Poll: How do you feed your College Student?

[Pinksink]

With the economy such as it is and expenses such as $300 used books for one class, I am wondering how others are feeding their college students?

I know that my 17 y/o DS's first semester 2 years ago, I paid for a meal plan in which he did not use. Since, I have been stockpiling him for each semester. Last semester his weekly grocery bill was approximately $5-6... a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. On occasion he would splurge on prepackaged deli meat when it was on sale. Of course, when ever I would visit, I would stock him up with OM or Hillshire and get him some frozen food (but he hates tv dinners) and treat him to his favorite fast food.

[Lori63]

We use the meal plan with the least amount of meals provided. The rest (or most of the rest) of his meals come from his frugal shopping.

[hellokittygirl]

As a new college student about to start, I'm getting the minimum meal plan for freshman (10 meals a week) and doing my own cooking. Luckily I am in a very nice dorm where I have my own stove, microwave, and fridge in my suite, and I've been on my own for a while so I cook for myself all the time. I plan to eat breakfast in my room (oatmeal, eggs, and some fruit) and make my own lunch and use up the meal plan for dinner or the occasional snack on the weekends. The meals per week disappear after the week is over, so I feel like I would be wasting money if I didn't use them up, and I plan to buy essentials if I have any extra meal tokens left at the end of the week. I could get whole fruit, yogurt, cereal, etc. if I had to. (And I probably will!)