How to eat cheap in Hyde Park as a UChicago student

Most people take about six weeks to figure out their food routine here, which is six weeks too late. Eating well on a student budget is mostly about knowing the neighborhood, and Hyde Park has a lot more going on than the two blocks around your dorm. The sooner you learn 53rd, 55th, and 57th, the better your food life gets.

Here is what works.

Walk off campus first

The dining halls are convenient and that is most of what they are. If you are on a meal plan you have already paid for it, so use it. Still, do the math once on what a single swipe actually costs you. Knowing that number changes how you decide which meals are worth a swipe and which ones are worth going out for.

Most of the neighborhood sits around 53rd Street, 55th Street, and a few blocks of 57th near the bookstores. From most dorms that is a ten to fifteen minute walk. Learn that stretch before you learn anything else about the neighborhood.

Know the lay of the land

Valois on 53rd is cafeteria style and opens early. You point at what you want and they plate it in front of you. Cash is the safe bet there.

Harold's Chicken is a counter spot, and usually open later than much of the neighborhood. Plan on takeout rather than a sit-down dinner.

The Thai and Mediterranean spots around 55th and 57th are where a lot of students end up for sit-down meals. Prices move around, so check a menu before you walk over and treat any number you hear as a starting point.

53rd Street has the biggest cluster of restaurants in the neighborhood, from counter spots to full sit-down places, across a wide range of prices. It is worth one slow walk down the street early in the quarter just to see what is there. Hyde Park also runs deep on cafes, on campus and off it, and finding the one you actually like working in is its own first quarter project.

The part nobody warns you about

A lot of the good spots close early, and Sunday hours are shorter than you think. Check before you walk over. Getting to 55th and finding a dark window is the fastest way to end up back at the dining hall.

The money that leaves quietly

Coffee is the slow leak. A daily coffee habit is real money by the end of a quarter wherever you buy it, and it is worth knowing more than one spot, if only for the seats.

Groceries are the other half. If you have a kitchen at all, one grocery run a week does more for your budget than any single cheap meal. Cooking three nights a week is the honest answer to eating cheap here. Nobody wants to hear it. It is still true.

One more thing. Portions at a lot of these places are big enough to split. Going with a couple of friends and sharing two or three plates usually beats everyone ordering their own.

Where Pool comes in

Pool is the app for student deals around Hyde Park. Restaurants across the neighborhood are coming on now, and each deal goes live in the app as its restaurant signs. It is free and only for verified UChicago students.