuses). They tried to do the “no take away” for us, but we kept stealing plates, silverware and whatever else we could get our hands on so they finally put them out for anyone to take

[@davey2487]

Seems like an amazing deal. $2000/semester for that is a steal, unless you're someone who doesn't eat that much.

[@libraryofthoughts0]

@@davey2487 Amazing deal? 2000 bucks per semester? 😂 Jeez.. We have free education and it includes lunch🤷‍♂ Different country, but still.. If you make your own food, you can live like $150-$250 per month depending on what you eat. I don't get it why pay $2000 for six months worth of food, if you could live six months around $1000 if you are making your own food..

[@BeccaMoses]

Which campus are you on ? I’m at a nearby school and I’ve been to umass amherst and their dining absolutely terrifies me (mostly bc I’m worried I’ll run into ppl from my high school, but still)

[@meredythcosta6977]

@@BeccaMoses I’m so jealous of zoomass’s food XD XD

[@HF-tj8db]

@Davey A deal?!?! I cook 3 good meals a day plus loads of snacks for £30 a week. If a semester is 4/5 months then that’s £600ish a semester. I’d rather cook than pay 4 times as much.

[@user-jk1ts3iv8u]

can we talk about how she actually got excited about getting fish and chips 😭 i love this country

[@denisemeredith2436]

I used to work at the University of Birmingham but they didnt have meal plans for students but the Halls had kitchens for students to cook for themselves. As a member of staff, I could eat in the student eateries eg The Guild of Students (Student Union) or at other on campus eateries. I always felt sorry for the students as everything was so pricey. We would go off campus to a place called The Selly Sausage or to the carious pubs such as The Goose at The OVT - student haunts which were cheap.

[@laflaf125]

I don't know when you worked there but I am currently a UoB student and when I was applying back in 2019 and visiting student halls they had meal plans for certain accommodations. I think they give students a card they can use on campus only. Accommodations that were with meal plans were more expensive than the self catered ones because it was included in the rent.

[@RBXTrains]

They definitely have a meal plan now. If in uni accommodation you either live in a self catered or meal plan block.

[@denisemeredith2436]

@@laflaf125 I was first there from 1980-84 and then returned in 1995 and was made redundant in 2008. I am glad students have meal plans now and I am sad that The Selly Sausage is no more replaced by a bubble bar (not sure what it is called now - I don't travel that way too often these days).

[@allenwilliams1306]

I went to university at Oxford. A long time ago, but, still... All first years had to live in college, Breakfast was included. This consisted of a bread roll, butter, and marmalade, with unlimited tea or coffee. You could have a cooked breakfast, but you had to pay for it. You also had dinners included in your accommodation price. There was either informal dinner, or formal dinner, to choose from at set times. The food you got was exactly the same, the only difference being that grace was said, you had to wear your gown, and you got table service, at formal dinner (and there were lots of other incidental rules). Sundays was formal dinner only. You could order wine or beer from the college cellar to accompany dinner, but you had to pay for it. The wine was good (we had an excellent cellar: one of the fellows was responsible for stocking it). However, the same cannot be said for the food, which was dreadful. The thing I remember about it was the frequent serving of chicken supreme as the main course, and lychees with syrup as the pudding. We used to joke that the catering manager had bought a job lot of tins of these things shortly after the war, and was working his way through them 25 years later. Needless to say, I never got up for breakfast, and I have never since eaten chicken supreme or lychees. We just went to the pub for lunch.

[@xugro]

I know you said a long time ago but what college were you at? I can't imagine having to go formal dinners or pay for your own in sundays.

[@allenwilliams1306]

@@xugro Hertford College. This was October 1970-June 1971. You got 12 dinner tickets per term (56 days), that couldn't be “rolled over” to a subsequent term, and these were included in your accommodation costs, as were “breakfasts” every day. Anything additional to this (including a cooked breakfast) was either charged in cash, or put on your account (battels), that became due for payment at the end of each term. You didn't have to go to any formal dinners, or any dinners at all, but you had 12 prepaid per term. If you could sell your dinner tickets, or use them to pay for a guest, fair enough. However, it made a lot of sense to use them on Sundays, when there was only formal dinner, because at the time it was difficult to get a proper meal on Sundays in the city centre at a non-tourist price anywhere else.

[@dianepiggott1083]

My son is at Nottingham university, his first year he was in halls and had a meal plan. He had breakfast and dinner included, at the weekend they provided brunch as they knew students wouldn't be up in time for breakfast. Included with the meal plan they had a card with about £27 for the week which they could use to buy lunch in any of the cafe's onsite. They could also buy food from onsite supermarkets using the card. As they had fridges in their rooms they could make their own sandwich's with bread and butter bought from the shops.

[@pattycoe7435]

I went to a small college for the first 2 years. We had card punch cards that were purchased by everyone who used the cafeteria. Since we were living there and not drive in daily the ladies in the cafeteria got to know us and loaded up our trays and the food was delicious. Great memories of those 2 years.

[@homedepot.]

Where did you go?

[@SeenOrHeard]

What a lovely guest for this episode. Her laugh is sublime!

[@KatyAdelson]

I used to be the omelette maker person at a dining hall in the morning, lol. Apparently they were good omelettes, and several people said they only wanted an omelette if I was making it, which seemed kind of weird to me, because I didn’t like eating omelettes lol. 👀 but working at the dining hall was great - they took $2.00 out of our paycheck so we could eat a whole meal. It made it so much more affordable…

[@sophieirwin3497]

I had a meal plan in first year of university, so breakfast and dinner was included in my rent. The breakfast was to a point eat as much as you want but you had to take everything at once. And the cooked breakfast was only really good on a Sunday. The dinners were a bit all over the place. You could have three courses, but I never bothered. The lasagne was really good but the burgers were always dry and the puddings were always really small

[@Phiyedough]

As with a lot of these videos, I would suspect the British experience is fairly typical of universities throughout the world but USA does things differently.

