<p>As an incomming Lafayette freshman, I have three meal plan options: the 20 Meal Traditional Meal Plan, the 200 Block Meal Plan, and the Carte Blanche “all-you-can-eat” Meal Plan. All of the meal plans are priced at $2,397/semester and it is mandatory for freshmen to choose one of these three plans. At first the choice seemed simple: choose the Carte Blanche so you can snack all day long without being forced to sit down to three meals a day. With the Carte Blanche Plan, I could grab an apple on the way to class, then come back for a bowl of cereal or something later. I could make as many trips to the cafeteria per day as I wanted. When I logged in to the college’s website to choose the Carte Blanche, I realized that if I picked the Carte Blanche plan I would be forced to choose between Lafayette’s two dining halls for every meal and I would have no equivalence meals at Gilbert’s Cafe, Simon’s Cafe, or the Food Court. If the Carte Blanche plan allowed for equivalence meals, I wouldn’t have a problem choosing. However, I’m a person who naturally craves variety. I’m leaning toward the 20 Meal per Week Traditional Plan, but I’m not entirely certain. I don’t typically eat breakfast and I like to snack.</p>
<p>Any past Lafayette freshmen have any advice on which meal plan to choose?</p>
<p>this isnt helpful, but i’m an incoming lafayette freshman too, and i just searched here to see if someone asked this question!
GO LEOPARDS (:
see you at orientation maybe!</p>
<p>I just answered a similar question on the 2014 facebook page.</p>
<p>IMO, forget the carte blanche option. That can only be used in the 2 dining halls and honestly, its a waste coz you’re not going to eat 6 entire meals a day in college during a normal week coz you just wont have enough time (even if you’re a 300 pound varsity player, you wouldn’t eat that much).</p>
<p>Between the 200 block and the 20 meals/week, the only advantage with 20 / week is that its better if you’re the kind of person who likes to have a full breakfast every morning. Once you knock off the full breakfast, its nothing special.</p>
<p>The 200 block plan roughly translates to about 14 meals a week but the advantage is that sometimes you could 20 meals in one week and 7 the next and so on. Also, on the 200 block plan, you can use one of your meals to sign in a guest who is visiting which you cant do in a 20/week plan. Also, one thing i learnt is since equivalency for each meal at lower fnon or gilberts is only upto a certain amount ($ 5.50 a meal), if you have a block plan and you grab alot of food from lower, you can use two meals to cover up the total cost. Re: what you said about grabbing an apple, I normally grab fruits when I go to the dining halls for lunch and dinner and stash em in my room and just grab em on the way to class.</p>
<p>I asked my son, who will be a senior at Lafayette. He agrees with ryanshroff, take the block plan. With the 20 meals/week plan, if you don’t use the meals that week they disappear, but with the block plan they don’t. Regarding breakfast, he recommends getting a couple boxes of cereal and some milk from WaWa and eat breakfast in your room.</p>