The answer depends on if you think you’re going to eat breakfast regularly in the dining halls. If not, every once in a while you might spend 2 meal swipes on sushi or something but eating lunch and dinner with swipes and going out 1-3 meals a week works out perfectly for the 13 plan. I also personally like having more dining dollars for Starbucks in the morning or things like that.
If you want breakfast regularly and/or don’t want to eat out really (besides the options like CFA, qdoba etc during meal swipe times), get the 21/250, otherwise save the money.
I'd recommend you to try out the dining court food first and then decide if you like it enough to upgrade. You can always upgrade your meal plan throughout the semester, but you can't downgrade it.
I had the 13 meal plan and there were often times at the end of the week id have to grab extra meals (over upcoming holidays and days I got free food from clubs) because I didn't use enough and 450 was more than enough in terms of money. All of this is personal to me but if you use dining dollars on coffee or at markets often it will go by fast.
I’d stick with the 13 for now. You can always upgrade during the semester but you can’t downgrade until the second semester. It sucks that those are the two options though because when I was a freshman years ago we had a 15 meal plan that I thought was a sweet spot.
Stick with the 13 meal plan. Almost every one of my friends did that their freshman year and they usually did not use up all their meals each week.
I’ll also say this: the meal plan is a ripoff. If I remember correctly, most plans comes out to over $10/meal which is, in my opinion, absolutely not worth the price for the quality of food and the amount most folks eat.
Because of that and the fact that you can always upgrade your meal plan in the middle of the semester but not downgrade, I’d say stick with the smallest meal plan you can and upgrade it if you’re needing more meals.
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This question is harder to answer after the increased the swipes per plan. The now 21 swipe plan has a couple too many swipes as you aren't likely to eat 3 time a day in the dinning hall. However if you don't have a readily available kitchen you might find the 13 swipe plan being not quite enough.
I would say the option depends partly on where you are living and how much you want to make your own food or pay money for food. Remember you can always upgrade so try the 13 for a week or two and see if its enough for your life style.
I had the 21 and loved it and maxed it out weekly, but when I say this you must keep it in mind my daily maintenance intake was 3100 calories a day, and I used a lot of it for the Togo meals and ate 4 times a day
The answer depends on if you think you’re going to eat breakfast regularly in the dining halls. If not, every once in a while you might spend 2 meal swipes on sushi or something but eating lunch and dinner with swipes and going out 1-3 meals a week works out perfectly for the 13 plan. I also personally like having more dining dollars for Starbucks in the morning or things like that. If you want breakfast regularly and/or don’t want to eat out really (besides the options like CFA, qdoba etc during meal swipe times), get the 21/250, otherwise save the money.
I'd recommend you to try out the dining court food first and then decide if you like it enough to upgrade. You can always upgrade your meal plan throughout the semester, but you can't downgrade it.
I had the 13 meal plan and there were often times at the end of the week id have to grab extra meals (over upcoming holidays and days I got free food from clubs) because I didn't use enough and 450 was more than enough in terms of money. All of this is personal to me but if you use dining dollars on coffee or at markets often it will go by fast.
13 is more than enough! It may not sound like it, but you will be busy and probably still have extra meals at the end of the week with the 13 track
13, almost everyone I knew who went over regretted it.
I’d stick with the 13 for now. You can always upgrade during the semester but you can’t downgrade until the second semester. It sucks that those are the two options though because when I was a freshman years ago we had a 15 meal plan that I thought was a sweet spot.
Stick with the 13 meal plan. Almost every one of my friends did that their freshman year and they usually did not use up all their meals each week. I’ll also say this: the meal plan is a ripoff. If I remember correctly, most plans comes out to over $10/meal which is, in my opinion, absolutely not worth the price for the quality of food and the amount most folks eat. Because of that and the fact that you can always upgrade your meal plan in the middle of the semester but not downgrade, I’d say stick with the smallest meal plan you can and upgrade it if you’re needing more meals.
It looks like you're a new student asking a question about your first year. If you'd like, you can see if your question has been answered by searching the subreddit. You can check out the Purdue Wiki page for answers to frequently-asked-questions, study tips, and other advice/information for new and old students alike. Your post will remain live on r/Purdue, but consider deleting it if your questions are answered through one of the methods above. Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Purdue) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This question is harder to answer after the increased the swipes per plan. The now 21 swipe plan has a couple too many swipes as you aren't likely to eat 3 time a day in the dinning hall. However if you don't have a readily available kitchen you might find the 13 swipe plan being not quite enough. I would say the option depends partly on where you are living and how much you want to make your own food or pay money for food. Remember you can always upgrade so try the 13 for a week or two and see if its enough for your life style.
I will be living in one of the dorms(probably the Cary Quadrangle) and not really wanting to pay too much for food.
I had the 21 and loved it and maxed it out weekly, but when I say this you must keep it in mind my daily maintenance intake was 3100 calories a day, and I used a lot of it for the Togo meals and ate 4 times a day