[@chesh1rek1tten]

In Germany you use your student card, load some money on it and use it as a debit card. The public could get dining room cards to put money on, they wouldn't get the student discount obviously. But at my (very small) university we had 2 "dining halls" - pastaria (always serving pasta with different sauces and a selection of salads like kraut salad or shredded carrots or cucumbers and some desserts - all about 1 cup - 1.5 cups in size) and the actual dining hall - changing meals, always a vegetarian option, about 4 different meals + a salad bar. Right across the street was a bakery. Dining hall opened at 11 am and service ended around 6 pm, the hall stayed open till 9 pm. And there was hot water, a coffee machine, tee bags and milk for everyone. Bigger universities mostly have bigger menus. The difference is.. you don't love at university. It's expected that you take care of yourself, it's just an offer to students.

[@Lollypop1226]

My school in the U.S. is essentially same as your school in Germany, except that we opened for breakfast at 7 AM, and had two late nights per week in which we were open until midnight. I didn't work those late night shifts thankfully, haha.

[@driftedspirit]

Wow US unis seem insane. The thought of all you can eat sounds amazing lol. I went to uni in the south west of England and everything was self catering. The student union did the typical fast food stuff of pizzas, chips, burgers, scampi etc. The cafe above was slightly more healthy with paninis, jacket potatoes etc but our main food hall - although having a really good and often very healthy range was really expensive because you weren’t paying for a meal - you were paying per item. I mostly lived in the cafe & SU bars for food lol. Bliss was right! You can drink alcohol from 11am so once the bar opened it was a nice pint with dinner then a lecture then back to the bar.

[@joegoss30]

The all-you-can-eat wasn't very common in my day. There was one cafeteria line and you would go through once (and get pretty much anything you wanted). There might have been an ice cream machine or salad bar, but that was it. There weren't any separate stations. The multiple food stations came along when universities started to cater more heavily to student demands (like the really fancy fitness centers & more comfortable dorms).

[@carrieunderwood1189]

I'm from the US and the best was when our cafeteria finally let us take meals to go. You would get your meal but then grab like pints of milk, pieces of bread, and fruit so you didn't have to wake up super early to go to breakfast (they only served until 9am). Also they gave us so much 'bucks' to use at the dorm cafe that at the end of the semester you would buy SO many snacks and beverages so you wouldn't have wasted that money (and like take all those snacks home for semester break)

[@route2070]

I always hear people talk about the brands their meal plans work with, or places in campus, and I am so jealous. We just had the cafe, and vendor operated fast food style place, and vendor operated convenient store from 8-12. Also, the campus was dry, and it was public. Plus our dining options were open to the public, they just pay cash. And it was kind of popular for Sunday Brunch.

[@OMGitsaClaire]

So I went to a weird hippie commune college in the US (Warren Wilson! Hoo-de-hoo!) where all the students worked at least 15 hours a week for the college and our college farm grew 40% of the food we ate. You could literally watch cows grazing while eating a burger made from cows that had been grazing in that pasture a few months before. But we always had fresh, ethically raised meat and lots of organic veggies raised on the farm available in our dining hall and a lot of the rest of the food was sourced locally as well. (There was always a giant bowl of really nice North Carolina grown apples at the end of the salad bar.) we had our hot line which was whatever they were making that day, then what we called the “vegan bar” which was basically a build your own Buddha bowl station with brown rice, different cooked veggies, and beans and/or tofu. You could also just grab any of that stuff as a side. And then we had a massive, very well-stocked salad bar with every topping imaginable, at the end of that along with a big bowl of apples was two kinds of soup and a big basket of usually whole wheat rolls. And then we had a sandwich line where you could get a cold-cut sandwich like Subway made for you. We also had a soda fountain but I don’t remember there being a lot of soda and an ice cream cooler that usually had two or three big tubs of ice cream. Once and a while as a treat one of the cooks would make a bunch of peanut butter pie. That was always a good day. And then we had Cowpie, our vegan cafe that had a different meal every day (just the one meal, take it or leave it) that was nutritionally planned out to meet the requirements of vegans. But to be honest, the food was tasty and creative and a lot of people ate there even if they weren’t vegan. They had homemade veggie burgers every Friday and that was a popular day. And then we had a few little cafes that had tea, coffee, and snack type items. But to be honest, most of us would just slip an apple into our pocket from the salad bar and eat it wandering around campus between meals.

[@alicepiccoli1003]

This is really interesting! Here in Italy the university buildings are generally distributed al throughout the city and you have to find indipendent housing in random apartments, so you have to do your own food shopping and cook yourself. In my city, my university (and I imagine there's something similar in other cities) runs a number of canteens where for like 5€ you get a whole meal, for 3.50€ you get just a one course meal. If you're on a scholarship you are guaranteed a free meal per day. You can eat in the canteen or you can get the food and bring it home, generally the portions are generous and the food is ok, it depends in which canteen you go to

[@wokky666]

So Interesting. In Belgium my school was really small, and of course an art school. We could choose out of maybe 2 types of pre-made sandwiches. And maybe a few pastries. Also we could buy coupons for 1 pasta place and one pizza place. Needless to say, most people would bring their own food.

