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Cutting Costs and Saving Money on Your Meal Plan!

 
Cutting Costs and Saving Money on Your Meal Plan!

BY MITCH WRIGHT, MACINSIDERS

Now that all of you are ready to live in residence and experience everything MAC has to offer, you may want some tips on how to conserve your meal funds. Following Chad's article called "Choosing A Meal Plan", using up your meal plan is easier than you might think,
causing you to shell out hundreds of unnecessary extra dollars. If you follow this advice, you’ll be on your way to being one of the students walking out with giant boxes of chocolates and candy at the end of the school year!

Understanding the meal plan!
The first step for saving money on your meal plan is to understand how it works. The meal plan is on your student ID card and can be used as soon as you move in on the very first day! Paying for meals is as easy as just swiping your ID card in a special machine at the cash register. To check what meal plan you are signed up for, go to https://resapp.mcmaster.ca and log in using your student number and password (the password is your birthday mmddyyyy). The different meal plans include Light, Small, Regular, Large, and X-Large. The deadline to make changes to your meal plan is August 14 at 4pm by a written request to [email protected]. All meal plans include a large amount of money in the Basic account and a lesser amount of money in the FREEDOM account.

There are three accounts for the meal plan: BASIC, FLEX, and FREEDOM. This confused me like crazy during my first year! The BASIC account is used for purchasing food items on campus. It is non-taxable, non-cumulative, and non-refundable so it will not carry over to your next academic year. If you have not used up all your BASIC dollars, you have to do so by April 29, 2009 and the university takes whatever is left over. This is why students come out with boxes of chocolates, candies and drinks near the end of the school year!

Next, the FREEDOM account is used to purchase non-food items on campus as well as items off-campus. Some restaurants that accept the meal card include Boston Pizza and East Side Mario’s, both located on Main Street west of the university. Anything purchased using the FREEDOM account is taxable. If you use up the money in your BASIC account, the money in your FREEDOM account will then be used the following times that you buy meals on campus.

Lastly, there’s the FLEX account. If you run out of money on your BASIC account and want to add more, the added money goes into your FLEX account. The FLEX account works the same as the BASIC account, as it’s used for on campus food items and is non-taxable. The difference is that the money in the FLEX account can also be transferred to the FREEDOM account and vice versa. In addition, any unused funds in the FLEX or FREEDOM accounts left over at the end of the academic year will be carried over to your next year. Money can be added to your FLEX and/or FREEDOM accounts anytime throughout the year by a written request to [email protected]. Additional information can be found at http://mealcard.mcmaster.ca. /.

Keep up to date with your spending!
One of the most important ways to cut down on your spending is to always be aware of just how much you are dishing out for those scrumptious campus dinners! Before you pay for something, know ahead of time how much it’s going to cost you. The special beef dip sandwich on Thursday evenings in Commons sounds great, however it’s one of the most expensive meals on campus! It’s easy to forget that you’re paying money when all you have to do is swipe the card at the cash register. So don’t get too carried away with meal card swiping.

Another tip is that every time the card is used, the cost of the items as well as your remaining balance is shown on the register screen. Let the cashier know ahead of time to give you a second to check your balance, because they tend to clear the screen quickly in order to facilitate the line-ups. To keep up to date with your spending and financial history, log on to http://mealcard.mcmaster.ca. /. This website is a great tool to help you manage meal card finances as it keeps a record of how much you’ve spent each day. Finally, there are postings all over the walls of restaurants around campus which provide an estimate of how much money you should have left at different times throughout the year. Use that guide to try and determine if you should be spending more or less of your BASIC account, because all of it has to go by the end of the academic year!

Cook your own food frequently!
The easiest way to conserve meal funds is to eat food that you make and prepare yourself. Go grocery shopping often and pick up food to store in your residence. Some options include the Fortinos on Main Street west of the university, and various places in Westdale east of the university. I’ve found that packages of bottled water, pop, canned items, and frozen dinners are all important things to have in residence. If you like to cook, you can also buy foods to make using the oven, microwave, stove, and other appliances in the common rooms. Obviously don’t buy too much food or else your meal plan will be a waste of money. I would say that these kind of foods should constitute approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of your meals at university. Plus, they’re much healthier than the usual stuff on campus!

Helpful items!
There are a couple of items that every meal plan conserving student should know to bring to residence. One is a fridge, whether it’s large or small. I’ve always had a large 3.5 foot high fridge, and it’s always served me well. However, make sure that it will fit into your room! I’ve been in double and single rooms and it has always fit for me. If you don’t want to buy a fridge, you can rent one from Coldex, which costs $100 to $135 for 8 months. It can be ordered online, or will be available on campus during “Refrigerator Rental Day” during Welcome Week. Go here for more details.

