Dining hall: The central meeting ground of any college campus. It’s a great place to meet up with friends for a meal and share a few laughs and make memories. A lot of good memories from freshman year happened at the dining hall. And with very few options to eat anywhere else, the dining hall is the place where 90% of your meals will take place. It can be scary; what do they cook with? Is this okay to eat? Why is part of my french fry green? But take it from someone who has spent plenty of time trying to waste meal swipes. Here are the tips and tricks to making your dining hall experience a bit better:

Made-to-Order Food

At every dining hall, for every meal, the chefs prepare made-to-order dishes. Food is cooked fresh for you and you can actually see the chef preparing it. Meals can include omelets at breakfast, pasta and Mongolian grill at lunch, and steak, shrimp, and fish for dinner. Sometimes, they even make a specially prepared dessert, like fried oreos or waffles and ice cream. All of these made-to-order meals are worth it. Usually dining hall food is slightly mushy and cold, but these made-to-order meals are prepared especially for you, so you know it's hot and for the most part, you can tell there are no mystery ingredients. The lines for these meals are always incredibly long, but it's worth it in the long run when you get food that's actually good. So, wait in the really long line for an omelet on a Saturday morning. It's worth it.

Weekend Breakfast

Omelettes bring me to my second topic: weekend breakfast. Now normally I cannot muster up enough energy to go to a dining hall before 10 AM on a weekday, I’m just way too lazy for that and my bed is more comfortable. But on the weekends, when “brunch” lasts until 3 PM, life is good. I can have a fresh omelette or a plate of pancakes at noon at just the right time when I want to drag myself out of bed. Even though I’ve had breakfast on a weekday maybe once or twice, breakfast on the weekend is always much better. On the weekends, a bunch of my friends and I all went to the dining hall for breakfast together to recap what happened the night before. Although I love to sleep in and stay in bed all day, weekend breakfast was something I started to look forward to.

Takeout

I solely blame takeout for the freshman fifteen. Dinner takeout gives huge portions that no one should ever be able to finish in one sitting. But takeout is an excellent idea for students who don’t have enough time to go to the dining hall between classes and activities, or get out of class too late to go to the dining hall. Dinner options include pasta, "bite nite", burgers and wings, and fat sandwich night. Here’s a tip: double swipe on a Thursday night and pick up food to eat on Friday, when there is no takeout and you’re starving at 2 AM on a Friday night. Fat sandwich night and "bite nite" are always a hit. Fat sandwich night caters to your junk food needs with mozzarella sticks, fries, onion rings, chicken fingers and anything you may need to create your own fat sandwich. Bite night has mac and cheese bites, jalapeno poppers, wings and fries. One time, my friends and I wanted bite nite so badly we drove from Busch to Livingston campus just for takeout. Takeout also caters to breakfast and lunch needs. I personally like the breakfast options when I’m running to class and I’m starving. Options for breakfast include breakfast sandwiches, cereal cups, yogurt, coffee, and juice. The lunch options are always good too, with shrimp spring rolls, chicken caesar wraps, meatball subs and salads. Sometimes, it's better to just grab something at takeout and eat it with friends rather than going to the dining hall.

Woody’s and The Rock Cafe

When the dining hall gets boring, Woody's and The Rock Cafe are the answer. I could go on and on about how much I love Woody's, at the end of the semester I spent almost 100 meal swipes there collecting food for the next year. Woody’s has delicious wraps and sandwiches, as well as a delicious salad bar and Ice cream. Now, when I say ice cream, I don’t mean it in the sense that you can get a scoop or two like at the dining hall. I’m talking about a full pint of Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream. The Rock is a drink lover's heaven, where you can meal swipe for a small bottle of pretty much any drink you could want. Plus, there is an abundance of cereal and snack options, as well as freshly cooked bagels and sandwiches.