[@mojovr5003]

Indeed. We don't do meal plans at all lol

[@Arldavis]

The college I went to had a similar dining experience as Evan's. Only it was built into the semester tuition. So you can go and eat as much and as often as you like since you're already paying for it in your tuition. I'm glad it wasn't separate so I didn't have to decide what I was going to eat.

[@EM-iy2nk]

My now husband went to Rowan as well so I spent quite a bit of time on campus there! Her face when you showed her the cafeteria was priceless!

[@thomaslargent4700]

can we just talk about how pretty bliss’s smile is 🥺

[@sie4431]

It'd be a pretty short discussion

[@ericagerold]

As someone who also went (still goes) to Rowan I cannot wait to see how this conversation goes

[@sankarirotta]

it's so interesting to hear about different experiences of uni life! in finland we have student restaurants where you can get a meal for 2,70€ so that's super cheap 😅

[@rhilou32]

(Aberystwyth Uni, UK) There were catered and self-catered halls options available. Most people went for self-catered, the catered halls were kinda bad in my experience. I did self-catered, and successfully fed myself for the four years I was there. Even if you were self-catered, you could still eat at the main food-hall, but you had to pay for it. The SU had food options (pizza / chicken / fries, etc as well as a shop where you could get sandwiches etc), as well as a bar serving alcohol. The town itself, whilst small, had a wide variety of cafes, takeaways, and restaurants, as well as a few large supermarkets. Always ate well.

[@AMayT1992]

That's where I went! Always love to see a fellow Aber alum 🙂

[@rhilou32]

@@AMayT1992 Weirdly, I've seen a couple of us in the comments! 😂

[@darcityler2621]

I went to summer uni in Aber and it was catered as default, the food was good and it was all free 😍

[@rhilou32]

@@darcityler2621 oh, don't get me wrong, when I was there (2013 onwards) the catered food was great, it was just the actual halls / dorms / rooms whatever weren't great in comparison to the other, self catered accommodation. I don't know of they've had an upgrade since then though!

[@Dog-kw9gg]

Quick, how can I take advantage of the fact that I got here so absurdly early??!!

[@charlie.saturday]

I’ll give you a thumbs up! Lol

[@heather0f]

Tell everyone you are first

[@Lizziel23]

I was self catered at uni and probably could count the number of meals I bought from the canteen on one hand - everyone just cooked, even if it was a frozen pizza 🤷🏻‍♀️ there were also catered halls though where some meals were included in your rent (usually breakfast and dinner)

[@EricaGamet]

I went to a small college in the US waaaaaaaay back in the mid-1980s. Our meals were included in our room and board fees (no self catering option, as none of the dorms had kitchen facilities). It was all you could eat, but there were set meal times. So you might have had 2 hours for breakfast, so I guess there was some kind of limit to how much you could shove down in that time. And it was a boring room and everyone just wanted to get done and out into the California sunshine. We used to fill bags with the cereal, grab bananas, and any baked goods we could throw in our bag. I might have also helped myself to a few dishes and silverware to eat said food back in my dorm room.

[@sineadkearney1635]

I honestly didn’t think U.K. had meal plans in uni (NI doesn’t at least that I know of)😂😂I literally only found out Americans have it like 4 weeks ago.

[@goopguy548]

Yeah maybe thats for the better, after seeing the American meal plans I'm not surprised there obesity is so high

[@caijones156]

Aberystwyth have one, but they just give you the money back on a campus only card so you could by food there

[@caijones156]

and all you get is that money to spend at the onsite cafe, shops and SU Bar which needless to say is expencive. though with covid they did release a delivery service for bog standard meals

[@sineadkearney1635]

My uni in belfast had a school like canteen but you had to pay normal prices for it like, no meal plans

[@marlyd]

I knew thanks to Gilmore Girls

[@bookmovietvworm]

At my college, they finally implemented a takeaway system. You just had to tell the person if you were eating in or taking out. But you only got one big box and a smaller box for salad so if you wanted a lot of food it was better to just eat in. But it was great when in a rush

[@countertony]

I was at Exeter uni 2003-2007, and *in first year only* we had a 21-meal meal plan through being in a 'catered' hall (though purchased separately from accommodation). Breakfast and evening meal were in the hall's refectory only, while for lunch you got a paper voucher that you could use either for an in-hall meal or as ~£2.50 toward certain meals at on-campus outlets (most outlets had one meat and one vegetarian option that the voucher would entirely cover.) There were no branded concessions, but the pre-packaged sandwiches at the students' union (styled the Guild of Students) were from the Ginsters chain, which used to be common in stations at the time.

[@countertony]

In years 2+ you generally lived in private rented accommodation, and bought 'a la carte' or made your own lunches.

[@yazpanda]

What, that meal plan thing sounds amazing 🤯 when I was at uni (Derby, UK) there was a convenience store type thing on the main campus as well as a sort of canteen? Oh and the student union bar. But the canteen had like 2 or 3 hot meal options per day and the bar did basic pub type food like burgers and chips. And you paid for each meal again like if you were at a pub. They weren't much cheaper than getting it elsewhere! So even in first year when I lived in halls, I still had to get my own groceries and cook for myself.

