If you’re anything like me, you find yourself rationing your Big Red Bucks more and more as the semester goes on. While some of my friends have the opposite problem, I have never found myself wondering what to do with hundreds of BRBs at the end of a school year. To save my BRBs and supplement my lunches, I have been using a specific meal program: Meals on the Move.
If you’re unfamiliar, Meals on the Move is a program where you can exchange one meal swipe for a pre-packaged breakfast or lunch of your choice (a great deal if you’re on an unlimited meal plan). They distribute at Crossings Cafe on North Campus, Rose Dining Hall on West Campus and Weill Hall on Central Campus. You can preorder until 10:30 a.m. the day before, and pick the actual meal up between 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on the day of.
Based on my year and a half of using this program, I have developed a comprehensive ranking of all the meals I have tried (on a scale from one to five) and will delve deeper into some of the options available (among 15 total).
Kosher Pastrami Sandwich (4.5/5)
My favorite and most ordered sandwich is the Kosher pastrami sandwich. This hefty and filling sandwich includes a large serving of pastrami, lettuce, onions and tomatoes. While I usually prefer cheese in my sandwiches, this one is so delicious that it’s not even necessary. If you’ve ever gotten a sandwich from the Kosher station at Morrison Dining Hall, you’ll recognize the soft and pillowy marbled bread.
Garden Salad with Grilled Chicken (4/5)
The garden salad with grilled chicken hosts a variety of vegetables: lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes. These are paired with a decent portion of chicken, along with a balsamic vinaigrette packet. The salad is one of my favorite meals and a regular in my weekly rotation. However, it is a bit less filling than the sandwich options.
Breakfast Protein Power Pack (3.5/5)
If you thought the protein craze would miss Cornell, you’d be sorely mistaken. This meal packs a lot of delicious, vegetarian protein options. It is super filling and consists of a soft everything bagel with cream cheese, two hard boiled eggs, a blueberry bar and vanilla yogurt. In fact, it has the opposite problem of the salad: it is usually a bit too much food. If you’re trying to fuel up, or just appreciate a good breakfast spread, this is a delicious option.
Mediterranean Breakfast Bowl (3.5/5)
While I tend to judge some of the meals by their names, I decided to give this one a try after a friend recommended it — and I’m glad I did. The variety of textures and flavors from the boiled egg, crunchy chickpeas, quinoa and red pepper hummus was delectable. If you’re a fan of places like CAVA or Mezeh (and especially their hummuses), then you’d certainly appreciate and enjoy this bowl.
Southwest Chicken Grain Bowl (3/5)
This is similar to the breakfast bowl, but substitutes the egg for chicken and has a bit less flavor. However, it still contains an appealing variety of textures from lentils, quinoa, buckwheat, beans, corn, pumpkin seeds and sweet potato. While it’s somewhat of a smaller portion, the chicken is filling and it is still a decent option.
Kosher Smoked Turkey Sandwich (3/5)
While this sandwich is essentially identical to the pastrami sandwich, I enjoy pastrami much more than turkey and had to lower this ranking as a result. However, this sandwich still has the same quality bread and fresh vegetables. It maintains a high-ish rating and is a reasonable option for lunch if you’re craving turkey and can deal with no cheese.
Turkey or Ham and Cheese Sandwiches (2.5/5)
If you were around in August 2024, you might have had one of these bland sandwiches during the dining strike. They remind me of pre-packaged school lunches from elementary and middle school, but the nostalgia does nothing to improve their score. These will certainly fill you up and they are solid options if you’re craving a basic sandwich. However, I find them much less hearty than their Kosher counterparts, especially since there are a few slices of cheese instead of a variety of vegetables.
Chickpea-of-the-Sea Salad Sandwich (2/5)
This was recommended to me by the lovely morning attendant who distributes the meals on West Campus. Unfortunately, I found it to be lacking in flavor. It uses the same dry bread as the turkey and ham sandwiches, decreasing its appeal. To make matters worse, the chickpea “salad” mixture, consisting of mashed chickpeas with some celery and other unknown mix-ins, was also dull. Its only redeeming quality is that it will certainly fill you up. Given that I somewhat like the taste of chickpeas, it was an okay sandwich, but not one I plan on ordering again.
Kosher Egg and Cheese Bagel Sandwich (0.5/5)
This sandwich is one of the worst things I have ever eaten. I threw it out a quarter of the way through because I couldn’t finish it. The bagel itself was extremely dry and plain (a stark contrast to the fluffy everything bagel in the protein pack), and the egg was cold and unseasoned. This could maybe be edible if you heat it up, but I wouldn’t bother wasting a meal swipe on this — otherwise you’ll be hungry until your next meal.
While I missed a few options, I would overall highly recommend the grain bowls and Kosher options (as long as you avoid the egg and cheese bagel sandwich). Especially for those who want to save BRBs and are on dining swipe meal plans, I implore you to take advantage of Meals on the Move.
If you are trying to work these meals into specific nutrition goals, you can find the nutritional information for all of these meals on Cornell’s NetNutrition website.
Melanie Delfosse is a sophomore in the College of Human Ecology. She can be reached at md2262@cornell.edu.
