Vegan for College

[♥♪Musictarian♪♥]

I have been wanting to go vegan for a while, but while I live with my parents, veganism is out of the question. Anyway, I want to try veganism when I go to college, but I'm afraid of the cost. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for a cheap vegan college life.

[raefactor]

hey,

I spend relatively little on my groceries. I think I average $50-100 a month on groceries, and I buy some of the more expensive stuff (vegan waffles, the occasional premade meat substitute, nuts, fruit, etc.) Will you be on the meal plan at your school? That can make a big difference.

How good a selection of vegan food does your college have? If you go to a bigger college it's more likely you'll find vegan choices. My college can't seem to make vegan taste good, or if it is it's because they put milk or chicken broth in it! *gag*

Also, worst case scenario you can always make a salad, PBJ sandwich, or bowl of cereal with soy milk. Just do a little research and you should be fine. If you have a meal plan, try to just supplement the dining hall food with the occasional necessity or treat. If you don't have one, try to hit good sales, make a list, and learn how to cook cheap and easy foods. :)

[nicole_76]

There is no such thing as cheap vegan college life. I go to college in the south (yuck), where people think fish and chicken is not considered meat...so needless to say, I can't find anything on campus that doesn't have animal ingredients in it. I go to Whole Foods and Kroger (they have a pretty good organic and vegan selection!) to buy my groceries and it is not cheap!! Ready made meals are like $4.99 + each, and unless you plan on eating just veggies and bread, expect to pay alot.

It is hard being vegan while still depending on other people for your food. Best of luck!

[cryptoveggie]

I did my own cooking in college, we didn't have dorms or cafeterias. Being vegan is very inexpensive compared to carnism as long as you don't go nuts on the mock-meats and cheeses. I probably spent less than I did as an ovo-lacto because I stopped buying eggs and milk, soy milk can be pricey but I use less of it and it keeps. Also most of the mock-meats I loved as a vegetarian weren't vegan anyways.

So, no. As long as you don't buy tons of vegan connivence foods you'll probably save money by being vegan.

[heatherann027]

I don't think being Vegan would be really difficult at college. Depends on your schools meal plan of course. But where I go to school we have specific area where they have varying (though not very exciting) veg foods everyday, a huge salad bar, vegan soups, etc. Even in the campus center stores we have lots of veggie foods (marinated mushrooms today.) for sale along side the salads. Maybe you will get to your new school and find its less like mine and more like nicole_76's school. In that case I think you should contact whoever supplies the food to your school and let them know you need different foods. Be persistant! You are paying them a lot of money and therefore should be getting your share of food.

Best of luck!

[rabid_child]

The college I went to had vegan options at every dining hall and a dining hall that only served vegetarian and vegan food.

[Lucious]

I live with my parents and go to university, and it's not hard to be vegan. I do my own groceries, and for one person, it's not a lot of money. In fact, it's cheaper to be vegan than to be a meat eater. Meat is expensive. Veggies, not so much.

Stock up on non-perishable staples when they're on sale and buy fresh produce once a week, and buy only what you need. Remember to budget what you're buying. Go to the supermarket with a list of what you need, and don't buy more than what you need. For example, don't buy junk food, you need to nourish yourself. Make sure you research what you need to eat first. There are lots of resources on the internet that will explain what foods you should be eating to ensure you are being properly nourished.

[Fallen]

Right now my vegan options at my school are slim. Rice, beans and salad are the only options. Every blue moon there might be something vegan. There is a all vegetarian mostly vegan place in our student union, but since I live on campus I have to go where I can use my points. The places in our student union does not take meal points.

So it can be easy if your school has decent options. I also do not have a kitchen in my dorms so I cannot even cook for myself.

[starling]

I don't know if you're already certain which school you're going to, but here's a bit of advice: the smallest schools and the largest schools might be your best bet. I go to a gigantic school that's always trying to outdo itself, so they keep building new eateries with more and more healthy options. On the other hand, small schools might have a more liberal population...you get my point. Good luck!

[Lydia]

Lentils and rice, says my vegetarian cousin.
I'm not in college so I can't speak from experience.

[orangerory]

At my college, you were able to have micro-fridge combinations in your dorm. As gross as it sounds, I had to basically live out of that my freshman year because you were required to live on campus (I moved off campus as soon as I could). I didn't have a meal plan but occasionally ate in the cafeteria - some of the cafeterias were better than others. We had crumbled veggie burger you could put on pasta or nachos with beans, rice and guacamole. Anyway - I got involved with my student government and one of the first things I did was work with the cafeterias to offer a vegan option at every meal. They were very receptive. I have also found that most big college towns are pretty veggie friendly.

[MoeCiroc]

Nicole brought up a point a few posts ago that's pretty important... what kind of area are you going to be living in while @ school?

I first went to college in NY, and I had to have a student meal plan my freshman year. But because I was in a more open-minded area, the school ordered vegan things for me. I was able to get my own soy milk delivered to the cafeteria each week, and they added a few things to the menu (and took away a few ingredients from some things, like butter). It still wasn't a great situation, but between that and pasta/veggie stir frys, it was okay.

You should definitely talk to your university about their food services. It's a lot of work to go off to school and try to cook every meal, every day, so if your school can help you out, it'd probably be worth it.

HOWEVER, Nicole's right about the south... At least, it's very true from my experience. I went to college in the (way deep) south for my remaining 3 years of school. If you are going to be in an area like that... good luck. :) I survived just fine though by ordering nicer foods from the Internet and buying veggies, pasta and tofu from the local grocery store for pretty cheap. But the school - no help. (A friend of my pushed for simple vegetarian options the entire 3 years he was in school there and couldn't even get them to keep the bacon out of the beans and green beans.)

I definitely think the area you're in will make a big difference in what kinds of things you buy and what's the best way to go about staying vegan for cheap. But no matter where you are, it's absolutely possible. Good luck!