Did any cadet get hungry .....

BobbyBall said:
So in years past they had a vegetarian card, but now they don't. Anyone can get vegetarian meals, and sometimes the alternative vegetarian meal is better than the what is originally served. But now anyone can get vegetarian meals.
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Well that is unfortunate - I'm sure it won't be long before the same problems we had when this was the case resurface...Oh well - someone else gets to work on their problem solving skills ;)
 
shiner said:
The USAFA dining facility is stellar. At one time, you would wonder if your cadet got enough to eat at Breakfast or Lunch because of upperclassmen providing "training" to first year students, but rules have been relaxed to a point where it is a much different scene. Dinner is optional, but if you go, you can sit and eat or take it with you to your room (called a touch-and-go). There is a staff dietician and students (for the most part) have the ability to sit at a normal table, a Lite table (i.e. grilled not fried, healthy etc.), or some teams have heavy tables (i.e. double portions).

I have also eaten at the USNA facility and it was nice as well. Great quality and quantity was my only perspective. That was... until the USMMA dining facility. Sadly, it is not even close to what is offered at USNA and USAFA and is a very sad situation in terms of quality (leadership is aware and they continue to switch vendors). So - it varies, but USAFA is amazing.
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Not to offend anyone, but my DS at his 1st year at USAFA and is not too fond of the meat. He has been saying it tastes funny to mediocre. Then he heard a rumor that the USAFA serves grade D meat, suitable for prisons and the military. So now he thinks it tastes even worse. I told him to hit the salad bar then if he doesn't like it.
 
MAG said:
Not to offend anyone, but my DS at his 1st year at USAFA and is not too fond of the meat. He has been saying it tastes funny to mediocre. Then he heard a rumor that the USAFA serves grade D meat, suitable for prisons and the military. So now he thinks it tastes even worse. I told him to hit the salad bar then if he doesn't like it.
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I do recall something about "institutional grade" on the packaging.
 
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My DD has not reported a lack of quantity, but you will get a mixed bag of answers of whether it's good or not. It really depends on your particular tastes, and possibly when/where you are getting the food. My DD says she likes the spaghetti and waffles. She likes the breakfast waffles so much that she asked to go back up to base for waffle breakfast - this was during her 96 hour pass! You can also follow mitches_lunch on instagram!
 
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MAG said:
Not to offend anyone, but my DS at his 1st year at USAFA and is not too fond of the meat. He has been saying it tastes funny to mediocre. Then he heard a rumor that the USAFA serves grade D meat, suitable for prisons and the military. So now he thinks it tastes even worse. I told him to hit the salad bar then if he doesn't like it.
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If you can find the AF version of the following, you’ll see the food service standards. I can’t imagine the AF, with its culture and reputation for QOL for its people more than any other service, would not be meeting or exceeding all standards. Look at page iv.


I suspect it’s preparation. To save on labor costs, many institutions now use those foods/dishes prepared and flash frozen in big sealed bags, which then go into boiling water to reheat to the designated safe temp. It is not going to taste like Prime meat never frozen, right off the grill and onto the plate. I looked at military food as fuel most of the time…
 
One thing that we didn't practice here at home was how to bolt down less than appetizing food in 10 minutes or less. In the early days, DD may have been hungry. It's a work in progress.
 
I even gained a few pounds during basic as a vegan. To the best of my knowledge (as I might have been misinformed at times), I remained vegan throughout the entirety of BCT. Everyone was super accommodating. I was worried about judgement for it going into the military, but everyone so far has been supportive. We were also allowed to take snacks back to our rooms, which I gladly did.
 
TigerMomNot said:
One thing that we didn't practice here at home was how to bolt down less than appetizing food in 10 minutes or less. In the early days, DD may have been hungry. It's a work in progress.
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I second this. For the first first day or two it was hard to eat fast, especially because the stress. After that, you can get plenty of food. Jack's was a bit on the lean side at the start. First 3 meals where about 400-600 calories...
 
Back when I was a 'dink...we never got hungry. If we felt the pangs, we pulled our trusty weapon out of the rack by the door...

I mean, ya'll have heard from old grads "...back when Dino's roamed the terrazzo..."

Seen any lately?

Just saying.
 
TigerMomNot said:
One thing that we didn't practice here at home was how to bolt down less than appetizing food in 10 minutes or less. In the early days, DD may have been hungry. It's a work in progress.
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Update

DD got an official weigh in this week, down 9 lbs. Seems like this weight loss is helping with PT, especially pull ups.

