[yisote]

I've recently moved off to college (living off campus) and I'm comfortable with eating a vegan diet - no more dairy cravings or anything.

But I'm living off of chips and pop and processed peanut butter sandwiches and other junk food. I can't remember the last time I had a vegetable.

I've gained about 15 pounds in the last while and most of my clothes don't fit.

(and I'd like to lose those pounds)

I'm in a very intensive program (vet technician) and don't have a lot of time to cook/prepare food, so I end up eating prepacked junk foods (so I'm spending about $10/day CDN at the local variety store that I really don't have to spend).

Any suggestions on how I can clean up my diet or what's easy for a college student to eat? (I tried doing a search, but it wasn't working)

 

[AlittleGreen]

How about getting some apples and bananas? They're easy to take with you and will add to your diet in a positive way as well as help you lose that 15 pounds. You could also try cutting up some carrots and putting them in a ziplock bag as they will keep well (as several other veggies would too). You may also want to pick up some vegan health bars for some quick energy. You need to make sure they're totally vegan though as someone told me that some of them contain fish oil. Good luck!

 

[meatless]

What kitchen facilities etc. do you have? (i.e. fridge, microwave, stove etc.)

 

[writetheway]

I can sort of sympathize - I'm also insanely busy. How about hummus and pita? Prepared salad packages? Baby carrots are a great snack...Luna and Cliff bars always work well, too. A bit strange, but I like to eat whole tomatoes. Try making a peanut butter and bannana sandwich, or ramen noodles mixed with some of the prepared salad. Or open a can of beans and mix with couscous (which you can cook in the microwave in a coffee mug and be finished, cooking and eating, in five minutes).

 

[GhostUser]

I just visited my boyfriend at his college and stayed there for a week. I'm a vegan, and the school is definitely not vegan friendly! I did some research and found out that there was a Whole Foods about 2 miles from campus. I went there and picked up some bread and peanut butter for sandwiches, some fruit, vegetables and hummus, and a few things from the deli that looked good, and cereal and soymilk. I added in a Luna bar every day, and I felt like I was eating enough, and eating pretty healthy for not having access to a kitchen, and just having a refrigerator!

If your campus has a kitchen you can use, you can pick up stuff to make and save throughout the week, like soup or casseroles. Or just buy pita bread and stuff to put in it- vegetables, canned beans, some sort of dressing/dip... sandwiches are awesome and easy and quick to make!

Good luck! It can be very tough to be healthy in college!

 

[yisote]

meatless: yep, full-sized fridge, stove, microwave (although I'd rather not use the microwave...the radiaton aspect scares me), lots of cupboard space and whatnot.

writetheway: hummus and pita is a good idea...

I'm in a really small town and can't get Clif/Luna bars here (and I have no car).

I should probably switch to a natural peanut butter too.

 

[AlittleGreen]

I was just talking with my kids about natural peanut butter today. My sister had brought over a big jar of Skippy peanut butter and I told the kids I would much rather they eat the peanut butter we buy and my son confirmed that he liked the taste of the our peanut butter much better and I told him that most likely he enjoyed it more because "normal" brands like Skippy are half ground peanuts and half lard! yuck! Maybe switching would be a good idea~

 

[meatless]

Well for one thing, you can take a couple hours and make a HUGE batch of refried beans, throw in onions, peppers, tomato etc. and a pot of rice and then roll yourself up a dozen or more burritos to freeze...

Also get some frozen fruit and some juice or soy milk and blend up smoothies in just a few minutes....

Buy already chopped up veggies and fruit you can bag and run with....

Soup! Buy a bunch of cans of it. It takes like, five minutes to heat up.

Order some Luna Bars online from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Luna-Bars-SMor...?ie=UTF8&s=hpc

or Lara bars http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_hp...-keywords=lara

Spend a couple hours and make yourself enough to last for nearly a week! I'll make a pot of rice, and then 3-4 Indian dishes and have a "buffet" every night. You can also easily carry it with you in tupperware containers.

If you have extra freezer space, cook up a big pot of pasta and another one of pasta sauce and sautee up veggies and mix it all around and then freeze single-serving sized containers. Microwave dinner!