The most expensive meal plan at the College of Charleston costs $1,190 a semester and offers students 21 meals a week at a variety of locations. But what if you don’t want to buy a meal plan through your school? If you were to choose a different type of food to eat for each day of the week, every week, you would have to split your $1,190 budget seven ways — which means that you would have $170 to allot to each of the seven days of the week, split throughout the 16 weeks of the semester. The following word problems will help you figure out a few delectably diverse ways to spend your money.
1. How many $1.50 tacos can you get at King Street Grille’s Sexy Mexy Monday nights for $170? How many tacos per would that be each Monday for the entire semester (16 weeks)?
2. Moe’s Crosstown Tavern on Rutledge Avenue has a daily happy hour (4-7 p.m.) special on wings: 25 cents a pop. Given your budget of $170, how many wings would you be able to eat each Tuesday for the entire semester?
3. D’Allesandro’s Pizza on St. Philip Street offers 12-inch cheese pizzas for $6 every day of the week. Delivery is free, but let’s assume for a minute that you’re a nice guy who always tips the delivery guy $2. How many pizzas could you have delivered with your $170 budget for Wednesdays?
4. Blossom on East Bay Street features appetizers for just $5 at the bar on Thursday evenings, which is perfect if you want to pig out on fried oysters with your friends (but not if you want to make a good impression on a hot date). How many total appetizer orders could can you get for $170 over the course of the semester?
5. You can’t go to school in Charleston if you don’t love seafood — at least, we wouldn’t recommend it. If you’re a fish fanatic, hit up the Friday Night Fish Fry at Bert’s Island Characters on Sullivan’s Island. For $10 you can get an all-you-can-eat fish plate and down seafood until you explode. Given your budget, how many weeks can you afford to attend?
6. Deli sandwiches are much healthier than anything you could get at a bar or fast food joint. Ted’s Butcherblock on East Bay Street has a great menu of sandwiches, and the average price is around $6.50. If you were to designate Saturday as sandwich day, how many meals could you order over the entire semester with your $170 budget?
7. Sushi is one of the staples of the college student diet because it’s cheap, quick, and absolutely delicious. Sunday is $2 sushi day at Tsunami in Mt. Pleasant, so you can stuff your stomach with as much raw fish as you can handle. At that price, how many orders can you afford? If you go every Sunday, how many rolls a day is that?
EXTRA CREDIT:
8. Shopping for your own food and doing your own cooking can save you a lot of money and a lot of calories. If you wanted to take that $1,190 and convert it into a shopping budget from mid-August to mid-December, how much money would you be able to spend per month and per week at the grocery store?
9. The cheapest “college foods” on the market are 15-cent ramen noodle packages available at most grocery stores. If you were to make the incredibly unhealthy decision to eat six ramen packages a day, how much of your meal plan money would you have left over at the end of the semester?
10. You come stumbling out of the bar at 2 a.m. with a severe case of the early-morning munchies. How many food joints can you list that are open after 2 a.m.?
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