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Meal Planning

 

With more than 105 diverse dining partners, you have your choice of where, when and what you want to eat. The amount of Dining Cash in your plan depends on your class year plus whatever funds you add or rollover. While some partners offer deals and discounts to students using their GWorld card, you may need to be mindful about what you spend on food. To customize your dining plan to meet your unique needs, tastes and budget, consider a balance between eating at restaurants, purchasing groceries and preparing meals.

By downloading the GET app, you can find the full list of our dining partners and check your account balance at any time. Use it to track and manage your spending and add Dining Cash or Colonial Cash if your funds are running low.
 


Planning Your Meals

To make the most of your Dining Cash each semester, try to plan ahead and think about how you will spend your Dining Cash to best meet your dining needs. You might plan on a daily or weekly basis or use budgeting apps. Your dining plan assignment depends on the availability of a kitchen in your residence hall as defined by your Housing Licensing Agreement and only includes the minimum amount. You can add funds as needed to best meet your individual needs.

Students living in residences with kitchens that are interested in having more Dining Cash may opt to purchase the higher value dining plan than the plan that is assigned.

Students should visit the GWorld Office, located on the Ground Floor of the Marvin Center to purchase a higher value dining plan. The deadline for submitting dining plan changes is Friday, September 7, 2018 for the fall semester, and Friday, January 25, 2019 for the spring semester.

GW Dining also has a 5 Ingredients or Less Cookbook to help students learn how to cook easy, healthy, and delcious recipes all year long. Check it out below:

GW Dining 5 Ingredients or Less Cookbook 

Dining Plan Minimums

2018-19 Academic Year Dining Cash Plan Rates:

  • Residents Without a Kitchen: $4,600 Dining Cash ($2,300 per semester)
  • Residents With a Kitchen: $2,800 Dining Cash ($1,400 per semester)

2019-20 Academic Year Dining Cash Plan Rates:

  • Residents Without a Kitchen: $4,750 Dining Cash ($2,375 per semester)
  • Residents With a Kitchen: $3,050 Dining Cash ($1,525 per semester)

Undergraduate students living in GW residence halls will be assigned a Dining Plan based upon the availability of a kitchen in a student's housing assignment.  All undergraduate students living in GW residence halls are required to participate in the Dining Plan.  

GW Dining Plan values represent average amount of Dining Cash needed by students for the academic year.  Dining funds roll over from semester-to-semester and year-to-year. 

Students are encouraged to select the higher rate meal plan if they are concerned that they will not have enough dining cash or if they would prefer to dine more outside of their room during the year. Dining Plan changes must be made by the student on line through Houseing E-services within the first 2 weeks of the semester.

Making the Minimum Last

There are many actions you can take to make the minimum amount last while eating the foods you enjoy:
  • Cook with friends and share ingredients
  • Purchase store brand items or items on sale
  • Look for specials and rewards programs at the restaurants you love. For example, you can download Sweetgreen and/or Beefsteak’s app to earn rewards
  • Sign up for programs at CVS and/or Whole Foods to earn rewards, get coupons and learn about discounts
  • Look for coupons to use at the store
  • Take a list with you to the grocery store so that you only buy what you need
  • Cook more than one serving at a time and plan to eat the leftovers for another meal

GW Dining Reps

GW Dining Reps are students who not only share best practices about how to make the most out of the university's robust dining program they share their favorite foods, restaurants and deals. Many Dining Reps have unique dining needs and can help students and families enjoy the program regardless of their dietary needs. Students who need more support or who are interested in becoming a Dining Rep should email [email protected]. 

 

jess

Vegetarian/Vegan Rep: Jess 

Jess is an economics major from Wayland, MA. She is a long-time vegetarian. She finds it relatively easy to get vegetarian and vegan options at GW and mostly eats Sweetgreen, Roti, Panera, Wholefoods, and Chipotle. She loves GW’s meal deals and always looks for discounts. One of her favorites is HomeSlyce’s sandwich and side for $5.55 on Thursdays. She cooks at home a lot to save time and money. She loves to meal prep easy dinners like stir-frys and pasta, specifically veggie lasagna. She makes it in several small pans and freezes them to cook at a later date. One of her favorite lesser-known GWorld locations is Chalin’s because they have an entirely vegetarian section on the menu.