[@Laniiiiiiiiiii]

Hey guys, hope your Sunday’s going well

[@Hydraas]

The small canteen I think might be a London/city university thing in the UK, because at Reading Uni, the main food hall was huge compared to Bliss'

[@seleyav.7101]

I was at a university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule) here in Germany. We had no meal plan. I lived in the dorm and you had kitchens for cooking. Our lectures started 7:30, so you made your breakfast in the dorms or you had to wait for first break and visit the cafeteria for bread rolls or baguettes. Lunch was served there, too. We had (at first) a separate card for meals where we could charge money on, later this function was applied in our student card. We could choose from 3 warm meals monday till friday and 2 warm meals on weekend (and 1 of them was vegetarian). It was really good and the serving size was more than acceptable. The prices were very low, depending on the type we had to pay between 2,10€ and 3,40€. The cafeteria was public, so everybody could eat there. The professors/other university workers payed 50% more than students and strangers payed at least double than students. Dinner was our responsibility. You could eat bread and cold cuts/cheese, cook for yourself or order something. Or you could go to the students clubs where small dinners were served.

[@meality]

In France it's very similar. I went to a big university so we add more choices in meals (15-20 options in the big cafeteria) but the system is basically the same !

[@andrelee7081]

Honestly, I really enjoyed the dining halls when I was in a college (American btw). The food was usually pretty good (steaks were a little too well done sometimes, but the university has its own brand of ice cream that was really good), and all of them offered takeout in exchange for a meal swipe. They were pretty strict on grabbing too much on the way out, so lots of people had tupperware in their backpacks and put food in them when no one was looking. Definitely no alcohol though, you'd have to walk five minutes off campus to the liquor store for that.

[@onewhoisanonymous]

I worked for ARAMARK on my university campus. ARAMARK was the catering service responsible for the cafeterias and shops on my campus. I worked part time for them while I was a student. We had Einsteins Bagels, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and a knock-off subway. The University bucks worked on all these shops (and on select merchandise) So students would buy their kitchen utensils and cups from Starbucks on the campus bucks. I worked at the Starbucks. I would get free meals or discounts. Some of the shops were open to the public except the cafeteria.

[@TheCrazyFreak]

The American meals sound really good tbh. In Slovenia we have "student vouchers" (you either get a card or you can install them on your phone) and most restaurants in university-heavy cities have student meal options on their menus. Idk if this is still the case but back when I was at uni you'd often only pay like 2.5€ for a whole meal (I'm talking a soup, main course + a salad, dessert, a drink) because the voucher would cover the rest of the price. Well, the price depended on the restaurant (as some were more expensive than others) but I don't think I ever paid more than 5€ (and like I said, usually it was only 2.5€) so it was often cheaper to eat out than cook yourself. Oh, and these are regular restaurants around the city, not any special canteens for students only (but only students are able to use the vouchers, of course). There _are_ canteens on certain student dorm campuses but I've never been to one so I can't say what they're like.

[@callmepretzygoo]

these videos about us/uk university are so interesting to me as a born and bred american going to university in the uk

[@ossessive24]

in italy we have a canteen (or different canteens around town) for students only. we pay with the smartcard from the university that you can charge with the amount you want. the canteen is open only for lunch, the menù is kind of limited and the same for all canteens, but you have a complete menu for 4,20€. you can choose complete menu or limited menu for a little less money. we also have at least two or three bars inside the "campus" where students and teachers can eat at a reduced price, they serve also alcohol if you want

[@LadyQAB]

I do university in the Netherlands and there is no meal plan here at all I think. However we do have Sodexo and canteens that serve food but only for lunch in the small buildings and you could get diner in the main building and never breakfast

[@WouterWeggelaar]

I've gone to Delft University, and it's the same there. I've never heard of meal plans in the Netherlands. Sodexo does offer bread and butter, cheese, meat etc, but not really used by the students because it's way cheaper to bring your own bread. except if you want a "broodje kroket"👌

[@Macarite]

I’m in 4th year at Uni in the UK and I’ve always just cooked for myself in the kitchen, no meal plans or anything. In 1st year everyone’s in halls then for the other years everyone usually moves out into a house with mates. Only 2 halls offer catering services. (Liverpool uni)

[@HonestWatchReviewsHWR]

As someone who went to University in the UK (albeit a while ago now) I find the whole idea of 'Meal Plans' to be a bit weird. Part of going away to University is to learn and develop, not only academically, but also when it comes to life skills too. Learning to cook, do washing etc.

[@sarahbourne1872]

So interesting to me cos I’m Australian and we all live at home and go to uni! I knew American colleges were expensive so now I know why

[@eleanormaddocks1834]

Second year student, was in catered halls last year. We got a daily allowance for meals (which couldn’t be rolled over, so if you didn’t use it, you lost it) which barely covered two meals a day. Our allowance was £8.15 and lunch and dinner was £3.75 each, £4.75 if you wanted to add extras like vegetables. The food was also not great and you pretty much only ever had a choice of two things in the evening, typically similar so if you weren’t keen on what was on offer, you just used your allowance to buy snacks or went hungry.

[@sophieirwin3497]

The cafe at my work does fish and chips Friday for lunch. It’s a British institution

[@mackenziemc]

At SFASU we have togo options which I used basically all through my semester during COVID. This past semester they just implemented this thing called Meal Exchange. Basically exchange one swipe (once a day) that you would use at the dining hall at one of the one campus fast food places like Chick-fil-A, or Panda Express

[@jk-jl2lo]

my university (american) requires all first- and second-year students who live on campus to pick one out of three of the options for meal plans. specifically, we have to pick one that includes swipes into the main dining hall (all-you-can-eat, just swipe your ID when you walk in) and points (basically equal to dollars, can be used at any other cafe or store or restaurant on campus). there are 10, 15, or 19 swipe options and the plans with fewer swipes come with more points. the 19 swipe plan is the most expensive at almost *$2500* per semester and the 10 swipe plan is the cheapest at just *$2400* per semester. so basically, if you want to live on campus for your first two years, you'll be forced to pay an extra $10,000 for your meal plan on top of the nearly $20,000 you'll have to pay for housing for two years.

