Hi!
I am new here and I am sure that there are a million people who come on here and say what I what I am about to say, but maybe if you guys could just humor me and help me out that would be great! :)

I am starting my freshman year of college (at a college that is veggie friendly, but I don't know about vegan friendly). I tried the cold turkey approach for going vegan at home and that didn't work for great lengths of time. So I decided to ease out of eating animal products. Eggs and milk and things in relation to both were easy. Cheese isn't hard in the sense that "I love it" because I don't like how I feel after I eat cheese, but it has been such a large source of protein for me as a vegetarian for such a long time that I still think about eating it just for "quick protein" (I guess is the best thing to call it). I don't question what certain foods are cooked with. My main dilemma is that I don't want to be "that one that drives the lunch people crazy with my questions" and I just wanted to know how people deal with that.

I also don't want to starve through college. I know that it is completely possible to get enough to eat and be completely fine, but I am finding myself struggling with that. I think mainly because I don't think that I have been going about this correctly.

I am able to purchase food and cook it myself, but I know that when classes get in full swing I will not have the time to cook myself full meals and whatnot.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom or ideas?
Thanks!

Presumably you could "drive the lunch people crazy" just one time and get all the answers you need and not have to bug them ever again. And you could ask your questions over the phone during a non-rush-hour time, so maybe they won't even know it was you.

Yes, just be mice when talking to the people. Explain your situation to them, and request that they maybe get at least a couple vegan friendly meals(or ask if they already do.)

I don't know if you're eating in a dining hall or not, but I'll answer this like you are. I'm in a similar situation as you, and I was concerned about eating vegan at college also. However, I was surprised at how easy it was to eat vegan, even in the dining hall, especially if you're creative. They have soy milk. At every food place. :D :D :D Vegan entrees are becoming a lot more common. And it's pretty normal for there to be an extensive salad bar somewhere, which is good for vegan sandwich-making. I guess my point is that just because a college doesn't advertise vegan options doesn't mean they don't have them. A lot more schools are becoming vegan-friendly, so explore the options they already offer, and if they have nothing for you, call them and complain. :)

I don't know if you're eating in a dining hall or not, but I'll answer this like you are. I'm in a similar situation as you, and I was concerned about eating vegan at college also. However, I was surprised at how easy it was to eat vegan, even in the dining hall, especially if you're creative. They have soy milk. At every food place. :D :D :D Vegan entrees are becoming a lot more common. And it's pretty normal for there to be an extensive salad bar somewhere, which is good for vegan sandwich-making. I guess my point is that just because a college doesn't advertise vegan options doesn't mean they don't have them. A lot more schools are becoming vegan-friendly, so explore the options they already offer, and if they have nothing for you, call them and complain. :)

You know in just the past two days I noticed that. After I wrote this I just thought how lame I was being and just went for it and its been great. I am still having an issue approaching the people in the line about what they are cooking things with so I just get what I know is vegan and if I have a question I just wont eat it. Maybe after I get more into the swing of things I will be able to ask them.

I am still having an issue approaching the people in the line about what they are cooking things with so I just get what I know is vegan and if I have a question I just wont eat it.

The people serving the food really might not have a clue about what exactly is in the food, depending on how jobs are divided there. You might want to take it further, find some other veg*ns and petition that dining services list nutrition facts for all of their meal items, including codes for items that are vegetarian or vegan. My school does this, so when I go to get food there is a card displayed for each entree items. It lists calories, protein, carbs, etc....plus a tomato picture if it's vegetarian and a sunflower if it's vegan. Quite helpful.

Thank you for all of your help! I think that I am at the point where I can do this confidently. I am sure that there are other people who are going through the same thing, so I am sure that more comments wont hurt. But really all that I wanted to say was thanks! See you around the Veggie Boards! Feel free to say hi.

why don't you try peanuts as a quick source of protein instead of cheese?

you can maybe email someone working for your school's dining halls. try searching your school's website. or if that doesn't work, i'd ask someone working in a dining hall how you could contact whoever is in charge of the dining halls. you could then ask them about what's vegan and/ or suggest they mark what's vegan. in my experience, people working in the dining halls don't know much about the food or veganism. but if you talk to someone in an authority position, they'll likely have the resources to answer your questions and address your concerns.

i'm in college, but long since out of the dorms, so i haven't eaten in the dining halls regularly for awhile. i cook my own food most of the time, and i usually can manage to make something delicious within my hour break from class, and since i make a lot at a time, i save it to eat as several other meals. i learned how to cook by watching friends of mine who can cook, vegans and non-vegans alike. when i started college, i'd been vegan for two and a half years and still couldn't cook very well at all.