Top Five Favorite GWorld Meals:

  1. Roti’s Falafel Rice Plate
  2. Sweetgreen’s Hummus Tahina
  3. Panera’s “You Pick Two” with Modern Greek Quinoa salad and Tomato Soup
  4. 2 slices of vegan pizza from Whole Foods
  5. Chipotle’s veggie bowl (Comes with free guac!)

jess f

Gluten Free Rep: Jessica

Jess is a junior majoring in communication and minoring in psychology. She is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was diagnosed with Celiac Disease over 10 years ago. Being a huge foodie but having to follow a strict diet, she is always on the lookout for new, safe places to find gluten-free options. She finds it very easy to follow a gluten-free diet at GW. She sticks to vendors on campus during the busy week but loves to explore off campus options whenever she has free time. Her favorite off-campus GWorld vendors include Chop't and GCDC. She loves finding gluten-free options at places that wouldn't necessarily be thought of as gluten-free friendly, and she has rarely found a GWorld vendor where there has not been a safe option for gluten-free diners. Her list of gluten-free friendly vendors continues to grow as she explores DC, while remaining extremely dedicated to a gluten-free diet as part of her commitment to her health.

Niyati

Sustainability Rep: Niyati 

Niyati is a public health and statistics double major with a passion for environmental health, sustainable practices, and (mostly) plant-based living. She's always trying to use local produce, compost, and connect with individuals and organizations aiming to promote equitable food systems. Her favorite meals include palak paneer (sub tofu), pad thai, and a hearty bowl of chili with avo. She recommends checking out the Civil Eats newsletter for the latest updates on the American food system and following @dcfairfood and @greengw on Instagram for ways to get involved in the local sustainable community!

amiera

Halal Rep: Amiera

My name is Amiera and I’m a sophomore studying public health. I’m from the DC area and come from a home where all our cooked meals only contain halal meat. At GW, I manage my money by spending a set amount per day, which leaves me a good amount of money left on my GWorld after the semester is over. Although my diet isn’t strictly halal only, I still tend to go to the food places with halal meat when it’s available. These places are halal guys and tasty kabob, which are by far my favorite places on GWorld. As the halal rep, I hope to bring more halal based food vendors onto GWorld

Top Five Favorite GWorld Meals:

  1. Guacamole Greens from Sweet Green
  2. Chicken Platter from Halal Guys
  3. Chicken and Rice from Tasty Kabob
  4. Make-your-own Stir Fry with Veggies, Noodles, and Rice from Penn Grill

  5. Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Chick-Fil-A

 

zoe

Kosher Dining Rep: Zoe

Like most Jewish students on campus (and everywhere), Zoe keeps her own version of kosher. She eats vegetarian at restaurants that are not heckshered. Meanwhile, for the GW Dining Kosher account, she only post heckshered items (whether they be cooked in her kitchen or bought) for the those who keep stricter laws. For heckershed meals, Zoe enjoys Char Bar and Brooklyn Sandwich Co., two GWorld options in the area! She also really enjoys the delicious vegan soup from Soupergirl, which comes to GW campus for pop-ups often.

Top 5 meals on GWorld:

  1. Turkey Curry Wrap at Brooklyn Sandwich Co.
  2. Burger from Char Bar
  3. Vegan Chili from Soupergirl
  4. Avocado Toast (with egg on top) via groceries from Whole Foods
  5. PBJ Bowl at South Block (great if you observe kosher as keeping dairy and meat separate since this place is exclusively dairy - but not heckshered)

peyton

Mount Vernon Dining Rep: Peyton

Peyton is a sophomore in the School of Media and Public Affairs studying Political Communication with a minor in Creative Writing. She’s an RA in Somers Hall and spent a lot of her time on the Vern her freshman year with friends in the Women’s Leadership Program. She’s a big fan of Late Night Grill in Pelham Commons and is a strong advocate for grocery shopping and cooking to save money on GWorld. When she’s not cooking, she’s ordering dumplings and curry from CharmThai on the GET app. 

Top Five Favorite GWorld Meals:

  1. One Pan Salmon and Roasted Veggies
  2. Harvest Bowl at Sweetgreen
  3. DIY Chicken “Burrito Bowl”
  4. Chicken Tenders and Fries from Late Night Grill in Pelham

  5. Anything from Whole Foods Breakfast