Campus dining provides affordable and healthy options students

Angelique Ducounge/ Contributing Writer

With over 20 on-campus dining locations to choose from, eating healthy while on a budget is not impossible for FIU students than expected.

Heather Delgado says she is a student on a budget who regularly buys low carb, low calorie meals. The psychology major has her own take on how to spend Dining Dollars while adhering to a healthy diet.

“Tropical Smoothie Café, Salad Creations, Juice Blendz, the P.O.D.… Those are my usual go-tos. They have salads, low calorie smoothies, high protein foods, and healthy carbs. Jamba Juice has these small acai smoothies with 20% iron that I’m totally in love with, and when I stop by Subway I usually order their Veggie Delite sandwich with no mayo or cheese,” Delgado said.

As a vegan, Delgado is appreciative of the University’s on-campus dining locations that offer both vegan and vegetarian food options for students.

“The P.O.D. has a bunch of vegan options. Their hummus cups are my current obsession.” Delgado said.

She feels that knowing what to order makes it easier to stick to healthy food options on a student budget.

“It’s not so hard on campus because you can ask for substitutions on orders to cut out the things that may not be so great for you. What I sometimes do is that I go to Recharge where you can get fruit for $1 and pair it with a side of sandwiches that they also sell. It’s not expensive at all. You’d basically be spending the same you’d spend anywhere else on campus for lunch,” Delgado said.

Not everyone has the same opinion though. Tiffany Cedano argued that fast food in general is cheaper, no matter where students go.

“You can get a meal at Burger King for $3 to $6, while a salad anywhere else might cost you $7 to $10. Fast food can be more convenient if you live on campus, too. Students would rather stop and get some fast food than go home and have to cook a healthy meal after a long day,” the biology major said.

In spite of this, however, Cedano agreed that healthier food options are still more worthwhile in the long run.

“Pollo Tropical is one of the healthier options on campus. You can get this combo with two chicken breasts and they’re just grilled, you know, lean meat. Their Caesar salads are really healthy, also. And then at Tropical Smoothie the wraps are really good. It’s mainly all healthy food there. I mean, it would be kind of ironic to have anything unhealthy at the Rec Center,” she said.

When comparing prices, the gap between healthy food options at FIU and their fast food counterparts isn’t altogether a large one.

At Jamba Juice, for instance, while a small boosted smoothie might cost $5.29, students can also go for one of their healthy classic smoothies at $4.59 or a fruit and veggie smoothie at $5.09.

Wraps at Tropical Smoothie Café, like their Thai chicken or hummus veggie wraps, typically cost $6.99 and come paired with chips or fruit. Their smoothies are $5.61 and come with a choice of added supplements.

Pollo Tropical has meal combo options, one of which includes two grilled chicken breasts with a side of Caesar salad at only $8.25.

Subway offers what they call their “Veggie Delite” options. Students can get a salad at $5.50 that’s only sixty calories, or a sandwich. A six-inch Veggie Delite sandwich would cost $3.75, while a 12-inch would come in at $5.50, which is around the same costs you’d see at Burger King for a Bacon and Cheese Whopper Combo, without as many calories, saturated fats, trans fats or cholesterol.

Students looking for any further information on FIU’s more nutritional offers can visit fiu.campusdish.com to find a section on nutritional highlights or download their recommended Healthy Life app to help you keep track of menus and the nutritional values of our on-campus food selections.

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