Vegan at college?
( oops, I just discovered that vegweb got their forum thingie back and I posted this in the wrong place.. sorry!!!)
Mkay, I go to college next year ( 2009) but I am already having to prepare some things ahead of time and I am curious of how easy/hard it is to be vegan at college.
I live in Brazil, my parents are missionaries, but I just got back from the states a month ago after being there 7 weeks. I noticed that even at Walmart and Kroger and Ingles there are vegan options.. although sometimes on the expensive side and almost 99% of things need to be refrigerated.
The college I am hoping to go to has a rule that I MUST purchase their food plan for the first two years ( which kind of seems like a waste of money since i won't be able to eat that much from there anyway)
So: I'm on a very tight budget ( i have to pay for college on my own, with no help from home) and I'm curious as to if anyone has any good ideas of how I may save money in purchasing vegan foods and products
Haha, I replied to the other thread. ;D
Here's what I posted on the other one:
You might be pleasantly surprised at the choices at your dining hall--I haven't lived on campus since my freshman year, but our dining hall is now offering a lot of vegetarian and vegan options (beyond a salad bar). It's still not great, but it's much much better than it used to be. You might want to check it out, or talk to the dining hall folks to see what is going to be available for you.
If your dining hall is crappy, buying your dry goods in bulk (if there is a health food store around) is a big money saver--grains, spices, beans, flours, sugars, nuts. Use your meal plan as much as you can, and if you can get away with it, take extra pieces of fruit with you when you leave. If they aren't going to give you vegan options, then get your money's worth out of that plan! Limit packaged stuff as much as you can--that stuff adds up really quickly. Instead of Boca burgers, make your own black bean burgers. Much cheaper!
I assume you're going to be living in the dorms (since you have to buy a meal plan)--see what the residence halls allow with kitchen gadgets. If you can have a toaster oven, you can make one to two person portions of most foods you would cook in a regular oven. I would say even if you aren't allow to have one, you should bring one anyway and just hide it (I had a toaster, an iron, my roommate's coffee maker, and a George Forman grill--all outlawed, but it wasn't a problem. Perhaps I am setting a bad example Roll Eyes ). The toaster oven I have has bake, toast, broil, and grill options with different temperature settings and a timer--it works really well!
Also, I don't know anything about this book, but it might be useful:
http://www.amazon.com/Students-Vegetarian-Cookbook-Quick-Recipes/dp/0761508546
do you know the school yet?
i would say that, for instance, at the school i graduated from it is doable but not easy. you should call them and ask them specifics: how can you use the meal plan you purchase (only in the dining hall, or are there on campus markets), what kind of options do they offer, etc. if they do not have much in the means of vegan food i would lobby for it. say that if they are going to have it be a requirement that their meal plan be purchased they have to accommodate everyones diet.
Toccoa Falls ... its a christian college in Toccoa Falls Georgia... on the smaller side
ok, well i did a little research and you don't look lucky, honestly.
this is about the only promising thing i saw on their dining website. it looks like you are required to purchase their meal plan only if you live on campus... have you given off campus any thought? ask if their are loopholes for those with special needs. tell them you are allergic to eggs and dairy.
the "health spot" everyday is wraps or stir-fries and even those aren't guaranteed to have vegan options. i would say communicate with them NOW about your circumstances and if it is important to you to stay vegan and they don't seem like they will be accommodating live off campus. meal plans are really tricky and living on campus sucks when you like to cook.
Will you have a kitchen if you live on campus? In my experience, the dorms I've lived in have teeny tiny kitchens, but I guess they were functional.
You should get off campus as soon as you can. Guaranteed, you'll save tons of money on food! I probably ate one fifth of the value of the food I was actually paying for on my meal plan when I lived on campus. Now I have my own kitchen and pantry and fridge in my nice little apartment and I am in heaven.
Wonderful.
Yeah, I was kinda ticked at the representative and had to refrain from making sarcastic comments haha
The problem with off campus is that there is no where to live and I woudln't have enough money so support a place to live. As much as I would love to... Financial Circumstances tell me that I cannot.
I agree. I have told them about my being a vegan- and staying that way- and the lady said that they had many vegas and they also provided a very nice salad bar. *sigh*
Okay - as a former Director of Housing and the person that was the Dining Services liaison, here's what I would recommend:
Talk to the Director of Dining Services and make sure they understand exactly what VEGAN means. Our director thought everyone was just vegetarian and thus thought spinach quiche was appropriate. I personally had to inform him that as a VEGAN (which we didn't have at the time) one couldn't eat the quiche for several reasons. Most omnis that work in Dining Services are aware of vegetarian needs, but some assume that salads are sufficient.
If you tell the Director of Dining Services that you're allergic to milk and dairy be prepared to present a doctor's note. Small, private universities require meal plans because it's the only way food providers will come on campus. Administrators are very reluctant to let students out of the meal plan. Our policy was that exceptions were only made for those with severe food issues with medical support that we could not meet their need - we never let a student out of the meal plan (however we required all students to have a meal plan for the entire 4 years on campus).
