Fill up that fridge

By | Andre Hascall

With the rise in cost of food, eating on campus isn’t cheap without an already expensive meal plan. This leaves off-campus students with the decision of where they will get their food.

Alkaid Ramirez, who lives off campus, opted out of getting one of the HSU meal plans.

“I’ll go to Winco if I can make the effort, but thats deep in Eureka,” Ramirez said.”But I’ll go to Safeway like twice a week.”

Ramirez highlighted a big factor in choosing where to shop, fortunately for him he owns a vehicle. If you are restricted to the bus, zip car or any other forms of transportation in Humboldt County, getting to and from Eureka with a full fridge worth of groceries gets more difficult.

With inexpensive grocery stores out of our immediate reach, on-campus dining provides a convenient chance to grab some food. Options like The J, The depot and Windows Cafe offer students prepared food. Whereas The Marketplace, and The Cupboard also have the option of picking up a few groceries.

Malek Southall, first year oceanography student, has a meal plan so he enjoys most of his meals on campus.

“I’ll usually eat at The J,” Southall said. “But The Depot is clutch.”

Choosing The J to eat most of his meals, as it is the most inexpensive place on campus to eat, for those with or without J-points. Yet, the variety at The Depot is hard to beat.

We know that the J is the cheapest place to eat, and if you’re looking for cheap groceries for home, WinCo seems to be the most cost-efficient.

Fourth year student at HSU, Jocelyn Barber, recently went grocery shopping. Her choice for this trip was Safeway, since its closest to home.

“That is the last time I am shopping at Safeway for the year,” Barber said. “I would have gotten double the food at WinCo.”

Students agree that WinCo is a good place to shop if you want more food for the same price as some of the other grocery stores.

“If we are talking percentages,” Ramirez said. “I’d say I get about 30 to 40 percent more food at WinCo.”