[@danh4698]

Evan's meal plan costing £7.80 a day, gosh! I spent maybe £12 max a week as a self-catered student in the UK.

[@kevinray1382]

I think that's per time you go not necessarily the one he had

[@Youssii]

Given that those prices were per semester/only for four months, it was more like $18 a day. I probably spent more like £50 a week on food (including getting take-out once and eating a sandwich out or something) but Evan was dining on double that and not even getting 3 meals…

[@megs2000]

my undergrad (uni of lincoln, uk!) only had self-catered accommodation - had to make breakfast lunch and dinner for yourself. cafes on campus that sometimes did hot meals but you had to pay out of pocket. also yes student union pubs on campus always served alcohol!

[@laurensteenkamp7693]

I think in the UK unless you go to one of the collegiate unis (Oxbridge -definitely- or Durham -possibly-) 'dining' depends on your accommodation type, as far as I understand it at an Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge) college never mind what year your in during your undergraduate degree you have to eat in your college at least several times a week. When your not eating 'in college' you can eat at any of the uni owned cafes

[@ad3z10]

Went to Uni in Guildford, we had a restaurant thing but I never attended during my time there. Breakfasts didn't really exist for me but lunch was usually a sandwich or toastie from the campus shop (thankfully they added more variety later on) and then dinner was cooked by myself. Also had a kebab shop on campus and two different bars along with the town centre being a ~10 minute walk away with all variety of food options. There was also a street food day one day a week with a bunch of pop ups as well as a market day to buy fruit, veg, bread, etc on campus.

[@caitlin329]

(England) For my first year I chose catered accommodation, so my food was included in my rent. There was a sort of cafeteria for breakfast and dinner, and the same with food at university. Basically I got money in an account which I could only spend on food and drink. We could use it anywhere on campus too, including the Starbucks. Plenty of people still did their own food, and the money carried over. I used it for lunches in my second year once I went to private accommodation (a house). Oh and you could either eat in or take away at every place.

[@susanna7004]

Wow at my uni (London) there are 3 bars - we don’t really have a central canteen though, just lots of small cafes. The food is pretty good - there’s a vegetarian cafe which is so good!

[@greerh5798]

At my college freshman are mandated to have the anytime dining plan which is unlimited meal swipes for the dining hall and like $700 extra food cash (called thrifty cash) for Starbucks or whatever other places are on campus so basically forcing you to eat the schools food. After that you can have smaller plans but our housing has full kitchens so they basically encourage students to cook their own food anyway

[@sistermadrigalmorning233]

Evan-- sneaky sneaky with staying there. Our big cafeteria closed between meals. It was open for breakfast I think from 7-9am, for lunch from 11:30-2, and for dinner from 5-6:30. Yes it closed ridiculously early. We also had an a la carte cafe in the student center that was open until 8 I think but if you were hungry after 8 you had to order pizza or chinese (the only things that delivered back when I was in school) or microwave something you kept in your room. But yeah, since it closed between meals we couldn't be sneaky but we could leave the cafeteria with fruit, cookies and drinks in a nalgene (which I often filled with milk for breakfast and just had cereal or oatmeal in my room for breakfast because I had a 15 meals a week plan.)

[@jennievrchota2284]

I attended college in South Dakota. We had a couple different meal plans. The one was an option to buy certain amount of meals for our one all you can eat dining hall plus flex dollars (used for every other food place on campus). I had the plan that was only flex dollars since the all you can eat dinning hall was on the opposite side of campus. The meals and flex dollars would not transfer from the fall to spring semester but we also had hobo dough that could be used everywhere (including vending machines) that would last until you graduated, you just kept adding money add needed. So at the end of the semester, people would go crazy at our dairy bar buying ice cream and cheese to bring home to use up their flex dollars.

[@toroallin5734]

The university I go to requires a meal plan if you live in the residence buildings on campus but if you don’t then you don’t need one. But if you don’t have a meal plan you can’t access the dining area unless a friend who had a meal plan used an extra swipe for you. And they only got like 4 extra swipes a year.

[@crikeyscreates]

I have watched you for years but seeing you with Bliss makes me so very happy 😊

[@AmberBlogsLife]

Funny how this differs between countries. Here in belgium at Ghent University a normal student pays about 4 euros for a spaghetti, a scholarship-student would pay about 2 euros, and the general public funds us all with a full 12 euros per spaghetti :) We don't have mealplans and just pay per meal in the restaurants and cafetaria's, but you could decide to put money on your student card, which can only be used in sais restaurants. A lot of parents do this to control where their kids might be eating. Most restaurants have 3-4 potential veggies, 2-3 potential carbs and 1-2 meats, 1 fish and 1 veggie option. Depending on the day of the week, there will be a special option like spaghetti bolognese (on wednesdays!) or french fries (fridays!). Next to that, you'll find 2 kinds of soup + bread, An assortment of sandwiches, 2-3 desserts (muffins, chocolate mousse, etc) and every drink imaginable, including actual wine and beer. I don't think i've ever paid more then 10 euros in a university 'resto' :-)

[@maggiemccarthy8766]

My meal plan in Indiana was included in my housing bundle. And if you signed a 2 year housing contract, you got extra food money. You could choose 10, 14, 18, or 21 meals per week, and the fewer meals per week, the more extra food money you got. And my school had a Taco Bell, a Starbucks, a Chick fil A, and a few other restaurants on campus that you could include in a meal. We had 4 main dining halls, and each was different. Some were all you can eat, and some were specific money amounts, and each meal had an equivalent money amount you can spend

[@mackenziemaybarraclough1207]

I never went to university but I did go to visit my best friends at uni. One went to University of Leeds and the other went to University of York. Neither of them had a meal plan, they just had kitchens in the halls. At Leeds, they were in a big block of flats almost where they'd be like 5 flats per block that all shared one kitchen. Then at York, they had a house each where they'd be a shared bathroom and shared kitchen and there'd be like 5 bedrooms in that house. So they just went and bought groceries and then would cook their own. When I visited Leeds, we went out for breakfast and then cooked a supermarket pizza for tea and at York, we had a Dominos takeaway delivered to the house halls.

