College Next Fall

[missnbagels]

I have somewhat of an idea of what i'm doing. so i have to talk to the chef of the cafe area and i have to figure out if they can customize the meal plan for me. But other than that i don't what else. The rooms are small, so where am i going to keep food? where can i store stuff, cook stuff, HELP!

any advice?

please?

[GFqueen17]

im going to college next year too! and ive been thinking alot about how im gonna handle it.

first of all, im going to talk to whichever college i go to and see if they will allow me to not have any meal plan at all. i dont want to buy any food from the dining areas; im way too nervous abuot cross contamination and employees not knowing what has gluten in it. some of the colleges i looked at actually have specific gluten free food but im still nervous about contamination.

secondly, im going to bring tonnnsss of food to keep in my room. cereals, trail mix, larabars, fruit, thai kitchen soup, cookies, crackers, peanut butter, soymilk, popcorn, potato chips, corn chips, canned beans. and hopefully i will be able to buy a mini fridge that has a big enough freezer to store a few homemade meals. there should be plenty of room to store things in boxes under the bed.

im pretty sure most colleges sell fresh fruits and veggies.

im also going to ask whichever college i go to if they will allow me to have my car so that i will be able to drive to the grocery store and health food store when i run out of food.

also im going to have my mom send me lotsss of food.

as far as cooking, most colleges have a kitchen available in the dorms somewhere...i will probably use the stove but im not going to trust using a shared toaster or oven.

[LuvMoosic4life]

Colleges are actually really good wih this. I go to a small college where there are only 2 celiacs (that they know of) living on campus. They order gluten-free foods and supply a seperate fridge and toaster for the dorm and food prep areas. Most colleges require a doctors note stating your condition first though.

I wrote an article on this for my school newspaper. E-mail me @ Meljunk4u@yahoo.com if ya wanna read it. I'll e-mail it to ya

[mef]

Hi,

College with celiac can be difficult. Besides the food, find a good friend or two who understand your condition and support you as best they can. Being able to talk to someone can make or break the experience at college. Depending on how open/public you want to be about gluten-free, maybe you can get your floor to have a gluten-free education night? For example, you all could make a gluten-free meal and that's a good way to open up about what you need and what you have experienced.

If you are going to a large college: most college towns are centers for health food and will have quite a few options when it comes to gluten-free foods. Addtiionally, the perks of a larger town include some sort of transit system. See if you can buy foods that are ready to go with little fuss.

Smaller towns: are a bit harder to get the necessary gluten-free foods, but the cafeteria staff may be more flexible to your specific needs. You could probably get a small microwave to go in your room for a fairly reasonable price. It could even go under your bed! Then you can heat and eat meals available to you as well.

Also, you may have access to a common refrigerator, too.

My room was itty bitty...we put a small refrigerator under the bed and I think the microwave was in the closet when not in use.

Good luck!

[caek-is-a-lie]

Usually you are allowed to keep a mini fridge in your room, so that's a plus. I was not gluten-free in college but I should have been. I just didn't know yet. I kept dry goods on my bookshelf and perishables in my fridge.

I can give some advice about the cafeteria tho. I worked in the main cafeteria in college so I know what goes on there. Most college cafeterias hire students to do most of the cooking. They are not educated about food more than the basic food handling certification (first in - first out, 40-140 degrees, wash your hands, don't slice veggies on the meat cutting board, etc.) These kids can't even slice tomatoes straight. Once I even accidentally ground up the end of a plastic spatula in the taco meat. Yuck! I have more horror stories but I'm sure you don't want to hear them!

You are going to have to educate the head cook about EVERYTHING including not boiling your spaghetti in gluten water or frying your french fries with the onion rings. (and believe me there is no better friend to the college cook than a deep frier! so you'll probably have to kiss fried foods goodbye if you haven't already.) Unless it concerns bacteria, they won't even think twice about it, so make it sound just as insidious as bacteria and they'll probably get it. The cooks I worked for were career chefs and took their job very seriously, so I'm sure you can work something out. Just be doubly sure they aren't farming the preparation of your meal out to some freshman who can't tell the difference between a ladle and a soup spoon!

Believe me, the last thing your school wants is a liability suit for making you sick all the time. They also do not want to you starve, even though you can't always tell. lol If the cooks won't help you, go to their supervisor and so on all the way up until you get help. Remember: everyone has a boss.

[ravenwoodglass]

My DD was diagnosed in her senior year of HS and we worried about it also but it turned out that the college was great at dealing with it. We let them know as soon as she was accepted and what her college did was to put her into senior housing her first year (the college required freshman to live on campus). She had a private room with it's own kitchen facilities, ie. a frig and a microwave and she was allowed a hot plate. They also refunded the food plan money, I don't think she ever stepped foot in the cafeteria the whole year. She had a great and safe first year at school.

[kbtoyssni]

I would certainly see if your school offers suite-style rooms with a kitchen. Although a lot of these will come with roommates who use the kitchen which is a whole different set of issues.

Many schools are somewhat well-equipped to deal with celiac. My brother's school had a fridge/freezer full of gluten-free stuff and a dedicated microwave. They also had fruit, and would give you eggs and a clean frying pan rather than using the egg-mixture available to the other students. I think meals would become rather monotonous, but they would be safe to eat.

[purple]

Here are a couple of threads...if you google college you will find alot more.

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/lofivers...php/t49896.html

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/lofivers...php/t50721.html

[Varjak]

I have been to college and have had to deal with the food services for a year and managed just fine, don't worry it seems like something impossible now but it easier than you might think! Most Food Services are very understanding about celiac as they have to accommodate not just celiac but many other dietary needs. Don't be afraid to ask what's in a certain dish, you get a ton of weird stuff from campus food services and It maybe a hassle to have to ask about food all the time but its better than being sick. At my college many of the dishes are labeled with ingredient lists and allergen warnings which is nice. Some good things to have are a fridge and a microwave for days when you don't feel like doing the cafeteria thing. Trust me there will be some. One item I prepared was microwavable rice with diced spam mixed in. That may sound nasty at first but I really enjoy it. I came up with the idea after getting tired of eating the same old thing and just experimented with what I had, which happened to be spam and rice. I know it feels overwhelming now but food services usually run on cycles so you will see the same foods multiple times a semester, and before you know it you will be a food foraging champ in the dining hall! Good Luck and I hope this helped.

<Varjak>

[missy'smom]

You may want to consider investing in small appliances like an automatic rice cooker-you can cook rice, , pilafs with/without meat and steam veggies in one, I haven't tried it but I've known people who have made cakes(non-gluten-free but it might work with a gluten-free mix) in them too. If you have a hotpot you can boil pasta, warm up soups as well as hot water for instant noodle bowls(there are some gluten-free ones that are widely available)