How to Choose and Optimize Your UCalgary Meal Plan (Free Swipes Calculator)

Trying to decide between the 5-day unlimited, 7-day unlimited, or the 120/250 swipe options? Then you've come to the right place! I'm going to share some tips and tricks to make the most out of your meal plan, as well as insights into which option you might want depending on how you like to eat.

Meal plans aren't just for first years living near campus, which is one of the reasons there are multiple options you can choose from. There are plenty of people from all years and/or living at home who hold meal plans. So which option should you choose based on your situation?

Link to the calculator later in the article...

Unlimited vs. Swipes

First of all, the meal plan webpage already provides some great information that can help you decide and learn more about the meal plans. Here's a cost breakdown they provide:

Typo in 5-day meal plan, I believe they mean 5 days/week

As you can see, if you think you'll be eating 3 or more substantial meals a day throughout the semester then the unlimited meal plan is obviously the best deal. Usually these people are:

• Almost always living on campus
• Athletes
• People who are bulking
• Anyone who just eats more in general

Now, there are also some other reasons you might want to get an unlimited meal plan, even if that means you aren't "maximizing" your money:

• You like to have many small meals
• You have more of a "grab and go" schedule where you might stop by for a few minutes between classes just for coffee and dessert apart from regular meals

The convenience factor is one of the reasons first years in residence are required to have an unlimited meal plan. You can't predict how busy or stressed you might be until you're actually living university life, and being able to eat something at any time can be quite nice.

Here are some reasons that you might prefer a swipe meal plan:

• You don't live on campus but want a cheap and filling option to eat meals when you are at the university
• You are fine with making your own breakfast (and thus eating only 2 meals a day at the dining centre)
• You want to cook your own meals or eat out but maybe only half the time

5-Day vs. 7-Day Unlimited Plans

This is pretty self-explanatory. If your family is in Calgary and you might be at home on the weekends then you probably want the 5-day meal plan. Even if you don't live in Calgary, you might want the 5-day plan if you think you'll eat out or cook every weekend. Otherwise, the 7-day might be a better deal.

Of course, if you get the 5-day meal plan, you can still pay at the door (prices listed here) from time to time if needed on weekends.

120 vs. 250 Swipes

Here is where my Excel/Google Sheet calculator comes in handy!

There are a lot of things that you might want to consider when thinking about how many swipes you'll use, such as:

• Academic breaks and holidays
• Weekends
• Average number of meals you plan to eat per day
• For example, you might eat dinner at home on certain days of the week
• The fact that Friday lunches are discounted at $10

So, I compiled most of these into an easy-to-use calculator on Google Sheets that you can copy (File > Make a Copy) and edit for your own purposes:

Breakdown of number of swipes and why

Section you can edit to customize your calculation

Full disclaimer: I may have missed some things (or even made a mistake) or not taken into account something that is important in your own eating habits. Please verify if the result makes sense using your own common sense and math. Walk yourself through what your daily and weekly life will probably look like on-campus and double-check with yourself and friends. This calculator is only a simple guideline and is not what you should base your final decision off of.

Most likely, you will not get exactly 250 or 120 swipes when you calculate. So what do you do about those extra or missing swipes?

• If you calculated over 300 swipes, then consider an unlimited meal plan
• If you calculated that you need only a few more swipes than provided (ex. 140 or 270) then consider making some easy meals or eating somewhere else once in a while
• If you calculated that you need a few less swipes than provided (ex. 100 or 230) then you might not need to do $10 Friday lunches and could eat some extra dinners or swipe a few friends in
• If you calculated that you need significantly less swipes than 120, then you might just want to pay at the door each time (FYI breakfast, lunch, and dinner are priced differently so make sure you check that out). You can also beg your friend with extra swipes to let you in sometimes and pay them back

Conclusion

Hopefully this blog post helped you with some meal plan considerations you hadn't thought of. From my experience, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out which plan is right for you :).

Until next time,

Ana

P.S. This post is mainly targeted towards those who know they want a meal plan. Whether you yourself need or want one is unfortunately beyond the scope of my expertise. But feel free to comment any questions and I will try my best to answer!