Sometimes I’d have the meat - if it looked alright.”
-Jared Duke, a sophomore at University of Illinois, on his experiences in the dining halls.

Jared Duke was not about to put up with another year of Captain Crunch dinners.

Duke is a sophomore at the [1] University of Illiniois. Last year, finding most of the dining hall food unappetizing, he was almost always stuck with a rather meager meal, such as pasta, or his default food of choice, cereal.

“Sometimes I’d have the meat - if it looked alright,” Duke said.

[2]
Students who cook on their own rather than pay for a meal plan usually break even or save a few dollars.

Duke lives off-campus this year, and no longer has to put up with the unwanted hassle of the dining hall. Thousands of college students each year, however, must make the decision to either pick a meal plan or go on their dietary journey alone. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages: some students prefer the convenience of having their food ready for the taking, while others would rather eat what they want, when they want, the way they want it.

“The meals in the dining hall were just not good,” Duke said.

Vicky Volvovski, a sophomore at [3] University of Wisconsin-Madison, also doesn’t mind a little cooking and microwaving in order to get the food she really wants. She, like Duke, decided to forego a meal plan for her sophomore year, after eating on-campus throughout her freshman year.

“I’d rather cook my own food and have more of a variety than have to choose from the same monotonous things everyday,” Volvovski said.

There are other factors involved in the decision to eat on-campus or off-campus, namely, money concerns. Duke and Volvowski both claim that making their own meals is equally as expensive as having a meal plan, if not cheaper.

“I didn’t save a large amount, but it’s definitely not more expensive,” Duke said.

[4]
Trying something new can help students expand their diets.

Duke and Volvovski also believe they are eating slightly healthier now that they choose their own food.

“The fruit they offered in the dining hall was questionable at best,” Duke said. “We usually have some fruit and vegetables around now and I actually eat about two full meals a day, whereas last year I’d have a sugar cereal for dinner because the regular food was so bad.”

Dr. [5] Tanya Horacek, a professor of nutrition at [6] Syracuse University, says students’ health is not dependent on whether they eat in the dining hall or off-campus, but rather the choices they make wherever they eat.

“One reason students eat less healthfully is that they skip meals,” said Horacek. “Get your meals in - at least three. Also, I know that college students are creatures of habit. Get out of that comfort zone - try something new. Finally, college is a social time. A lot of students stay up late and eat and drink. But eating and partying all the time, that’s a waste of energy, not to mention brain cells.”

Horacek doesn’t believe that these unhealthy habits lend themselves any more or less to on-campus or off-campus eating.

“I prefer to have a say in what I eat,” said Duke.

In the end, it’s a matter of taste.