Well, this might take a few paragraphs to answer, so bear with me!

There are plenty of food places all over campus, so you won’t go hungry! There are also convenience stores where you can get Lunchables or TV dinners. Plus there are many places just off of campus that are very easy to walk to. You won’t go hungry, that’s for sure! And you can definitely eat more than ramen noodles!

My first year at A&M I lived on campus and had a meal plan. They assured me that there were plenty of healthy options on campus to eat, and I believed that. But, after a year of eating on campus, here’s what I’ll tell you. There are healthy options, mostly sandwiches and salads, but they are available for the most part during limited hours (business hours on weekdays). Other times, most of the options are less than healthy. At Sbisa, for example, their salads are often drenched in dressing. It is usually possible to find something healthy, but it will quickly get redundant, as they are often the same all the time. 

Admittedly, this was before the MSC opened again. There are new options there, and will have different hours. You can check this website for full details on hours and descriptions of the food available at each location. Menus are also available there (along with nutritional info).

Meal plans are mandatory in fall 2012 for freshmen living on campus, but I’m sure you want to know what size to get if this is you. Although, since you are on anon and I don’t know your gender, I will say that boys usually used their meal plans faster than girls. I preferred the smallest plan, but my guy friends usually had a bigger plan. It really depends. I would suggest to try and guess how many meals a week you will eat on campus and multiply that by 15 (approximate weeks in a semester). This isn’t perfect, though, because you can use the “dining dollars” in your plan to by groceries/scantrons/snacks at the convenience stores and coffee shops on campus too. Plan on eating out/off-campus AT LEAST twice a week (one lunch and one dinner, but you might do more). Don’t think you’re going to eat a hot breakfast if you’re not usually an early riser or breakfast person. Common sense. The meal plans now are different than when I had one, so I can’t tell you how equivalent they are. (We had meals and dollars, not just dollars. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that can be found here and you will definitely hear about it in your NSC.)

That being said, if you’re not going to live on campus, don’t get a meal plan! Or, at the very least, not more than the tiny one! I lived off campus this past year, and I ate on campus maybe twice a week at the most. I much preferred cooking what I wanted on my stove or packing snacks and lunch for long days. Obviously if you hate cooking, you might feel differently, but if you live off-campus I can’t see you eating more than lunches on campus anyway.

It’s hard for me to give you hard advice, but as to the question of ‘healthy’ food availability, I can give you my opinion and a source of information. There are plenty of good salads and sandwiches available as grab-and-go options at coffee shops and food courts. But, at Sbisa I had trouble finding truly healthy things. Check the menus and nutritional info if you’re curious for the details. I ate largely outside Sbisa, and was able to find things to eat! And even in the dorms you can have a few groceries in a mini fridge, so use some of that space for fruit and veggies if you are so inclined. 

Anyone else want to give their opinion on University Dining? It would be super-helpful to have second opinions, so ask away!!!