Regarding the 10 minutes for meals, she states that she no longer feels the urge to eat after 10 minutes, and in fact feels the urge to stop eating after 10. She is buying snacks when hungry - she sent me a pic of chocolate milk today - and I have sent things like beef jerky.

They learn to adapt, and the school is watching their weight, so to OP, don't worry, the hungry days don't last long.
 
I am at the prep school, and the DFAC here is one of the best I've had. During both of my BMTs I felt hungry even if I ate a lot because you cram it down so fast. Once BMT is over and you can take time to eat, you can eat less and feel more full. Like a couple others have said, snacks are also what keep you going. You do have to be careful though, because snacks is where you will gain weight if you are not watching it.
 
MAG said:
Not to offend anyone, but my DS at his 1st year at USAFA and is not too fond of the meat. He has been saying it tastes funny to mediocre. Then he heard a rumor that the USAFA serves grade D meat, suitable for prisons and the military. So now he thinks it tastes even worse. I told him to hit the salad bar then if he doesn't like it.
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I have never been “in” either, but I have first hand knowledge with food at prisons and military. :cool: My knowledge is dated, but it’s my understanding things have not changed much. The food served in prison is not even close to the quality of food served at an AF Dining Facillty. Prisons buy distressed product. The military buys products any restaurant or school buys. The issue is the dining facility gets a Basic Daily Food Allowance for each person assainged to the DFAC. I read it is around $15 per day currently. The BDFA is broken down even further for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This forces DFACs to have to purchase food items similar to a school system. Definitely not the best, but not prison quality.
 
The meals during basic were okay. They started out terrible but got better as BCT progressed. I distinctly remember 4th of July being the best, since they gave us 15 minutes instead of the regular 10. The meal that day was cheeseburgers and curly fries for dinner, and a fried chicken sandwich for lunch. On any other day, everyone stuffed their plates so full that we would always ask for extra trays of food from cadre tables. There were plenty of snacks, like chips, bars, fruit, and Nutella. At Jack's the food was surprisingly good (gained 4 pounds from Jack's.) However, I would say during the academic year I get hungry A LOT. Minutes and MAF do not end until 6:55 AM and class starts at 7:30. For me, I don't want to be running all the way to Mitch's, then wait in a long line, and potentially be late running up the stairs in Fairchild for my class. So I just skip breakfast and run to Fairchild earlier. We also have squad pushups, 25 each time you enter or leave squad, so I leave before 7:00 AM to avoid doing those. You can store snacks in your room though. At lunch, the upperclassmen ask you to tell jokes, fun facts, ask you what the meal is, ask you why you're smiling, so you never really eat as much as you want. But then when dinner comes, you eat as much as you can with no time constraint. They even have non-dairy frozen yogurt every other day! My tip is to get it in a cup with two cones (so you end up getting two cones after scooping the frozen yogurt into the cone :))

Edit: Also forgot to add that there is a salad bar for lunch and dinner and a yogurt bar at brunch during the academic year.
 
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Mangito said:
The meals during basic were okay. They started out terrible but got better as BCT progressed. I distinctly remember 4th of July being the best, since they gave us 15 minutes instead of the regular 10. The meal that day was cheeseburgers and curly fries for dinner, and a fried chicken sandwich for lunch. On any other day, everyone stuffed their plates so full that we would always ask for extra trays of food from cadre tables. There were plenty of snacks, like chips, bars, fruit, and Nutella. At Jack's the food was surprisingly good (gained 4 pounds from Jack's.) However, I would say during the academic year I get hungry A LOT. Minutes and MAF do not end until 6:55 AM and class starts at 7:30. For me, I don't want to be running all the way to Mitch's, then wait in a long line, and potentially be late running up the stairs in Fairchild for my class. So I just skip breakfast and run to Fairchild earlier. We also have squad pushups, 25 each time you enter or leave squad, so I leave before 7:00 AM to avoid doing those. You can store snacks in your room though. At lunch, the upperclassmen ask you to tell jokes, fun facts, ask you what the meal is, ask you why you're smiling, so you never really eat as much as you want. But then when dinner comes, you eat as much as you can with no time constraint. They even have non-dairy frozen yogurt every other day! My tip is to get it in a cup with two cones (so you end up getting two cones after scooping the frozen yogurt into the cone :))

Edit: Also forgot to add that there is a salad bar for lunch and dinner and a yogurt bar at brunch during the academic year.
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The extra 5 minutes and decent food on the 4th was surprisingly wonderful.
 
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