[@lostincyberspaceIII]

Most student dining halls are open to the public, especially those run by Sodexo. Mostly because there are often events where students from other schools come and they need somewhere to eat and they probably came in a group so they don't have their own vehicles to travel anywhere but there.

[@findcassiehere]

I went to a state school in PA. How you described yours in Jersey is pretty much what ours was. You got x-number of meals per week; the default was 19 (3 on weekdays + 2 each saturday & sunday) that were either at one of the two all-you-can-eat dining halls or meal equivalencies at one of the 4 grab and go places on campus (only certain items on the menus counted and it was usually really unclear), but there was also an unlimited one, and a 14-meal one; and then you had 'flex dollars' that you could use at those grab and go places to get other items (one of them was a convenience store that had a lot of snack food, turkey hill ice cream and milkshakes, milk, cereal, etc.). If you lived on campus you had to have at least the 14-meal plan and i think freshman had to have the 19-meal one. Older students who lived off campus could get 'block meal plans' which were like x-number per semester (I think it was 150, 100, or 75) that they could use at any point. "Marauder Gold" was a separate thing, but you (or your parents) could put money in an account that could be used at any campus establishment (including laundry in the dorms and the university store) as well as some other places around town. Essentially your student ID acted as a debit card for places that took it. The places I remember having were an on-campus Starbucks, the two pizza places right off campus, the one 'family restaurant' that had a bar and was where everyone got drunk on their 21st birthday because it was a 'dry campus', Sheetz (the better establishment that Wawa), and a coffee shop that was right off campus. Theoretically anyone could eat at our dining halls, but it was more expensive for unaffiliated people (like if your parents or siblings wanted to eat with you while they were visiting). I think was $7.25 for students and like $12.50 for community members for the all-you-can-eat dining halls? We got two 'guest meals' per semester, too, that were basically made so when a parents dropped you off and picked you up you could take them to the dining hall to eat?

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

I went to university later in life. Halls exist in Australia, but mostly for year one students from the country. Mostly the kids live with mum and dad wherever possible. To save money.

[@beccabradley423]

I go to Georgia Southern University, and we were required to have a meal plan during my freshman year last year (2020-2021 school year). The plan I picked was 14 meals a week plus 100 dining dollars to use at the restaurants on campus (Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, or a deli). I didn't really make food at all for dinner or lunch, so the only groceries I bought were instant oatmeal or cereal for breakfast and popcorn or apples for snacks. Also, because of covid, all our food was in to-go boxes. We just got our stuff, left, and ate somewhere else. But they had plenty of yogurts, packaged cereal cups, and fruit cups you could take with you along with your hot meal in the box. This year (2021-2022) we have the choice between getting to-go or eating in there, and we just tell the person working there our choice when we swipe our card. I live off campus now (we are required to live on campus as freshman), so I had a 5 meal a week plan this past semester, which basically covered my lunches when I was in between classes on campus. I had cereal or oatmeal for breakfast (if I ate breakfast) and then made like pasta, rice, grilled cheese, or pb&j for most dinners or split the cost of a Door Dash order with my roommates (we do that like once or twice a month for a treat). I'm planning to do the same 5 meal plan for this semester coming up, and it cost about 600. The 14 meal per week was somewhere between 1,200 and 1,600 I think, but I can't remember the exact amount.

[@beccabradley423]

Also, about the being open to the public thing, our dining hall is available to the public, and I have seen many students and professors bring their family there as guests. I have also seen people who are doing student tours of campus eating there, but I wouldn't recommend eating there if you're not a student with a meal plan bc of the cost. Breakfast is 8.50, lunch is like 11.50, and dinner is like 13 I think.

[@camillestephens1378]

its so interesting to hear about mess halls because my university in western US doesnt have a cafeteria like we have some restaurants on campus and a catering kitchen but theres absolutely no official cafeteria or mess hall

[@rebecca5204]

So I am currently a student at a smaller US University, so I am in the thick of this stuff. My meal plan at school is as follows: Unlimited Swipes (I can go in as often as I want) to a buffet style dining hall and $150 Burg Bucks. Which is $150 I can spend at our campus coffee shop, pizza place, or Bistro. After 21 I can buy alcohol in the bistro, but I have to drink it there. But I could get an appartment/ commuter plan with the 14 meals, or get unlimited with up to $450 Burg Bucks. I love not having to worry about keeping track of my swipes and the ability to go whenever.

