surviving college

peanut7butter
peanut7butter Posts: 45
in Food and Nutrition
Lately I have been eating a plant based diet, with very little meat/eggs and no dairy. I was wondering if colleges usually have tofu on the salad bar, so I can put it on a sandwich or something? And do colleges usually have bread and bagel sections so I can build my own sandwiches? because I have become pretty reliant on my tofu sandwiches! I guess I'm really wondering if colleges have good vegan staples, mostly

Replies

  • julianadelbosque
    julianadelbosque Posts: 84
    I don't know about the salad bar and tofu, but my college's dining hall definitely has a sandwich station. We also have a pretty big salad bar - I've just never specifically looked for tofu. But there are certainly beans and fruits and a ton of different veggies.

    My school also always vegetarian and vegan options in the dining hall. We have one station dedicated to vegetarian options, and there are always vegan options (including incredible desserts) somewhere at each meal. We do have pretty good dining options though, so I'm not sure what your school will be like. Worst case, I would suggest investing in a bigger mini-fridge for your room so that you can store veggies and make sandwiches in your room to bring to campus for meals.
  • redladywitch
    redladywitch Posts: 799 Member
    My daughter is in a dorm room. She has a small refrigerator along with a microwave. Are you in a dorm? If so, buy a small refrigerator so that you can make sure you have tofu. The universities that I've seen have a wonderful selection of food to choose from. I suppose you just need to go to the cafeteria and check it out.

    Best of luck to you at school!
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    been a few years since college, but depending on the size of your university you'll have choices. The universities I lived at had beautiful salad bars, a sandwich station, and rotating options. Vegetarian is such a common place now you wont have any problems. Probably more so than when I was in school some 10 years ago.
  • CharChary
    CharChary Posts: 220 Member
    Heavily depends on your college. My university was wonderful for us vegetarians/vegans! Most campus dining halls will definitely have a salad bar. Here's what I did: So my meal plan didn't totally go to waste, I bought SOME items for my room/college dorm fridge. Things like whole wheat bagels, bread, sandwich thins, veggie patties, (maybe your tofu is an idea for you) almonds, greek yogurt etc. I bought those items with me to the dining hall (packed them in my own tubberware or baggys) and used the dining halls skim or soy milk, salad bar, peanut butter, toppings, etc. to complete my meals. I always had to bring something to help make the options healthier but it wasn't bad and I was still using my meal plan/interacting with my college mates!
  • Yogarunner21
    Yogarunner21 Posts: 8
    Honestly it depends on the college, but mine had tofu in the salad bar and even cooked tofu dishes on rotation. The soup station always had at least 1 vegetarian option. There was a bagel station in addition to different sliced breads. Like the poster above, my school also had a whole vegetarian station. Your school will hopefully and probably have similar options, but part of the fun in living on-campus and having the dining hall as your main source of food is that you get creative with your meals (especially if you lived on-campus all 4 years like I did). Best of luck!

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