College Life: Food Edition

     Something all college students can relate to when it comes to their college experience is food. Those of us who are dorming on campus do not have access to the kitchen, unless you are staying in the apartments. Since the option is not available for us to cook our own food we rely on the dining halls for survival. 

    Since, I am currently not in the mood to go into a whole in-depth analysis of why Sam's placed and Panera are very flawed; I will simply summarize there biggest negatives for you in some bullet points.

Sam's Place:

• Be careful when getting meat from Paper Lantern, it is sometimes raw in the inside.
• When you get pasta from the pizza section expect there to be at least 5 pieces of undercooked pasta.
• Be patient with the cafeteria staff, they will take their time serving you food and if you go at a busy time you will be waiting in a line for a bit.

Panera:

• Panera closes at 3 p.m., so if you wanted to get some food for dinner there you can't. 
• They tend to run out of food items quickly, aka arrive there earlier in the day if you want to secure that specific food item you want.
• When you are paying at the kiosk it takes several swipes before it will accept your payment. This just wastes your time and is frustrating when you know the card you are paying with has money on it and does work.
• Panera can get backed up with order pretty quickly leading you to wait for your order for 15+ minutes.
• When it is super busy your order may come out to be incorrect. This is due to the fact that the staff is rushing to deal with all the incoming orders. I understand what they are dealing with; I just feel like Montclair State University should have more people working to compensate for the 'rush hour' times.

    The other food places on campus such as Blanton and Freeman; I have not had any bad experience with. The staff there has been friendly, my food has come out of the kitchen quickly, and my order was correct.

The Stockpile of Food in my Dorm:

    On lazy days, where I want to enjoy a meal in pajamas or I am feeling too lazy to leave my room to get food, I turn to my stockpile for sustenance. I have the basics: Pringles, Triscuits, Oreos, Ramon, mac n cheese cups, Pretzel Goldfish, popcorn, chocolate, coffee, and hot coco. These are all the snacks I enjoy eating which requires little to no prep. time to make. There are a few more unique food items which I also have. 

1-Minute-Meals

    These quick and easy meals I cook in the microwave and within 60 seconds they're ready to be eaten. I generally eat these when I'm feeling to lazy to leave my room or if I am in a rush

I give them an overall rating of 7/10. 

My only complaint is that they tend to get cold quickly, so you either need to reheat them again or eat them quickly.

    

Tortillas

I combine the tortillas I have with shredded taco cheese in the microwave for about 15 seconds to create these simple quesadillas. I generally eat these as a snack.

I give my homemade quesadillas a 9/10.

I wish I had some pieces of chicken to add to them. They feel as though they are lacking with just cheese in the middle.

1-Minute-Instant Rice

This rice is good as a side dish or as a snack. I personally like adding cheese to the rice cup and sometimes so gravy or sauce from one of the dining halls. 

Overall I rate it an 8/10.

My complaint lies in the fact that I think the portion is too small and I end up eating two of them in one sitting.