Opinion: Can a girl eat without breaking the bank?
If you’re a commuter to Cal Poly Humboldt like me you might agree with me when I say that the food on campus is not good enough to be at a Michelin star price. I know I can prepare meals for the week to make sure I don’t have to spend my monopoly money on food served at the J or any other food options on campus. However, I’m just a 21 year old that needs a break sometimes and making food isn’t always the easiest thing for me to do.
I’m a chip lover and always need something sweet to go with it. I either get a sweet drink with a savory bag of chips or even crackers. On the days where I know I probably should put my yerb back, I’ll grab a juice and some type of protein just so I am making sure my body doesn’t give out.
The other day I just needed a quick pick me up and wanted some Takis and a sweet tea. I grabbed a big bag of Takis so I could save the rest for an after school snack, like how I used to in high school, and a Pure Leaf blackberry sweet tea. I was having a quick convo with the cashier and he gave me a total of $11. My mouth dropped, like did I sneak a ding dong in there by accident?
Get this, half of the items in the Depot and the Marketplace aren’t even labeled with prices so when you go to check out you’re playing jeopardy with your wallet. It’s absurd that even when I go to Safeway or Target to get the same exact products, the prices are drastically different. At Target you can find a 9.9 oz bag of Takis for $3.99 and Safeway for $4.99. The Marketplace charges you $6.79. The fiesta size is even priced less than the 9.9 oz Taki bag at The Marketplace. For my drink, the Blackberry Pure Leaf tea is $3.75 at The Marketplace, $2.19 at Target and $2.49 at Safeway. Even the Arizona teas on campus are closer to $2 when they should be 99 cents.
It’s easy for the school to get away with not labeling their prices for products. You’re probably going into these places before or after class and don’t have time to really look at what you’re buying or you’re just so hungry after three classes back to back that you don’t care and you just need that $15 shrimp tempura bowl. I guess my $14,000 in tuition isn’t enough, I need to give them my kidney to eat a bag of hot chips at 10 a.m.
