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Everyone’s doing it. Sure, it’s not technically allowed, but it feels so good—and is oh-so-tasty.

Yes, Northwestern students take food from the dining halls. From plastic baggie salads to elaborate Tupperware meals, freshmen and upperclassmen alike expend enormous amounts of creative energy smuggling their edible booty out of the dining halls and into their mini-fridges.

Meal plans are required for students living in university housing, so almost everyone spends a good deal of time noshing away in the dining halls. And almost everyone who eats in the dining hall has sat down one day and thought something along the lines of, “Wouldn’t this moist and tender blueberry muffin taste delicious tomorrow morning, in bed?” The logical course of action, students say, is to smuggle whatever tasty find catches their eye out of the dining hall. But it doesn’t take long to progress from a muffin here, an apple there to far more organized methods — professional, really.

“I wash my Tupperware set every day because I steal so much food,” Weinberg freshman Zack Moy said. As for his favorite selections? “Desserts are pretty good; I like to steal cookies. Cereal and fruit are big, but milk is golden.”

Looting liquids (dairy, juice and pop/soda/give it a rest) is slightly trickier than swiping foods of the solid variety, but students say it can definitely can be done. The brash and brazen have no qualms filling a Nalgene straight from the source, but most people try to be discrete and use the fill-glasses, pour-into-your-Nalgene-at-the-table technique.

Bringing a backpack or a large purse is another strategy many crafty students employ. This makes leaving with wraps, salads or cups of cereal a lot easier. If done well, it’s easy for students to make another meal out of stolen food. But where do you draw the line?

Most staff members turn a blind eye at some extra fruit here and there, but when students go overboard, it is definitely noticed. According to the Allison dining hall manager, dining hall employees are not permitted to give interviews.

However, students were hardly shy in telling their own tales of thievery. Weinberg freshman Eileen Driscoll was taking liberties with some rare but delicious Braeburns at Sargent when a staff member stopped her. “He said, ‘Excuse me, are you taking those out? You aren’t allowed,’” Driscoll said. Although he let her go this one time, this type of incident should serve as a warning to all you pizza pirates and burrito bandits out there: You may feel invincible as you swagger out of Plex with enough food to feed your whole floor, but you still may get stopped by the staff.

Plus, there is always that minor issue of morality to think about. “I justify stealing food with the great quote from the movie Aladdin: ‘Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat,’” Moy said. Clearly, Disney’s educational value is shining through the actions of our generation.

Weinberg sophomore Erin Royals added, “In the beginning, I felt bad about stealing, but then I really thought about it, and especially for dinner, when you are paying for nine dollars worth of food, if I’m not eating my money’s worth, the dining hall is basically stealing from me.”

McCormick junior James Yeung did some investigation last year into this very topic and found some surprising statistics. By comparing the NU Cuisine meal plan prices to the total per-meal cash equivalencies, Yeung found that even when meals are used most efficiently (the most expensive meals are dinners and brunches) we pay more for the mandatory meal plans than we would if we paid in cash for every meal.

Taking food at Northwestern is nearly as common as panic attacks during midterm week. If you decide to partake, whether it’s justified by analytical spreadsheets or Disney songs, here are a few things to think about.

Cereal. Unquestionably the pilfering-provision of choice, this breakfast staple is available in many varieties and is easy to come by. My favorites are Very Berry Cap’n Crunch and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Ziploc bags (or Styrofoam cups for the amateur) work well, if you don’t want to splurge on the 100-piece set of Tupperware for $7.50 at CVS.

Be aware of hard-boiled eggs. While confidence and acting cool go a long way in pilfering the most random of things (a waffle? chickpeas from the salad bar?), eggs are just smelly. Stay away, unless you like eggs so much that you want everything else in your fridge to start tasting like them, too.

Be creative. If you grab some Rice Krispies, a Styrofoam cup of mini marshmallows from the ice cream bar, and a few pads of butter, you have all you need to make Rice Krispie bars is a few minutes in the microwave.

Don’t be ridiculous. Yes, we do pay a rather exorbitant sum of cash for each spin through the dining hall turnstiles, but if your klepto-habits infringe on the realm of disrespectful, maybe you should consider stopping by CVS once in a while and actually exchanging cash for your edibles.

Don’t steal furniture. Keep in mind that you are paying for the food, not for a full cabinet of dishes or for furniture for your apartment. Spoon-stealing probably won’t put you at the top of any most-wanted list, but try to keep it to a minimum. “I’ve seen one person take a chair out of Sargent,” Driscoll said. Chair-napping? That’s crossing the line.

Don’t be shameless. It’s easy to come up with an excuse for taking two burritos (”I’ve been lost in Tech and haven’t eaten in days” or “I’m pregnant and eating for two”) but stuffing a dozen bananas into a backpack right in front of the kitchen staff is straight up dumb. You’re asking to get caught.

“I know people who stole a whole cake,” Royals said. “I have no idea how they got it out of there. I’ve also seen people steal a whole pineapple from the fruit display, and last year some kids on my floor stole the concentrate from the juice machines and made their own juice in the dorms.”