So I signed up for the Meal Plan group A small, but I found out I'm in a Bates appartment, so should I change my meal plan? I like to cook, so I will probably buy a lot of my own food. Do the group B meal plans allow you to buy non food items / eat off campus like group A? thanks!!

As someone in Bates you have the option of having a reduced meal plan. If you plan to cook a lot I would suggest this. You can always add more money to your meal plan but you can't take any away. When choosing a meal plan keep in mind that FLEX dollars are for off campus venues like Boston Pizza, Pita Pit, East Side Marios, and if you want to go out to say a floor dinner you will either need FLEX dollars or cash.
Each mealplan (if I remember correctly) gives you an option of FLEX dollars (except the smallest) and the only time you can really buy non-food items are when you're at Commons or something and your getting cough drops or the like. Other than that it comes off your FLEX or you pay cash.

here is the specific distribution of your meal plan money in to the different categories.

I lived in Keyes last year, and i did cook every so often. I picked the lowest meal plan for the reduced plan. and in the end, i still had some money left over. I suggest buying the lowest, then if you want to add money, you can, if not, then finish whatever you have on it.

I didn't live in apartment style but I would suggest buying the smallest meal plan for anyone unless you know you're a big eater.

I bought the smallest plan in Group a for traditional residence and I found I had money left over at the end and I was getting my whole family to come up on weekends so I could buy dinner for 4 to use it all up.

Like it's been said if you run out of money you can always add more to your plan but if you have money leftover at the end of the year you cannot get it back and it's something you already paid for.

Except for your FLEX dollars which I should have mentioned: you can get your FLEX dollars back but NOT your Basic

And since everyone has the same Basic amount (like, all Group A plans have $2335, and all Group B plans have $1685), it really doesn't matter which plan you get, in terms of refundability. Even if you have a ton of money left over at the end of the year, you would be in a no different situation had you gotten a smaller plan - you would have still needed to use up $2335/$1685, and all money above that is refundable.

I hope that makes sense!

ARTICLE: CHOOSING A MEAL PLAN