As college students, food is a tricky subject to tackle. Struggles with money, space or resources plague our everyday lives, especially concerning how to get our daily sustenance. For many students, it is also a matter of time. In addition to the workload of classes, many of us have jobs as well.
And juggling a social life at the same time? Not a chance. Not having a car to get around is also a huge factor. I, unfortunately enough, have firsthand experience with that. With limited options, what are starving college kids to do?
For the vast majority, services like DoorDash, Uber Eats or Grubhub swoop in to save the day. Forget the pizza deliveries of the past; now you can have anything your heart desires in a matter of minutes. Well, hopefully if your delivery driver doesn’t end up lost, that is.
But as expected, these costs can pile up and put quite the dent in your bank account. Most of the time we are too hungry to pay attention to the fees stacked onto our totals, or we simply just don’t care.
However, is it actually worth ordering a simple burger and fries for prices that can exceed $30? Despite the amount of times I fall victim to doing it myself, I really do not believe so.
Of course, I believe in tipping service workers however much I can spare alongside my order. They deal with a thankless job most of the time, especially fast food employees and are often looked down upon. I consider the workers who strive to do their best very much exempt from this, even for a rude driver.
No matter how mad you may get at someone, I do not believe that it is just to want their source of income basically taken away. We all have bad days, right? Even worse, some corporations most likely take many of these tips for themselves. Not to mention taxes!
Even with the plight of these delivery drivers everywhere, the prices on most of the apps are still justifiably called out most of the time. DoorDash, namely. While their subscription service, DashPass, does help out at only $5.00 a month for students, this can also add up very quickly.
With this pass, your total still must be over $12 to qualify for discounts. It is not really a surprise that a company is out to make money, but I personally think they should simply pay their employees more rather than squeeze every cent they can out of customers.
If you are still determined to get your food fix through the means of one of these apps, you may be wondering which is the best. It can be difficult to determine due to all of the little details like distance, finding deals and discounts and service fees.
While DoorDash is probably the most well known and easy to navigate, the prices and hidden fees are what turn people off.
While I have never personally tried it, I have heard that GrubHub is much more affordable and offers plenty of discounts or offers for their customers.
So yes, we all probably know that apps like DoorDash are probably not worth it in the slightest.
While their convenience saves a ton of hassle, it is quite frankly in a toxic relationship with your wallets.
Where does that put us now? Well for one, I would suggest trying to cook more at home. I know, it can definitely be a struggle sometimes. Plus, ingredients are just as expensive these days.
However, I think homemade meals, no matter what they are, can be even more satisfying.
It makes you feel accomplished as well, or at least it does for me. If I can cook for myself, then I know I’ll feel a little better and more productive overall.
Don’t be ashamed to make use of free food services such as the Campus Cupboard either if you are seriously struggling.
Many of us have been there, and I assure you that going hungry isn’t worth saving yourself a personal sense of shame. Everybody deserves to eat!
Now, you can go ahead and use DoorDash whenever you want. I still am definitely going to, but now hopefully we can all be a little more conscious with our money and maybe learn when to hold back sometimes, too.