5 Places to Find Vegan Foods for the Student Budget

Sincerely,  Hungry & on a budget

Dear Hungry,

The good news: Being a vegan college student has never been easier or more convenient! The maybe-good news: The ease of it depends a little upon where you are.

Dining Halls

Do you have access to a dining hall? Many campuses offer stir-fry bars, hummus sandwiches, soy and other plant-based milks, and vegan burgers. Eating in dining halls gives students the perfect opportunity to advocate for vegan options, and making inquiries upfront will save you time over the year or more you’ll be there:

• Get your dining hall to commit to promoting special Meatless Monday menus. You’d be surprised at how you can become a taste-tester for vegan variety just by asking for more options.
• Ask them to provide Daiya cheese, which is soy-free and could be good for other eaters, too, who have allergies.
• If they offer vegetarian burgers, ask them to go the extra step of getting a vegan one instead, so everyone can enjoy them.
• Take advantage of the salad bars—a good opportunity to get your greens!
• With that said about greens, you must INSIST that the dining halls offer at least one vegan dessert, beyond the fresh fruit. Apple pie? Chocolate chip cookies? Look up some recipes on vegweb.com for them to try, and remember to offer your taste-testing services—take a friend and make it fun!

Grocery stores

When I went to college over ten years ago, my rural area had no natural foods section in the chain stores. Most of them do now, even in the more remote places. My luck was that there was a co-op where I could get economical foods, like beans, rice, noodles, sauces, salads and sandwiches. Explore!

Food trucks

Do you have any near you? Check out their vegan options, as this is often affordable and available late into the night.

Online retailers

There is a current EXPLOSION of awesome options to be delivered to even a dorm room door, often with free shipping. Try searching amazon.com, veganstore.com and veganessentials.com, to name a very few. No credit card yet? Try PayPal.

Zpizza

The Zpizza chain restaurant offers the classic college staple with vegan Daiya cheese (and they have coupons by email)! If you don’t have one near you, see if your local fave will get Daiya, or even let you bring Daiya to them! Of course, there are fantastic cheeseless pizzas—Whole Foods often has a Tuesday BOGO pizza deal, depending on where you live, and they have several varieties of cheeseless gourmet pizzas.

College campuses are perfect for finding like-minded people for a vegan meet-up—connect using social networking to find out what other vegans in the area are doing!

For more info, check out “How to Be Vegan at College” at The Kind Life and PETA’s Vegan College Cookbook.

Photo credits: Jenny Cestnik & maureen_sill via Flickr

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