Your guide to keeping campus dining fresh

No one feels pleasure in eating the same foods day in and day out.

Falling into food ruts can happen quickly for any student on campus. The dining hall options become tiresome and after a while, that tuna salad sandwich looks about as inviting as a root canal.

By making use of the plethora of great dining options around campus, students can keep boredom at bay and savor every morsel.

Try a different kind of cuisine to rev up your Mondays

Mongolian stir-fry is a surefire way to kick off your week with a good start. With an array of options, you can mix your favorite vegetables with the meat of your choice—shrimp, beef, chicken or pork. Watch your food get cooked right in front of you at the Real Food on Campus (RFoC) dining hall located in the Towers complex.

The Fresh Food Company (FFCo) located in east campus has a 360 degree Mongolian grill which offers more of a hibachi restaurant dining experience for the more adventurous food connoisseur.

Make a new friend on Tuesdays

Next time you see someone dining alone go over, sit down and introduce yourself. You’ll get to meet someone new while enjoying that big juicy cheeseburger. What better way to spend your Tuesday afternoon than enjoying a delicious meal while making a new friend in the process? The conversation with your new friend will be sure to liven up your lunch hour.

Enjoy comfort food on Wednesdays

If you’re feeling a little homesick, perhaps a piping hot plate of comfort food would be a fitting change to your Wednesday routine. Luckily, all of the resident halls offer different kinds of pasta every day to spice up your weeknights. Pair some spaghetti with some soft and fluffy bread sticks and you’ve got a meal that will make you exclaim, “Bellissimo!”

Take it easy on Thursdays

Tired of eating heavy meals all the time? Drop by any one of the residential dining halls on Thursdays to build your own salad for a quick, light lunch; they have numerous toppings to turn plain old iceberg lettuce into a nutritional force to be reckoned with. Add a cup of soup and you have not only a healthy meal, but a hearty one.

Order takeout on Fridays

Friday night is officially the start of the weekend, so why not celebrate and order takeout from one of the many places in Mount Pleasant that deliver? Chinese food and pizza are two takeout options that almost always deliver and when the cost is split by friends, it can be an extremely reasonable option for the budget conscious college student.

Get creative over the weekends

Of course we all have days where we want to go back to our rooms and get comfortable in our pajamas for the rest of the evening and on those days any student with a microwave and a coffee cup could get creative with their dinner. Take a cue from Pinterest and try one of the numerous coffee cup recipes they have floating around. Coffee cup recipes like meatloaf in a mug or Nutella mug cake would be a nice way to shake things up.

Keep in mind

One, often overlooked, thing anyone can do to keep their campus dining experience lively, is to pay special attention to the special event menus the residential dining halls offer throughout the year. Participating in these events can be an easy way to create some variety. For example, be on the lookout for the Taste of Italy going on Sept. 18 and whoopie pie Wednesday on Sept. 25.

Remember you can always switch up your routine by simply going to another dining hall on campus. Even though the food may be identical in nature, the ambiance and people will most certainly be different. After all, variety is the spice of life. So shake things up! You’ll be surprised how easy it can be to get inspired while navigating the dining halls.

 

 

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