Eating on campus at Toronto Metropolitan University doesn’t have to drain your budget. Between the Hub Café’s $4.99 daily special, Oakham Café in the Student Community Centre, the two residence dining halls, and a set of free programs run by TMU Eats and the students’ union, you can eat well for under $10 most days. This guide breaks down the cheapest options on 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 budget-friendly food at TMU lives in two places: the Hub Café in Jorgenson Hall and the Student Community Centre (SCC) at 55 Gould Street. Both sit in the middle of campus, so you’re never far from a cheap meal between classes.
| Spot | Building | What you’ll pay | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friendly Fiver | Hub Café, Jorgenson Hall | $4.99 | A full daily meal |
| Oakham Café | Student Community Centre | Affordable, no set price | Breakfast wraps, coffee |
| The Met Campus Pub | Student Community Centre | Affordable pub food | Burgers, wings, hangouts |
| Dining hall walk-in | Pitman / ILC | $15 to $21.95 | All-you-can-eat |
Prices shift, so treat these as a rough guide. The point is that a filling meal on campus rarely needs to cost more than $5 if you know where to look.
The Hub Café and the Friendly Fiver
The Hub Café is the busiest food spot on campus, and it’s where you’ll find the single best deal at TMU. It sits on the first floor of Jorgenson Hall at 380 Victoria Street and runs as a market-style eatery with soups, salads, baked goods, pizza, and made-to-order stations.
The Friendly Fiver is the standout. It’s a daily special that costs $4.99, and it’s been a Hub Café staple for more than a decade. In 2025-2026 the Office of the President chipped in to keep the price at $4.99 despite rising food costs. Students bought it 4,047 times over that academic year, which tells you how reliable it is.
The Hub Café is take-out only, and it uses Friendlier, a reusable container program, instead of single-use takeout boxes. You can order ahead through the TMU Mobile Order App, which also unlocks exclusive offers and rewards.
Oakham Café and the Student Community Centre
The Student Community Centre at 55 Gould Street is the student-run heart of campus, and it holds two of the best-value spots at TMU.
Oakham Café sits between historic Oakham House and the SCC. It serves fairly priced food and coffee with halal, vegetarian, and vegan options, and it’s open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The breakfast wrap with a side of home fries is a student favourite, and the portions are hearty enough to carry you through a morning of classes.
The Met Campus Pub is the on-campus hangout, with affordable food, drinks, games, and student events. It’s a good spot for burgers, wings, and a place to watch sports, and it’s closed for the summer.
One money-saving trick: at Oakham Café, the Hub Café, and The Met Pub, you can pay with your OneCard and skip the tax on your meal. Load your OneCard with funds and you save a little on every purchase.
The residence dining halls: Pitman and ILC
TMU has two all-you-care-to-eat dining halls: the Pitman Dining Hall in Pitman Hall at 160 Mutual Street, and the ILC Dining Hall in the International Living and Learning Centre at 240 Jarvis Street. If you live in residence, a meal plan is usually part of your contract, and it’s the most cost-effective way to eat if you use it regularly.
For everyone else, the walk-in rates are steep:
- Breakfast: $15
- Lunch: $19.50
- Dinner: $21.95
Both dining halls are closed for the summer and reopen in the Fall term. At those walk-in prices, the dining halls are only worth it if you plan to eat a lot in one sitting. For a quick cheap meal, the Hub Café and Oakham Café are the better call.
Free and nearly-free food on campus
TMU has real support in place if your food budget is tight. You don’t need to go hungry to make ends meet.
The Good Food Centre (GFC) is TMU’s on-campus food bank, run in partnership with the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) and open to every TMU student, undergrad or grad. It’s in the Student Community Centre basement (Room SCC B-03A) at 55 Gould Street. Any student facing any level of food insecurity can register as a member and access the service. It partners with the Daily Bread Food Bank and is stocked with fresh produce from TMSU’s own rooftop garden. Hours are Monday 12 to 3 p.m., Tuesday 2 to 4 p.m., and Wednesday and Thursday 12 to 3 p.m.
The Free Food Project is a free meal program at the Hub Café that runs during the exam period at the end of each semester. You get your choice of a meat (halal) or vegetarian option with one drink and one snack, and there’s a limit of one meal per student. In the 2025-2026 academic year it served 14,814 free meals across campus.
Free Soup Day is a partnership between the Office of the President and TMU Eats. In 2026 it ran on January 22, March 19, and April 1, serving free cups of soup to students. Around 4,900 free bowls were served that year.
The Free Food Locator is a Discord server run by TMU Student Life and Learning Support that connects students with leftover food from campus events before it goes to waste. You fill out a form to get an invite.
Across all its programs, TMU Eats supported the distribution of more than 24,800 meals during the 2025-2026 academic year, and more than 75,000 total meals since its first food security initiatives in 2020.
How to spend less on campus food
A few habits stretch your food budget further than any single menu item:
- Hit the Friendly Fiver. At $4.99, it’s the best value-per-dollar meal on campus. It’s a full meal, not a snack.
- Pay with your OneCard. At Oakham Café, the Hub Café, and The Met Pub, paying with your OneCard skips the tax on your meal.
- Bring your own. Packing a lunch is almost always cheaper than buying one. A thermos of coffee and a sandwich cost a fraction of what you’d pay on campus.
- Skip the dining hall unless you’re in residence. At $19.50 for lunch, it’s the most expensive way to eat on campus unless you’re on a meal plan.
- Register for the Good Food Centre before you need it. Membership is free and open to any student facing food insecurity. It’s easier to sign up on a good day than in a crisis.
The bottom line
The cheapest reliable meals at TMU are the Friendly Fiver at the Hub Café ($4.99), Oakham Café in the Student Community Centre, and the OneCard tax savings at all three student-run spots. If money is tight, the Good Food Centre, the Free Food Project, and Free Soup Day are there for you. 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 TMU.
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.
