Eating on campus at MacEwan University doesn’t have to drain your budget. Between the Building 6 cafeteria, the Takam Market food hall, the SAMU food vendors, and a few free programs run by the Students’ Association, you can eat well without spending much. This guide breaks down the cheapest options on City Centre Campus, what they cost, and where to get a free meal when money is tight.
The cheapest spots on campus, at a glance
Most of the food at MacEwan lives in a handful of buildings, all within a short walk of each other. Building 6 holds the biggest cafeteria, the Robbins Health Learning Centre holds the Takam Market food hall, and the SAMU Building holds four vendors plus the free food programs.
| Spot | Building | What you’ll pay | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teapsy soft serve | Building 6 | $2.75 | A cheap treat |
| Pop-up lunch market | Varies | $5 | Subsidized hot lunches |
| Breakfast Club | SAMU Building | Free | Thursday breakfast |
| The Pantry | SAMU Building (SA-223) | Free | Grocery hamper |
| Produce Pop-Up | Varies | Free | Fresh vegetables |
Prices shift, so treat these as a rough guide. The point is that a filling meal on campus rarely needs to cost more than a few dollars, and several options cost nothing at all.
Building 6: the main cafeteria
Building 6 is the busiest food hub on campus. It holds the largest cafeteria, plus a convenience store and a campus pub. This is where you’ll find the widest range of options:
- Tim Hortons (coffee, breakfast, soups, sandwiches)
- Subway (subs, wraps, salads)
- Burger Bar (smash burgers, chicken sandwiches, hand-cut fries)
- La Cucina (pizza, pasta, calzones)
- Booster Juice (smoothies, wraps, paninis)
- Teapsy (bubble tea, smoothies, soft serve)
- Starbucks (coffee, bakery, light lunch)
- Griffins Landing (convenience store with hotdogs, soup, and sandwiches)
- Towers (the campus pub, with burgers, wings, and comfort food)
Griffins Landing is the convenience store inside the clock tower entrance. Beyond snacks, it sells hotdogs, chili dogs, soup, and sandwiches. It’s a solid pick for a quick, cheap meal between classes.
Teapsy is the bubble tea spot, also in Building 6. The soft serve is $2.75, and a vanilla sundae runs $5.75. Bubble teas start around $6.99. It’s a good cheap treat, not a meal.
Towers is the campus pub in the corner of the Building 6 cafeteria. It serves burgers, wings, and comfort food, and it runs drink specials. It’s more of a hangout spot than a budget lunch, but the food is filling.
Takam Market: the food hall in Robbins Health
The Robbins Health Learning Centre holds Takam Market, a locally-owned food hall with a Filipino-inspired lineup. It’s run by Ariel Del Rosario, the chef behind Filistix, and it’s one of the best value spots on campus. The concepts include:
- Filistix (Filipino rice bowls like pork adobo and coconut chicken)
- Big Sky Sandwiches (meatball subs, Reubens, wraps)
- Butta La Pasta (spaghetti, alfredo, carbonara)
- Takam Pizza (freshly made pizzas)
- Takam Cafe (pastries, coffee, empanadas)
- Bestea (bubble tea)
Filistix is a student favourite for value. A rice bowl is filling enough to carry you through an afternoon of classes, and the food hall has vegetarian and vegan options across most concepts.
The SAMU Building: four vendors plus free food
The SAMU Building, run by the Students’ Association of MacEwan University, holds four food vendors on its main and second floors:
- Deville Coffee (locally-owned coffee and baked goods, main floor)
- Chachi’s (gourmet sandwiches, second floor)
- Opa! of Greece (Greek bowls and wraps, second floor)
- Edo Japan (teppan-style rice and noodle bowls, second floor)
The SAMU Building is also where the free food programs live. That makes it worth a stop even if you’re not buying anything.
Residence: cook your own food
MacEwan Residence is different from many schools in one useful way: there’s no mandatory meal plan. Every suite comes with a kitchenette, including a fridge, microwave, and stovetop. That means you can cook your own meals, which is almost always the cheapest way to eat.
A bachelor suite runs $7,904 for an 8-month term, plus a $200 residence life fee, for a total of $8,104. A two-bedroom suite is $6,200 for the 8-month term. When you compare that to an off-campus rental, the residence cost includes utilities, internet, and furniture, so the sticker price covers more than rent alone.
If you live in residence, the kitchenette is your best budget tool. A few staples and a microwave can cover most of your meals for a fraction of what you’d spend on campus food.
Free and nearly-free food on campus
MacEwan has real support in place if your food budget is tight. You don’t need to go hungry to make ends meet.
The Breakfast Club is SAMU’s free breakfast, served every Thursday from 9 to 11 a.m. in the SAMU Student Lounge, or until supplies run out. It’s volunteer-run and free for any MacEwan student. The menu changes weekly and tries to cover dietary needs like Halal, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free. It’s popular, so expect a line.
The Pantry is SAMU’s confidential food hamper service. You can access it up to twice per month to receive a hamper of non-perishable food and hygiene items, roughly 10 to 12 days’ worth. It’s available to any MacEwan student with an active student ID, and it’s located in the Support Hub on the second floor of the SAMU Building (SA-223). You sign up through a registration form, and once approved you can build your hamper online. In March 2025, MacEwan donated $100,000 to The Pantry to help it keep serving students.
Produce Pop-Up is a monthly event where you can pick up a free bundle of fresh vegetables to use in your own cooking. It runs through the fall and winter terms, and it’s a good way to add fresh produce to your meals without paying grocery-store prices.
The Farmers’ Market also visits campus, offering affordable fresh produce. It’s a regular SAMU program, so check the SAMU events page for dates.
Pop-up lunch markets have offered subsidized hot lunches for $5. In 2025, MacEwan partnered with the Italian Centre Shop to sell sandwiches, pasta, and salads for $5, and sold over 2,000 meals across the events. These pop-ups aren’t a daily option, but they’re worth watching for.
How to spend less on campus food
A few habits stretch your food budget further than any single menu item:
- Cook in residence. Every suite has a kitchenette. A bag of rice, some eggs, and a few vegetables cover a lot of meals for very little money.
- Use the free programs. The Breakfast Club, The Pantry, and Produce Pop-Up are there for you. Use them when you need them.
- Watch for pop-up markets. The $5 subsidized lunches sell out fast, so grab one when you see it.
- Pick the food halls over the pub. Takam Market and the Building 6 cafeteria give you more food for your dollar than a sit-down meal at Towers.
- Bring your own. Packing a lunch is almost always cheaper than buying one, and the microwaves on campus mean you can heat up leftovers.
The bottom line
The cheapest reliable meals at MacEwan are the ones you cook yourself in residence, the $5 pop-up lunches when they run, and the free programs run by SAMU. The Breakfast Club feeds you every Thursday, The Pantry covers groceries up to twice a month, and Produce Pop-Up adds fresh vegetables to your kitchen. Eating on campus cheaply is less about finding one magic spot and more about knowing which options give you the most for your dollar.
For more on stretching your money as a student, see our guides to budgeting on a student income and student housing at MacEwan.
This guide is general information for Canadian students, not personalized financial advice. Program rules and dollar amounts change, so confirm the details with the official government source before acting on them.
