Campus dining

claudiakreileman · March 2018

I was wondering if there are any students on here who eat in the dining centers of their campus? I am having a hard time selecting proper nutrition while eating on an American university campus

What do you usually eat or what types food do you try to avoid?

projectsix · March 2018

claudiakreileman wrote: »

I was wondering if there are any students on here who eat in the dining centers of their campus? I am having a hard time selecting proper nutrition while eating on an American university campus

What do you usually eat or what types food do you try to avoid?

Oh hi young Julia Roberts.

Yes, I do! It's certainly difficult. I'm in Canada and our cafeteria's are similar in that they don't have a ton of low cal quality options. That said, we do have a "buffet" where you get to order a certain plate where sometimes you'll get a beef, rice, veggies dish or chicken, rice, veggies with a sauce. There's also a salad (and soup) bar where they always put out huge dishes of pre-made salad's and then you just pay by weight. I'm assuming you don't have these options. A lot of the time, I just grab a cup of non-cream/chowder soups (like chicken rice, thai chicken, beef and barley, etc.) Any of the soups that don't have a cream base are lower cal options.

I always avoid the greasy and bread based dishes like Panini sandwiches and stuff, they're usually like 1k+ loaded with greasy sauces, cheese, etc.

Wraps as well! There's a cooler with premade turkey wraps that are only around 400 cals. Not sure if that helps.

claudiakreileman · March 2018

The images show what they offered today in the dining centers. I almost eat salads or wraps everyday but its starting to get a little boring eating the same every day.

apullum · March 2018

Does your school’s website list nutrition info, or just the foods available that day? Many universities have nutrition info for the cafeterias available online.

Regardless, you’ll eat fewer calories by picking lean proteins, vegetables, and foods not cooked in lots of fat. Rice, pasta, and other carbs are relatively high in calories, so you will probably want to eat those in moderation. Fruit can be a great choice, but some fruits are quite high calories.

I see several baked or grilled meats on the menus you posted, plus veggies. Are “Savories” and “Cucina” stations in your cafeteria? They both appear to have reasonable options, but without nutrition info, it’s hard to be sure.

Are you able to do any of your own cooking, or do you have to eat in the cafeteria?

Pastaprincess1978 · March 2018

I feel your pain. I work at a school and lunch is provided in the cafeteria. Of course I could bring my own but when someone is willing to cook for you - you don't say no! Less shopping etc. Hard to do here in China.

Anyway, there is a salad bar, so what I do is pick whatever meat I can from any of the buffets and add a whole lot of cucumber, tomato and lettuce and top it off with mustard and soy sauce.

Works for me - hopefully you can find something like that too.

I avoid the pasta, rice and curries here like the plague - so full of oil and really awful oil!

brownsquirrel09 · March 2018

I actually got in the best shape of my life when I was living and dining on campus in college ( mostly because of the east gym access) and I didn’t really eat a lot of salads! On that menu I do see some familiar meals to what I might have eaten.
1. Made to order stir fry. Load up with a ton of veggies and go light on sauces if you have control of it and you can ask them to go light on oil. If you have the choice, be sure to request brown rice for some complex carbs instead of noodles or white rice.
2. Soups! I ate a lot of soups. Salt content can be an issue but it’s not the worst thing you can in jest when you’re in college

3. I see a lot of grilled/baked/roasted proteins. Don’t be afraid of a little pasta with a grilled protein and some veggies. I’d usually steer clear of heavier Alfredo sauces in favor of marinara, but a little creamy pasta never killed anyone.
4. I ate a turkey burger (no cheese but with mayo oddly) almost every day for several months. I never got tired of it. Find your “turkey burger” and don’t feel bad for eating it literally all the time because you just happen to think it’s *kitten* delicious and relatively healthy considering the options.
5. Don’t be too restrictive! It’s ok to have a cookie or go for the pizza slice or fries every once in a while, don’t beat yourself up about it. You seem to already be making healthy choices if youve got a menu like this and you’re able to keep to salads and wraps all the time! Don’t tell yourself you can’t ever eat something “bad” without feeling bad about it. That’s a bad food relationship.
6. Lastly, don’t feel like you need to spend all of your dining hall money. I had 7.25 for lunches and my burger was only like 3.50. I’d usually buy a water and a granola or something to snack on later, but I’d never buy junk just to fill my budget. Have a sibling or friend who never seems to have enough food money? Buy some stuff for them. My brother ate like a machine so I would take him a bag of stockpiled food once or twice a month (and he still ran out of money)

Sorry for the novel!

claudiakreileman · March 2018

There is nutrition info on the website, but there is no opportunity to weight the portion. You have to scoop it yourself on a plate without a scale or any.

