<p>Son reports that the freshman cafeteria really doesn’t serve cooked vegetables, like peas, green beans, etc. However, sandwiches can be ordered with lettuce, tomato, and green peppers and so that’s the extent of what he’s eating. There is a salad bar, but it’s a very expensive option and S says he’d be more or less choosing the same items anyway (lettuce, tomato, and peppers), so why pay extra for salad? I wondered if it was just his school, but friend’s son in local state school reported same dearth of veggies in his cafeteria. Is this common? </p>
<p>Of course, I told S there has just got to be a vegetarian option on campus, and perhaps he should eat there a couple of nights a week. Apparently there’s an Asian place, but he’s not thrilled about the style of food there. </p>
<p>So, I’m assembling a care package. Will probaly bake pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, and will send dried apricots and raisins. Found some dried wasabi peas, but not sure he’d eat them. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>TheGFG, isn’t your son at Dartmouth? I think they have a variety of places to eat and the food is supposed to be very good, although a little pricey. My son has even had a turkey dinner kind of thing, with all the trimmings. Have you checked the school’s website for dining locations? I think they even have menus for the day. Maybe you should check here
<a href=“Home | Dartmouth Dining”>Home | Dartmouth Dining;
<p>Hey, veggies are relatively expensive, time-consuming to prepare unless you take them out of a can, and tough to do well on a mass basis. And people don’t appreciate them all that much. Most institutional food is very light on vegetables.</p>
<p>The cafeteria is only going to serve what people buy. They are not going to waste money on putting out say steamed carrots, or a salad bar when noone uses it. Tell your son to go shopping and cook his own food. It will be cheaper anyways.</p>
<p>TheGFG: Here’s an excerpt from a letter my D wrote to her family and friends when she was down to a decision between two schools…</p>
<p>In the end, my decision, believe it or not, came down to the food. At the honors breakfast and lunch the food was HORRIBLE!!! The pasta was overcooked, the vegetables were old and limp, everything was obviously from Smart and Final or something similar and was completely bland and just plain “institutional food” as mom calls it. And they were trying to show off! We got a look at the menu in the dining hall and saw that everything was fried and processed - typical “American food.” Now this may not seem like such a big deal, but my family does not eat like that and never has. I can’t stand fast food and eating junk like that makes me physically ill. Plus there were no supermarkets nearby where I could buy food and even if there were, I would have no place to store it or prepare it. I just can’t live like that for 4 years…</p>
<p>Ok, granted, she now is at a private LAC (read: expensive), but at her school they take nutrition seriously. The weekly menus are posted online (complete with nutritional information), they DO serve veggies and salad, and a vegetarian option is NOT just a pasta meal.</p>
<p>Some schools understand, some just don’t. And I don’t believe it costs that much more to feed kids healthier choices when you consider that overall they will perform better. That has been proven over and over again. </p>
<p>I feel for your son. Clearly he ate good food before college, and that’s a huge pat on the back to you!</p>
<p>I really agree that the food options at a college are important. After all, they are there for four years! But I wonder how many kids really explore or understand the food options that are available to them. I’ve looked at the menu options for Dartmouth, and I think they sound great! We’ve also eaten on campus and found the food to be good. I’m sure I’d gain more than the “Freshman 15” there. With kids having refrigerators in their rooms, I’m sure they can store carrot sticks, celery sticks etc for snacks.</p>
<p>If as sjmom says, your son goes to Dartmouth, I don’t understand why he can’t find the veggies! I have two nieces who have gone there and I know that my sister-in-law was amazed at the yummy food and the choices available. One of those nieces is a vegetarian and she loved the options she had there. I know at all of the colleges our Ds have attended, the dining halls have offered at least one veggie, often two, with the hot entree of the day. This, in addition to an extensive salad bar which always has much more than just lettuce and tomatoes, and also a daily vegetarian option. So, to answer your question, from our experience, no, this isn’t common at all. :)</p>
<p>At my d’s LAC, they have 16 different dining rooms. There are standard American, light fare, ‘grab-n-go’, Asian, vegetarian, vegan, Mediterranean, kosher and hallal (which is open to everyone), and more for every meal.</p>
<p>So my d. turns around and joins a coop where they cook for themselves. Go figure.</p>