Remember to bring some cutlery, microwavable bowls, and microwavable plates. Restaurants on campus provide all of your basic food needs, just try not to depend on them for stocking up on forks and whatnot. If you’re going to cook, bring some pots and pans, although I believe most residences provide some cooking items in the common rooms.

And then there’s the McMaster refillable Coke bottle! I have all three of mine sitting at home. Soon after you move in, you will receive some coupons in the mail including one for a free Coke bottle. These giant bottles can be used at any fountain drink stand on campus for $1.09 (if the prices are still the same). This is a great deal so don’t lose it! Wash it after every use so it doesn’t get sticky and smelly. If you use it every time instead of the normal fountain cups, and if you are a big pop drinker like myself, then you could end up saving upwards of a hundred dollars by the end of the year!

I hope this advice will be helpful and that everyone will end up walking out with a giant box of (Enter Junk Food Name Here) at the end of the academic year! If you have any questions, feel free to post them here or send me a private message.

Alvand, ayiri, Joey, MacEng, Melanieee, MohitB, nila*, ~*Sara*~, shleyaa, woodlawngirl all say thanks to mitch for this post.
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Old 08-22-2008 at 02:40 PM   #2
Videlle
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Aw man its too late to make changes?
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Old 08-22-2008 at 02:57 PM   #3
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Well I guess ita impossible to transfer the money from my basic account to my flex account..

gah, I too made a mistake of selecting a regular meal plan, should've gone for small :( I just realized I have to spend about 15-20 bucks a day just to finish the plan..and i dont eat that much
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Old 08-22-2008 at 02:59 PM   #4
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Are there downsides to using money in the Flex account? It just sounds like the Basic one but a whole lot better.
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Old 08-22-2008 at 06:42 PM   #5
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Hey Videlle,

Yeah, I believe it's too late to switch your meal plan to a different size.

Kenvin,

It's impossible to transfer from Basic to Flex because they want you to buy a meal plan every year! If you could transfer it all to Flex, then it would always be carried over every year, and you wouldn't need to pay again, except for reloading the card. Most people buy regular, so don't feel bad. I think there is some sort of a discount for how much you paid for the plan, and how much money you get. And don't worry about finishing it, because most people use up 15-20 bucks in 1 or 2 meals!

Conradchi,

There's no downside for using money in the flex account. The trouble is, you have all that money in your Basic account already from the start that you can't transfer. You only need to use the flex account if you run out of basic.
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Old 08-22-2008 at 07:38 PM   #6
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Oh well..

Thx Mitch =)
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Old 08-22-2008 at 08:33 PM   #7
lorend
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Yeeah the way Hospitality Services counts it you're supposed to spend like $6 on dinner...
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Old 08-22-2008 at 09:27 PM   #8
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alright, I just dont want to get sick eating fast food..is there like a no frills or some supermarket around there lol
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Old 08-22-2008 at 09:35 PM   #9
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There's the fortinoes east and west of the university. However, not all food on campus is fast food. There's the East West Bistro in Keyes and vegetarian Bridges restuarants which have very good food. Commons and the student center have a great variety of foods as well. And if you ever feel like Chinese food, you can always go to the Wokery! mmmm
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Old 08-23-2008 at 09:46 AM   #10
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I heard a rumour that the freedom portion is refundable. Is that true or just a rumour?
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Old 08-23-2008 at 12:27 PM   #11
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At the end of the year, whatever is left over in your Flex and Freedom accounts can be refunded upon written request. If it's not refunded, money in these two accounts will be carried over to your next year.

dkjack says thanks to mitch for this post.
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Old 08-23-2008 at 02:02 PM   #12
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Im trying to log onto My Meal Account and set up a new pin but it keeps saying wrong account. Are we supposed to set it up later maybe?
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Old 08-23-2008 at 02:48 PM   #13
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Have you logged in before? If you've logged in already, you would have been required to change your pin and so maybe you're using the wrong one.

If you haven't logged on yet, be sure to type everything properly. The account number is your student number which is 7 digits long. The pin number is your birthdate that they have on file for you. *Remember to put in the slashes when entering your birthday*. So when you enter it, it should look like: mm/dd/yyyy

Mine works so either you aren't inputting something correctly or perhaps first years can't go on yet.
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Old 08-23-2008 at 02:56 PM   #14
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Also, try both "Create new pin for first time user" as well as the normal login screen at the left side of the meal card site here https://mealacct.mcmaster.ca/
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Old 08-23-2008 at 08:47 PM   #15
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Hey guys,

Thanks Mitch for the article! Some good tips. For those still wondering about meal plans, also check out another article I wrote a little while back calling "Choosing A Meal Plan" as it goes into detail and answers most of the questions being asked here. Thanks!
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