[@Kim_Music_books_racing_fan]

When Evan's biggest meal plan cost as much, if not more, than the total tuition for each of my semesters. I started out at a community College that ended up merging with a super small 4 year school that focuses on agriculture. However, they were building a Bachelor’s Degree in my field (history and government), so I stuck with them and graduated this semester. Each semester (books included) was about $2000-$2500. PELL, HOPE, and other scholarships paid for it all. I lived with family and commuted, which cost between $500-$1000 a semester. I would occasionally buy food from both schools. The community college had a Cafe that just had set prices. The 4 year school has meal plans, but you could pay all you can eat individual meals for between $6-$10. It was just a huge building (very similar in size to that photo at 6:15, and there was like 12 stations of food- salad bar, dessert bar, 5 or 6 hot food, burgers, pizz, to go prepackaged food etc. There was also a Surcheros on campus in the same building. 70% of the time, I brought my breakfast and lunch, 20% of the time I ate fast food in town, and 10% were bought from the school. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to do what I did because very few are able to.

[@xXSingMusic4everXx]

In Germany at my university, I learned that you have canteens where you get food pretty cheaply, but you'll have to pay yourself for it. I lived closer to my university building (no campus) than the canteen was away from my university building, so I mostly went home to cook for myself.

[@JamieFrew]

I was in catered halls in St Andrews and the food was included in your lodging. It worked out very very cheap (something like 14p a course) compared to self catered halls.

[@emilyrocks5391]

I live in Kingston Upon Thames where Kingston Uni is!!! I'm pretty sure, speaking to friends who went to Kingston uni, most people didn't do the meal plans. Most people did self catering but had a prepaid card for the small student cafe

[@markchang2]

I've been to two different schools and dinning has been a little different at both. I first went to a commuter community college. Most people commuted to campus. There were two dining places on campus. One in the main build where they cooked to order. The other was in the science building and also cook to order. There were no meal plans unless you were a college for life (Special needs) student. The book store did sell snacks and there were a few vending machines around campus. Mainly I saw people go off campus for food. There were a couple places across the street. Then there was my university. We had a main dining area in the university center on the lower level. There were burgers, sandwiches, Chinese, Mexican, a few fast food brands like Chick-fil-A and pizza, salads,and entrees (which had a rotating menu of food everyday with at least one vegetarian option). Then on the main floor of the university center was a Starbucks, auntie Anne's pretzel, and a convenience store. Only one dorm had a small canteen. It was usually stuff from the university center. One academic building had a pasta place. Student center had a Kaldi's coffee. The library is getting a Starbucks. Then lastly there was the food truck. There were various meal plans. One include those bucks Evan was talking about. They called them Cougar bucks. I don't think very many places really accepted them around town. It was mainly a couple of restaurants that were really near the university. Then of course there were places that would show up to the first week of school to let students know they delivered to campus. Even though my university is located in a town where they have a biking trail that kind of runs through town It's easiest to drive to get to the other restaurant. Edit: I don't think the meal plans worked in terms of amount of meals you got all week I think it was amount of money. I almost forgot about my universities apartment. And the main building they had a place that was cooked to order. And also sold a few snacks and household essentials. Story about the meal plan. I knew this one girl who lived in the University of apartments. Should come in I was working that day and her card declined. She kept telling us she had $1,000 meal plan and she already spent it and it was only the second week of university. Some people getting hot water with running out of money quickly because they buy for everyone they know. It's easy to think of this as money you don't physically see. I kind of like the way Evan's worked because if you think of it in terms of meals you get you don't fall into that trap of I just got this money I never physically see and I can just spend it whenever and sometimes quickly run out of it

[@cpmahon]

Evan, you didn't mention beans on toast. I know how much you like it for breakfast, lunch and dinner consuming it using a knife and fork!!!! All the best for 2022 and I do hope that your property woes are resolved very soon.

[@21Kyzix12]

I went to university in the US for my undergrad and then in Japan for grad school. At my American university, I had a meal plan for my first 2 years because it was required, which gave 14 meals a week, and it was all you can eat in the cafeteria. The cafeterias were pretty nice and the food was decent, but it wasn't cheap (unless you ate a lot). When I calculated it out, I believe it came out to being about $10-12 per meal. My university in Japan on the other hand didn't have any meal plans, but the cafeteria was very cheap (between $3-$5 for a meal). We also had various food trucks on campus as well as a few 7/11s and a McDonald's that were all very popular. Alcohol is very different from the US too. While there was no alcohol on campus, generally, once a semester you get together with everyone from your class and your professor and go out drinking (if you're lucky your professor might even subsidize the drinks). Also, there was a restaurant/bar right off of campus that had a student special, so you could get all you can drink for 90 minutes for about $10 if you had a student ID.

[@lea.rosalynd]

my school in new hampshire has multiple dunkin donuts lol but yeah our meal plan works pretty much the same way, you get a certain number of meals per semester and you can break it down however you want. if you have any left over they roll into the next semester but you can't get a refund for whatever you don't use (are we surprised? no). the cafeteria has a slightly different menu every day but it's mostly the same stuff, there's pretty much anything you could want all the time. we even have a macaroni and cheese bar lmao. we also have "dining dollars" included which restaurants around the school take instead of actual money

[@laurensutcliffe9081]

At university of birmingham you can buy a meal plan gives you an amount you can buy from the uni owned food places on site and in the accommodation blocks, very few accommodation have the option available and most students make cheap food

[@GoranNewsum]

Fun fact: Fish and Chip Friday was a thing because Friday used to be payday, and the men would come home with their wages and then go out for fish and chips.

[@georgedobinson6152]

I graduated earlier this year, but I didn't do my degree through a university, but through a college (I'm in Britain) and as such, we had no halls, no meal plans, no student union. However, I preferred that to how my brother and sister went through things, where they had the full shebang, actual university, having to stay in halls and the rest of it. Having said that, neither of them had meal plans, and all of us have done degrees in completely different areas of the country.

