Amanda Hollman, assistant opinions editor, @HollmanAmanda
Let’s face it, we all have days where we run out of time to pack a lunch and are on campus all day. At that point, you either have to starve or buy something. Luckily, our campus has a variety of food vendors to choose from.
Here at Utah Valley University, there is a cafeteria on the second floor of the Sorensen Student Center, Valley View Room, and many school-sponsored cafés scattered around campus. On the first floor of the Sorensen Center, there are more commonly known vendors, like Costa Vida, Pizza Hut, Subway, and also some less common like Rockin Robbies, a hamburger and shake joint, and Hazuki, a place for rice and noodle bowls. The Physical Education building has a Jamba Juice and soon a Taco Bell Express.
This array of food options gives opportunity to please just about any craving that a student may have. Despite the variety, the lines show what the favorites tend to be. Typically when I pass through the food area, Costa Vida and Subway have the longest lines around lunchtime. Just about any time of the day, though, Jamba Juice has at least a small line. They get even busier in between classes as students hope to get a quick boost before their next class.
In general, eating out is expensive. On campus, it is not much different. At Valley View Room, a meal, including a main dish, typically a roll, and a drink will cost you around six to seven dollars. For five dollars, you can get a basic, foot long sub sandwich at Subway while five dollars at Pizza Hut will get you a personal pan pizza with a limited array of toppings. The most popular Costa Vida menu item, the sweet pork burrito, will cost about seven dollars but depending on your appetite could become two meals. A 16-ounce smoothie from Jamba Juice is also around five dollars. The cafés on campus have a variety of snack options that you could combine together for a small meal.
For those that are looking for healthy food options on campus, it can be a bit of a challenge, unless you do your research. A pepperoni personal pan pizza has 620 calories and 27 grams of fat. At Costa Vida, their pork burrito has 912 calories and 29 grams of fat. You can eat a little on the healthier side with Subway’s six-inch Italian B.M.T. that has 410 calories and 16 grams of fat. With the exception of the most frequented soup at the Valley View Room, Chicken Noodle, which has 60 calories and 0.9 grams of fat, I found that Jamba Juice came to be the most healthy. A 16-ounce Razzmatazz has 290 calories and 1 gram of fat, although it does have 54 grams of sugar.
Out of all the food options here at UVU, Jamba Juice has always been my favorite. Now that I’ve done some research, my favorite still sticks out as the best for price, healthiness and taste.
There are a few meal plan options that UVU offers to their students. These plans cover all campus food except for Costa Vida, Subway and Jamba Juice. You can choose between a Flex Plan and a Gold Plan. For more information on these options, see Campus Connection in SC 106F.
