by Carly Kade

Created on: February 13, 2011

Maintaining a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle while in college can be difficult. College students may be short on cash, making it difficult to afford vegetarian substitutes for traditional meals. In addition, some students may have a meal plan for the college cafeteria, which restricts their options to whatever the college chooses to provide.

For students following a dining plan, it is essential to research your college’s policies. Many colleges now provide vegetarian options. However, in smaller schools, these might not be served alongside the other options, or might not be clearly labeled. Some schools will provide vegetarian food upon request, but will not have it regularly pre-prepared like the regular meals. If your school has a dining hall information office, be sure to contact them with any questions about availability or labeling of vegetarian options. Vegan students may have more difficulties in finding acceptable options, but contacting the school dietitian would still be the best place to start.

College students who cook for themselves have a small advantage. While cooking vegetarian or vegan can be more expensive, or involve foods that are difficult to find in some locations, there are more options. Figuring out your weekly food budget should be the first step. Once you know how much you can afford to spend on food, work on planning in advance. Buying pre-made foods when you don’t feel like cooking after a long day of classes can be expensive. If you are a vegetarian, buying pre-made is even more expensive than usual, and can quickly eat up most of your budget. Having quick, easy meal options available can help prevent this sort of impulse buy.

In addition to planning your budget, it is important to look into nutrition. For vegetarians, deficiencies such as B12 deficiency are rather uncommon. It is also very uncommon to suffer from a protein deficiency, no matter what you may have heard in the sensationalist media. However, this is only true for moderately healthy eaters. While it isn’t necessary to restrict yourself to an all-organic, raw, or other extreme diets, you should limit pre-packaged food. Meat substitutes, or foods made to mimic non-vegetarian foods, are often highly processed. If you subsist largely off processed junk food- and there are indeed many vegetarian junk foods- or off meat imitations, consider making some changes to your diet. Foods that are not meant to mimic other foods are usually less processed and healthier. Instead of having an imitation burger or tofurkey, try a dish with beans, quinoa, or another protein. These foods do not mimic meats, but instead have their own unique flavors. Ovo-lacto vegetarians may consider adding more dairy or eggs to their diets, as these are good sources of both B12 and protein.

As a college student, you may have to take into account limited cooking space. If your apartment or dorm does not have an oven, keep this in mind when buying food. Always ensure an adequate supply of snacks on hand. Many campuses have to-go food options for students on the run between classes, but these options may be very limited for vegetarians and vegans.

Being a vegetarian or vegan college student can be difficult, but most schools will try to be accommodating. Check to see if your school has a vegetarian group on campus. They should be able to provide information about vegetarianism at your college, as well as be a voice of activism if the options are lacking.

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