[@archeopterixneuroza4715]

I think that if you are an adult and can't even basically cook, it's a problem not something to be expected (there's a difference between not being able to and not knowing how to - obviously not everyone has the opportunity to cook)

[@joegoss30]

When I first went to college in 1979, we had a mandatory 20 meal plan if we lived in the dorms (at least 1st year). The most irritating part was the one meal not included was Sunday dinner. For those few of us who stayed weekends on campus (it was a "suitcase college"), would have preferred skipping Sunday breakfast. There weren't many options near campus for eating if you didn't have a car.

[@ccteresa0646]

I’m also on the East Coast for college, but meal plans at our school is not like Evan’s. Ours is like buying food on a normal outing. Every food cost a certain amount, and you use your ID card (which acts like a debit card and has a certain amount of money on it based on the plan you get) to pay. To ensure you don’t spend all the money in the beginning of the semester, you get the money in intervals (for example you get $300 to spend every 2 weeks). So we can’t get unlimited food (unless you’re rich), but we are allowed to bring it outside of the cafeteria.

[@Hanni3Wanni3]

I went to uni in Surrey but there was nothing like a meal plan. I just went to a fairly local sainsburys and bought weekly shopping to cook/ the reduced basic stuff I could afford

[@danilopapais1464]

I am not American (I am German) but I got SODEXO coupons during my Apprenticeship, "unfortunately" in the nearer area around my workplace only McDonald's accepted those and sometimes by boss gave me his or others sold me theirs for a fraction of their printed value. Good old times.

[@atllauren]

Food at UGA was amazing. I think they have X number of meals per week plans now, but when I was a student it was unlimited either on a 5 day or 7 day plan. Sunday brunch had a chocolate fountain! My favorite was the made to order stir fry station. I think it was like $1,500 a semester but this was 15 years ago.

[@tcshack701]

I went to an American University and I had to opt out of the meal plan, because it was was a commuter student which meant I didn’t live on campus. The meal plans were only gave you a set amount of swipes that were restricted to dining halls which were 5 blocks away from the buildings my actual classes were in. A descent meal cost you 3 swipes.

[@vijay-c]

I like how mock outraged is at alcohol on campus - our student union building was 4 floors high, three of the floors were bars

[@livatoseus]

At my uni in The Netherlands, and I think it's all unis here and we don't live on campus, but in the city our uni is in (or at home still) and so you basically function like a normal adult in a city and always make your own food. Sometimes you can get food at the uni but usually just lunch. Getting dinner at university seems so mad to me!

[@lapiswake6583]

When I went to uni, I stayed in the cheapest halls for 3 years, catered accommodation so limited cooking facilities (no oven or hobs, just 2 microwaves and 2 fridges for 14 of us I think). Rent was about £105/week, and the meal plan which was essential for our accommodation was an extra £40/week. The meal plan was optional for self catered accomodation, but you could just spend your own money in uni food outlets too. The meal plan, when I started, was on a separate card, but you could load it onto the smartphone app too. In my 2nd year, they changed it to be built into your student card, which I didn't get a new one, so I just kept using the app. For every £10 you spent using the system, you got 1 loyalty point worth 10p (i think). By the time I finished my 3rd year (end of 2nd year, since I resat the 2nd year of uni), I had about £200 in loyalty points and £400 in balance because I ate supermarket cereal for breakfast and didn't usually have lunch (unless I went to campus). In 4th year, I lived in a house with 4 others, so I spent £20ish a week on supermarket food (I usually ate beans on toast or soup for dinner, unless I ate out, plus pizza once a week ish), and I used up my meal plan balance when on campus. But still, lockdown came in 3 months before the end of my uni experience, so I still have about £200 available on the uni-exclusive system almost 2 years since moving 200 miles away from uni. The meal plan balance could be used for any food stuff, excepting alcohol, from uni outlets. Regular balance (which you could add yourself, or they added to my account when they messed up with putting my 2nd and 3rd year meal plans on my account) and loyalty points could be used for anything, including stationery and hoodies and stuff. So 3 months ago I went onto campus and spent 1/5 of my remaining balance on a meal for my girlfriend and I plus 2 hoodies, a t-shirt, and a tote bag. My uni had several food outlets on campus which were generally open until 7pm on weekdays, plus a food court in the student village which was open at certain times (and closed early on a weekend, annoyingly).

[@floridaoceaner123]

We had a very similar thing at my university in the US (MT) to what Evan described. Our big dining hall was called the “Food Zoo” and we would all try to do what Evan said and swipe in for breakfast and then stay until they served lunch and effectively get 2 meals for 1 swipe. Another thing that was common was swiping other people in using your swipes. A lot of people would do this at the end of the week if they had extra meal swipes because everything expired at the end of the week and didn’t roll over to the next week.

[@Rhinneh]

At uni we used to put various stews and things in the slow cooker, go to class, then come back and enjoy something hot and tasty. It was surprisingly cheap to feed a houseful of people that way.

[@yaowsers77]

I'm from Jersey! While I went to Rutgers and had the 21 meal plan, I did have friends who went to Rowan!

[@poojabharti2304]

The world is so small. Came to see Evan but found Keith instead. 😂

[@aznSeddie]

I' from SoCal and my dining hall and campus restaurant experiences were very similar. Food was pretty top tier and there was a lot of it, even off-campus. And in most places, non-students are allowed in campus restaurants, but you have to pay a bit more.

[@Ari_Wil]

US here. I had to get an exemption from the meal plan for medical reasons. Otherwise it was required for all students all four years. We were also required to live on campus in the dorms all four years.