One of the worst parts of going off to college for many people is the thought of leaving behind wonderful home-cooked meals for the dreaded dining hall food. We’ve all heard horror stories from our families and friends about finding some not-so-pleasant things in their meals at school before (cue my father’s story of finding a chewed piece of gum in his dinner one night). Though thankfully I managed to avoid anything of that caliber throughout my freshman year, I certainly don’t look back all-too-fondly on every food item I encountered in the Mizzou dining halls. So in hopes of helping all future MU students to have better experiences with the dining hall foods, I’ve come up with a guide of the top three foods to avoid from the dining halls.

1. Pizza from Plaza 900. Whether it’s at three in the morning and you’re not in your best state, lunchtime in between classes, or literally every single day, you’re going to get a lot of cravings for a slice (or three) of that cheesy goodness. If there’s one place to avoid getting pizza from though, it’s the Plaza 900 dining hall. The crust is paper thin and soggy, and it usually tastes like it’s been sitting out for a while (even when it hasn’t). Pizza should always be a beautiful and enjoyable experience, and sadly it’s not there.
2. Stir-fry from Plaza 900. One of my favorite meals that my mom makes is stir-fry, so when I saw that they had an entire stir-fry bar at Plaza, I was beyond thrilled. But don’t get too excited, because it manages to get worse with every visit there. My memories from stir-fry during second semester are sad ones, with bowls full of noodles, barely any toppings, and next-to-no sauce. Maybe it’s just better first semester, or maybe the novelty wore off eventually, but I wouldn’t eat too much stir-fry if I were a freshman again.
3. Burgers from any dining hall. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, then congratulations, because you’ll never have to risk making the mistake of eating the burgers from any of the three dining halls that serve them on campus. There are rumors that the burgers look like gray, frozen bricks before they’re brought out to be used, and it’s a proven fact that they sit in what appears to be a small container of a grease and meat-juice combination before getting slapped on the grill. It took me a trip back to Culver’s and Five Guys to realize that these so-called burgers actually taste nothing like the real thing.

Overall, the foods at MU dining halls are not as bad as they may seem. In fact, there’s one dining hall meal that makes up for all of these: breakfast at Rollins. Everything that is served during breakfast at Rollins Dining Hall makes any bad dining hall experience you’ve had before disappear for a little while. By strategically avoiding the foods listed above, changing up what dining halls you eat at and making sure you get Rollins breakfast as much as possible, I promise that you too will be able to survive a whole year of dining hall food.