Dont Go To The Dining Hall Right Before it Closes

So you’re in your dorm, it's 8:30 PM, and all of a sudden you hear that the dining hall has fried Oreos. You and a friend go on a mission to go to the dining hall and fill yourself up with the fried goodness. You get there and there isn’t a single fried Oreo in sight. You’re already there, and spent a meal swipe, so you might as well eat, right? Well, there's pretty much nothing left except scraps of lettuce at the salad bar and a little bit of pasta left in the tray. It's 8:50 PM... what did you expect? Freshly cooked food waiting for you? Nope, not going to happen. If you go to the dining hall right before it closes, there will be nothing left for you. This is why takeout exists. Sometimes you may get lucky and there will be a fried Oreo or two, but you just got the last ones for the night, the chef isn’t going to make more. It’s better to come early and get food for later if you don’t have the time to eat after class.

Brower Has The Best Ice Cream

Ah, Brower. You hear horror stories about it and you are forever afraid to eat there. But here’s a little tip for any ice cream lover: they have the best selection of ice cream. With over 10 options, including mint chocolate chip, birthday cake, and chocolate chip cookie dough, Brower is the place to go for an ice cream fix. They have a large assortment of toppings to choose from, as well as vegan and soft serve options. The ice cream is much better than any other dining hall’s ice cream, not to mention that it is much smoother and creamier.

Livi Burgers

Livingston campus’ burger bar: the only place I’ll eat a burger at the dining hall. The made-to-order burgers are a perfect replacement for when dining hall food becomes boring. You can get anything on these burgers, from avocado to chipotle mayo. They even offer cheese fries and chili cheese fries if you so please. The burgers are amazing, honestly so worth it if you go to Livi. But be warned, they close before the dining hall does. Don’t get there late if you want your burger fix!

Pasta Lines

I love pasta, a lot, and that's why when I found out my dining hall had a banging made-to-order pasta bar, I was ecstatic… until I got there and the line was 15 minutes long. However, I decided to wait, and it was worth it. The selection of mix-ins and and options was incredible, what ever sauce I wanted and what ever proteins I wanted as well. Cheese? YES, PLEASE. But after that initial time, I didn’t feel like waiting for 15 minutes every day. Luckily, right next to the pasta line there is plain pasta and sauces you can mix in with other ingredients. It won’t be as good as the pasta line, but it will save about 15 minutes and a lot of boredom.

Special Nights

Every semester, the dining hall hosts three or four special nights for the students. On the top of the list are Neptune Night and Midknight Breakfast. Neptune Night is a night to eat like Neptune, king of the ocean. Lobster and seafood are prepared to your liking, and the seafood delicacies are endless. You can get a whole crab or lobster, or shrimp cocktail, and it’s all delicious. These special nights, the dining hall really goes above and beyond with the food. My favorite night of the semester is Midknight Breakfast. During finals week, the dining hall opens up at night to serve breakfast for students tired after studying for hours. It gives a nice little boost to the night, and they provide coffee to prepare students for a night full of studying. I love breakfast, it's my favorite meal of the day. But as I’ve previously stated, I am way too lazy to wake up and go to the dining hall at 9 AM. So when the dining hall offers me breakfast foods at 11 PM, I am all for it. Plus, the food during Midknight breakfast is usually better than their regular breakfast (yes even weekend “brunch”). Maybe it’s because I know I can go back to bed afterwards, but this is a meal worth going to. Throughout the semester, the dining hall offers special meals, usually with extravagant decorations and activities. Carnival night is exciting because the dining halls have prizes to win, and even spray on tattoos and a bouncy house!

Sandwiches

It’s easy to make a sandwich out of anything in the dining hall. Have some chicken, spinach and salad dressing? Sandwich it. Each dining hall comes with a sandwich bar, with rolls, various meats and cheeses, and dressings. If you’re a vegetarian (or vegan) like myself, you can ask the worker behind the counter if they have vegetarian meat and cheese available! Plus, there are a wide variety of breads past the typical white sandwich bread; you can make wraps and paninis, or even a pita pocket. There are a lot of different options in the sandwich bar, and if you don’t see something you want, head over to the salad bar and fill your sandwich with whatever your heart desires. If you look around, you can find peanut butter, Nutella and Marshmallow fluff to make a decedent and sweet sandwich.

