After wallowing in the 400 swipes of the unlimited dining plan last year, I elected to go with the stingiest possible meal plan for my sophomore semesters. For those of you who don’t know, one swipe is a ticket to the dining halls, and ranges from $7-14 worth of food at the cafes and a la carte places around campus. Outside of swipes, you can also pay for food with JumboCash, basically a debit card you can fill up with money and use only on campus. After downgrading my plan from 4 swipes a day to 10 swipes per week, I’ve had to make some adjustments and optimize my eating strategy. Here are some of the most important tips I’ve learned.
1: Memorize the Options
Each dining area has different pros and cons. Dewick and Carmichael, the two traditional, buffet style restaurants are open all day, and primarily accept swipes. You’re technically allowed to use JumboCash but you may get booed. At Hodge, Pax, and Kindlevan, you can place your order ahead of time (and at Hodge and Kindlevan you can throw in some extra stuff at the counter). These places accept both swipes and JumboCash, and have a wide variety of lunch and dinner options. At the rest of the dining locations (Hotung, Mugar, and Commons) you can only use JumboCash. Regardless of the specifics, before choosing a location for each meal, you must know the defining characteristics of each option by heart.
2: Maximize Cash Value
The value of the meal swipe actually changes throughout the day. A breakfast meal swipe is only worth about $7, a lunch swipe is $12, and a dinner swipe is $14. Therefore, if you’re going to use JumboCash to pay for a meal, you may want to use it for breakfast. This allows you to save your swipes for dinner, where you can go absolutely hog wild.
3: Go Absolutely Hog Wild
Like any other buffet, the Tufts dining halls are no place for shame. Your prime objective here is to obtain as much food as possible, regardless of what your peers think. Throw the extra bag of chips into your Hodge online order. Shovel more chicken onto your plate at Carm. This philosophy applies the most to the dining halls, where one swipe grants you unlimited trips back to the food area. Get into the survival mindset, and treat your trips like any other all you can eat restaurant. Remember: you did not show up to be dignified. Good luck.