I can’t cook at all myself as there are no kitchens in the campus building where I’m living at. Our dining contracts are an all you can eat service and you can eat as many (times) as you want to. We pay a monthly predetermined contract fee so not per dish or per meal.

Savories and cucina are indeed stations in the halls meant for people with an allergies.

I indeed eat stir fry sometimes but you can’t control the amount of sauce they put on your plate, which is a lot. They don’t use oil but water instead, so that kinda compensates the excessive use of sauce.

Thanks guys for all the ideas.

ap1972 · March 2018

claudiakreileman wrote: »

There is nutrition info on the website, but there is no opportunity to weight the portion. You have to scoop it yourself on a plate without a scale or any.

I can’t cook at all myself as there are no kitchens in the campus building where I’m living at. Our dining contracts are an all you can eat service and you can eat as many (times) as you want to. We pay a monthly predetermined contract fee so not per dish or per meal.

Savories and cucina are indeed stations in the halls meant for people with an allergies.

I indeed eat stir fry sometimes but you can’t control the amount of sauce they put on your plate, which is a lot. They don’t use oil but water instead, so that kinda compensates the excessive use of sauce.

Thanks guys for all the ideas.

Could you ask for no sauce and carry a bottle of Soy sauce to add yourself on the plate?

apullum · March 2018

ap1972 wrote: »

Could you ask for no sauce and carry a bottle of Soy sauce to add yourself on the plate?

This, or ask for the sauce on the side. You *could* carry a scale to the cafeteria with you and weigh what's on your plate, but you also might feel a little silly doing that. Measuring cups aren't as exact as a scale, but they're better than nothing. You could even get a cheap set of measuring cups and practice "eyeballing" measurements...again, not something I'd normally recommend to people who have the ability to weigh and measure food, but it's better than nothing. If you can, get your food to go, take it back to your dorm, and see how much it weighs or measures out to be. If you do that a few times, you'll get a better sense of how big the portions are.

RodaRose · March 2018

Someone at the school or the company has nutritional information. Keep asking until you get an appropriate answer. Look at baked, broiled, or roasted chicken or fish or small pork chop. Lots of veggies (without sauce) are usually low calorie. Sometimes, breakfast is the easiest meal to figure out for calories: 2 eggs, 2 slices of bacon, some fruit.

ap1972 · March 2018

apullum wrote: »

ap1972 wrote: »

Could you ask for no sauce and carry a bottle of Soy sauce to add yourself on the plate?

This, or ask for the sauce on the side. You *could* carry a scale to the cafeteria with you and weigh what's on your plate, but you also might feel a little silly doing that. Measuring cups aren't as exact as a scale, but they're better than nothing. You could even get a cheap set of measuring cups and practice "eyeballing" measurements...again, not something I'd normally recommend to people who have the ability to weigh and measure food, but it's better than nothing. If you can, get your food to go, take it back to your dorm, and see how much it weighs or measures out to be. If you do that a few times, you'll get a better sense of how big the portions are.

With practice it is possible to get fairly accurate at judging portion sizes and how many calories they contain I've tested myself often and am pretty good at judging how many calories I have on a plate. Problems come with sauces and when cooked in oil though as they are impossible to know without proper nutritional info.

jjpptt2 · March 2018

For me personally, it's easier to estimate the portion of something that comes in pieces rather than in scoops or spoonfuls or piles. First, it's easier to compare the size. Second, it's easier to see ingredients. It's much harder to hide sauces/creams/cheese/whatever in a baked potato than it is in mashed potatoes. Does that make any sense?

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