The life of a college student is undoubtedly a busy one. Between classes, homework, extra-curricular activities, and socializing, there is hardly time to be worrying about grocery shopping, cooking a meal, and doing dishes. For all freshmen and the majority of sophomores, meal plans are mandatory; even some juniors living on campus are required to take part in a BC meal plan. And let’s face it: having someone else prepare your breakfast, lunch, and dinner is convenient, the only convenient part of a busy college student’s life.

Having a meal plan is unique to the college experience: most likely, at no other point in your life will you be able to walk 100 feet from where you live and purchase a meal with just the swipe of a card. No need for the hassle of taking out a cookbook, assessing the contents of your fridge, and figuring out how much time you can commit to cooking. Especially for students without a car on campus, the dining hall is the perfect option. No need for a car when your destination is Hillside. Living in Edmonds? Have fun making sure you’re free on a Sunday afternoon to take the grocery shuttle to the nearest Star Market. Can’t make the shuttle? Have fun riding the T with your heavy grocery bags.

It is for precisely this reason that BC offers Flex Dining Plans; sometimes it’s neither fun nor convenient to cook your own meal. OK, sure, sometimes deciding what you want to eat when you want to eat it is refreshing. But here’s a perfect solution: find a friend who lives in an apartment-style suite and ask to use his or her kitchen for a night. That way, you can have the luxury of cooking a meal on a night when you don’t have that much on your plate (pun intended).

I am willing to bet that dining halls and other eating locations on campus offer a greater selection of meal options than what one person can fit in his or her fridge or kitchen cabinets, which he or she likely shares with five other students. For any given dinner, there are a number of different campus locations from which to choose. If you live on Lower, there’s always Lower Live or Addie’s Loft, and even Hillside. And if you live on Upper, you can either eat in Carney’s or you and your friends can walk down to Lower for some different options; if you live on Newton, well, sorry, but I hear Stuart’s not so bad.

The biggest thing to consider here is that convenience is key. If you only have an hour or two in between classes or meetings to grab lunch or dinner, you definitely don’t have enough time to trek back to your off-campus apartment, especially in the rain or snow. And even if you live on-campus with a kitchen, catching up with friends in Hillside with a panini is a much better alternative to eating in Edmond’s alone.

And we’re not even just talking about meals; meal plans cover desserts and snacks too. Use a dining hall to buy chips, peanut butter, jelly, whole fruits, etc., for your dorm room. Craving something sweet and cold? Try frozen, or even tart, yogurt in Lower Live with your choice of toppings; maybe even some ice cream of the day from Addie’s Loft to go with your fresh mozzarella pizza.

If you want to cook for yourself every day, that’s great; you’ll have plenty of time to do that as an adult. But, for now, embrace the convenience and efficiency of a meal plan and explore all that BC Dining has to offer.

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