Be Creative

After a few weeks, the dining hall’s options become boring and over done. I mean, how many more meals can you eat of grilled chicken breast and salad? It’s time to get creative. Have plain rice and some chicken? Grab some soy sauce sriracha and veggies and make your own stir fry! Make boring bland vegetables taste great with some lemon juice and fresh seasonings from the pasta line. If you’re up for a creative dessert, put soft serve in a cup and put your favorite soda on top, root beer float style. If bagels are available, make a pizza bagel with the sauce and cheese from the pasta line and the microwave! Throw some veggies, meat and cheese inside a tortilla, find the panini press and make yourself a quesadilla. At breakfast, get creative and make your own breakfast sandwich or breakfast burrito. It’s easy to make creative meals at school, and most of the time they’ll taste much better than whatever you had before. I asked one of my friends about tips for Brower (I’ve only been there three times!) and she said “Although the hot meals are always disappointing, it’s really easy to find ways to make your own good food,” so shoutout to Elise for the helpful tip!

Don’t Drop Your Plate

A sad Rutgers tradition is clapping when someone drops their stuff. It usually happens during the first few weeks of school when freshman fill their plates up with too much food and try to juggle a full plate of food, utensils, and a drink. They drop the plate or the glass and everyone immediately starts clapping. The clapping stops around October when the freshman are old news and are used to the dining hall. I once dropped a glass mid March, and luckily no one clapped... but my friends mocked me for the rest of the meal. It can be hard trying to juggle multiple plates and cups, so take it easy. You won’t have a tray, so just take a second trip to get a drink or utensils if you’re hands are too full to carry all of your stuff.

Take it Easy

Most freshman drop their plates because they have too much food on it. Yes, I know this is essentially an all-you-can-eat buffet, but that doesn’t mean you should eat literally everything available. That's how the freshman fifteen happens, kids. I don’t mean you need to diligently think about every meal you’re going to eat, but trust me, you don’t need to eat dining hall pizza five days in a row. Salad can get boring too. I know, I ate salad almost every day of the week for an entire month. Dining halls are notoriously unhealthy because it’s so easy to over eat, especially on the “bad foods.” Dining halls also have a bunch of healthy options if you look for them! Seafood is available most nights of the week, as well as grilled chicken and sautéed vegetables. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be eating salad every single day, but if you give a little bit of attention to what you’re eating, you wont come home for Christmas unable to fit into your old clothes.

You Don’t Need the Biggest Meal Plan

The minimum required meal plan for freshman living on campus is 210 meal swipes per semester. Some people think they need the 285 meal plan, thinking they’ll eat at the dining hall 19 times a week. That doesn’t happen unless you have an extremely fast metabolism and you get hungry after four hours. Most people are okay with the minimum plan of 210. But some people, like me, don’t eat that much and used barely half of their meal swipes by the time the semester is over. In an extraordinary feat, I was able to use 100 meal swipes during the last two weeks of the spring semester. In the fall, I wasn’t as lucky and ended the year with 90 meal swipes left, much to the dismay of my mother. So unless you’re planning on having breakfast, lunch and dinner in the dining hall every day, or plan to triple swipe for takeout, save your parents money and lower your meal plan.

Don't Be Afraid To Eat By Yourself

Too many freshman are afraid to eat by themselves, I know my freshman year I was too. My dorm would go in a pack to go to the dining hall, we would wait for everyone to finish class before we would go to dinner. It was fun but I was hungry and sometimes didn't feel like waiting an hour for my floormate to finish class. Pretty much everyone except for first-semester freshman go to the dining hall by themselves. Trust me, no one will make fun of you for sitting in the dining hall by yourself. Going to the dining hall by yourself is a good way to get some free time to do homework or study, Skype a friend, or catch up on a favorite TV show. Don't be afraid to go solo to the dining hall, but if you don't want to be alone, go around your dorm and ask if anyone wants to eat with you; chances are someone is really hungry and doesn't want to eat by themselves!