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Thursday, October 25, 2012

OCD (Off Campus Dining)

      This is more for the inner city student. Sorry to those like UCONN or UNH or anyone who is in a state like Maine or Oklahoma; For you this can be used when you are on a weekend getaway or on vacation in a larger city.
   
     There are a lot of options when you feel like doing some OCD stuff after the last time feeling like there was a lot that shouldn't be eaten off of the hot food buffet that the school supplies. It is possible to go out on a budget and still have up to a five star quality meal in one of the fanciest places in town. As this is the technological savvy generation Most of what I am going to cover is going to be on the internet or your smartphone.
     First the old methods for college students. College night. Most places have a college night of some sort which can range from once a week to once a year. Often times the student activities or housing should have a list of what is around and when special deals are happening and the stipulations that go with them. For example: I am apart of a few loyalty programs with some chain restaurants (These are worth it so take advantage most are free) one of which is FiRE+iCE on mondays it is $10 for students with their school's ID. The loyalty program gives me a discount for every time I go there and a free meal on my birthday. On college night I have to choose which deal I want to use as I can't do both. This is the only thing that I dislike.
     Next there is making reservations which is good to do if there is a popular restaurant that you want to get into or ahead of the long line. My general rule is that if it is over thirty minutes long then I go to another place. There is always the option of just calling the restaurant but there is a way to make those reservations work for you to help save money, what student or person wouldn't want to do that. There are websites and apps that one can earn points on like Opentable. This is the only site that I have found that I like. The web page is set up nicely and has a great app that uses your location automatically to find places to eat at in your area. The more you use it the more points that you earn towards dining cheques that are actually usable. If you don't want to set up an account with them thats ok as you can use your facebook account to log in. Often times you can kill two birds with one stone and make the reservation that will give you points and use a coupon, discount or whatever the loyalty program uses. On my birthday I received a offer from FiRE+iCE for a free dinner which I took advantage of and received ten points from Opentable when I made my reservation. WOOOOOOOOT.
Lastly just a google search is fine but there are TV channels dedicated to this lost art so take a look at your local listing and see what they have to say. There is Phantom Gourmet and it will show you the best places to go to on a budget and often these are better than the five star places. There are no words to describe how amazing it is and it is a global thing.
     It's ok to have an OCD moment at least once a week.

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