What I'd recommend is that you sit down with the Director and let him/her know exactly what you can and cannot eat. Explain (very clearly) that eggs, dairy and even chicken stock will not work for you. They may be willing to lower the meal plan if they cannot meet that need. However, they may be willing to work with you and order special items for you. I will say that our Director of Dining Services was willing to order items if he knew that a student would eat them. Also, ask to be on the student food committee so that you have a voice that is heard by other students. It was amazing how much changed once we added a vegetarian to the food committee - the other students began to think more about what the vegetarians would be able to eat.
You'll still need to buy stuff to keep in your room for those nights when meals suck (because it happens whether your vegan or an omni). Get the largest fridge you can afford and that the res halls (dorm) will allow. Find out what appliances you can have - I allowed microwaves, coffee pots, George Foreman grills and irons, just not toasters or toaster ovens - anything that had exposed coils. The RAs will be doing random monthly smoke detector checks and if you're found with the illegal items there are fines or you may go before the student Judicial Board. The toaster oven could end up being an expensive appliance. Keep in mind some res halls have kitchens in them with stoves and ovens, so you might be able to use that as well.
That's just my 2 cents worth (more like a dollar and a half, huh?). Hope it helps!
Thankya Jewells, those were alot of great ideas I shall be sure to try
I looked it up on their site and basically nothing but a fridge is allowed. ( which includes: hot plates, toasters, toaster ovens, microwaves.. etc)
Alright - I checked out their website (very hard to maneuver, not very helpful) but here's what I found:
You can bring a coffee pot and a hot plate, but I couldn't find anything about a fridge (although I'm sure you should be ableto have them).
It said they provide microwaves and pots and pans for check out. I'd recommend bringing your own pot or pan (you don't need anything too big) and cook on your hot plate when need be. I looked up the res halls and one of them has a full kitchen - yay! So, if you wanted to bake, you'd have the opportunity.
See if you can get a "take out" box in the dining hall and fill it up with fresh fruits and veggies from the salad bar. I would "shop" in the cafeteria and then use those items to make what I really wanted in my room. Then you can stock up on the cheaper things (rice, lentils, pasta, etc) from the local grocery store or HFS.
That is in the Toccoa Fall's Falllife Student Handbook ( They have it online )
That's so weird - the thing I found online said you could have hotplates, which actually seemed a bit weird to me anyway.
Crap - I guess no cooking in your room :(
I'm sorry - I was really excited for you . . . . grr!!!
Well, I appreciate that someone was excited:d hehe thanks:p
is there even a community kitchen? they can't seriously expect you to eat three meals a day at the same place for two years....
I think that there is one in one of the dormitories.. not sure though
I did think of a few things that i can take though...
1) Airpopper
2) Waffle Iron ( not sure if they consider that a form of toaster but i CAN try)
3) Gridle ( ditto, dunno if they consider it a "grill")
4) Hot POT- they said plate... wonder if they conside rp-late any different?
Haha... though they didn't mention any of those appliances, I'm pretty sure they won't be keen on you having them (the general idea is that they don't want anything that gets hot in your room for fire reasons).
I live on campus at a school, in a suite with *no* kitchen (crazy I know). There is exactly one kitchen for all of the suites (~400 students) and you have to request access at east 24 hours in advance and because of the location of the kitchen, you can't use it if there's an event. Needless to say, I have never tried to use this mysterious kitchen of limited accessibility.
However, we are allowed to have microwaves. I keep some instant-type food in my room, like the Dr.McDougall soup things and ready-to-eat packets of Indian food from Trader Joe's and instant brown rice. I also keep a supply of oatmeal, cereal, dried fruit, and of course chocolate. But this is really last-resort food, in the event that the dining commons has really crappy options that particular night.
When I first came here, I e-mailed the manager of the dining commons and the executive chef about vegan options. The only thing they didn't know about veganism is that we don't eat honey! =p Thanks to my insistent peskiness, we got in single-serving size soymilks (vanilla and chocolate), soy yogurt (I didn't even ask for that one), the veggie burger changed from vegetarian to the vegan kind, and for the "blue plate" station, items that were vegan were marked as such. Also, we (anyone) get to send in recipes for the chef to try (variety is the spice of life when you eat here all the time...), and he's made a number of my recipes regularly appearing dishes ^^ No vegan pizza though, though we can order a whole pizza (and I can get no cheese). Also, "thanks" to the advent of hydrogenated oils, no butter is used in the cooking, though as a result everything with grease in it tastes waxy :-\ Though I appreciate the effort...
I can at least try without getting in trouble:) It would be their fault and they would have to edit the handbook haha
Aww that sounds great that you can submit recipes!! Lucky lol the only thing that I can request is a specially made stir fry...
i found a "microwave vegan" cookbook at borders once if someone didnt already mention that..im secretly too lazy to read all the posts so i dunno if youre allowed a microwave where youre going..but it looked like a good book..
When I was in residence last year, I lived out of my own little pantry that I created for myself - pitas, melba toast, dry cereal, couscous, and oatmeal. I had to have a meal plan, but of course, the cafeteria was abysmal. We weren't allowed microwaves, hotplates, grills, etc. Fortunately, we could have some other appliances - I had a mini fridge, a kettle, and a vegetable steamer/rice cooker (definitely get one of those!!!) If you're allowed to have a tea kettle, then you're set for instant oatmeal and making couscous, and a veg steamer/rice cooker would be a perfect dinner-maker.
Living in dorms and having to eat out of a cafeteria sucks. Let me just say that. I had a horrible experience and was so relieved to get out.