<p>We send my son oatmeal, soy nuts, peanut butter, whole wheat crackers, Uncle Bens whole grain rice in a bag (heat and eat), and dried fruit for when he gets the munchies. He is lucky enough to be at large univ. with many choices. Last summer he was at a summer program that served unsuitable food for his diet. He lost 12 lbs in 6 weeks.</p>
<p>how about some of those soup cups? if you go into the vegetarian/organic/natural section of the grocery store, there are tons of veggie soup cups- low in calories, lower in salt than ramen-type stuff, and actually really yummy! there have been times where i have lived on those (im a veggie)</p>
<p>most dining halls are pretty receptive to suggestions- there should be some sort of comment box around. also, i’ve found that the chefs are happy to take requests.</p>
<p>if you have a whole foods/wild oats/trader joes around you, i bet you could find tons of foods that you could send thru the mail.</p>
<p>thats really sad GFG
I admit we looked carefully at food choices at colleges
the public schools with the exception of Evergreen with its organic restaurant, seemed to think vegan options were fulfilled with “salad bars”
( trader joes is a good idea- & safeway.com delivers)</p>
<p>Ds school only had one cafeteria ( and a couple cafes- soon to be seen in Morgan Freemans new movie), but it was set up with different stations- soup and salad bar* the dal I had during a visit was really good*- sandwich area- pizza- couple different main dishes with veggies & vegan options- a grill and some other things I am forgetting- oh and vegan options at breakfast too.</p>
<p>Her city has a lot of great restaurants as well and lots of ethnic food is heavy on less meat dependent options. </p>
<p>Is there a grocery store nearby?
One thing your son probably needs is fiber- he could keep a basket of apples in his room.</p>
<p>(aries- I finally figured out how to eat edaname- D always had a bunch in our freezer and I never used it- then I ordered it at a japanese restaurant to bring home and thought it was awfully fibrous! :D- then I finally figured out you don’t eat the * outside!* lol)</p>
<p>I e-mailed S the link to the menus. Thanks for that, sjmom. When S saw I was getting concerned over the veggies thing, he ceased wanting to answer any questions. So I’m not sure what’s going on because I too was certain Dartmouth would have to have great choices. One guess I have is that he’s trying to eat at the places with the least expensive meals. I don’t like the debit card system; would prefer a meal plan that covers X number of meals/week.</p>
<p>TheGFG, I think your son is just experiencing the adjustment to college life. My son, too, was surprised at the cost of food – he wasn’t used to paying for things himself! We told him to just eat normally, and that would help us to establish a baseline. Last year, we found the Big Green food plan to work best for him, but this year he’s just going with the next one down. You might encourage your son to check out the Coop market, which is in walking distance, for snacks etc. DS has also told me that he could eat at one of the nearby restaurants (Murphy’s or Molly’s) for the same as eating in a dining hall. I don’t know if that’s true, but we may end up just giving him some money for restaurants, and keeping the food plan low. I’ll let you know how that works out!</p>
<p>P.S. I actually like the debit card system because we’re not paying for meals he might not eat.</p>
<p>Reed had a points system too-
But the last year she wasn’t on board- and as she liked to cook and eat away from commons, she usually had the very smallest plan available.</p>
<p>I would just send out a few apples/oranges in a care package. I told my S that I may do that, and he laughed. He told me that is not what he expects in a care package. He really would rather have junk food! I gently remind him once per week to eat some fruit/veggies. He has easy access to healthy choices, but it is a matter of his making those choices.</p>
<p>My son has found the opposite problem. His school he says has plenty of fresh fruit and veggie options–nice salad bar or choices of cooked vegetables. But he has trouble finding good lean protein. Pretty much it is eggs in the morning, ham off of salad bar at lunch. He said the cooked meats are either breaded, fried or smothered in sauces/gravies. One thing he has done when they are offering hamburgers is ask for 4 (they can get as much as they want at one sitting) take the patties, and throw away the bread–said that he really gets dirty looks from the servers.</p>
I have two nieces who have gone there and I know that my sister-in-law was amazed at the yummy food and the choices available. One of those nieces is a vegetarian and she loved the options she had there. I know at all of the colleges our Ds have attended, the dining halls have offered at least one veggie, often two, with the hot entree of the day. This, in addition to an extensive salad bar which always has much more than just lettuce and tomatoes, and also a daily vegetarian option. So, to answer your question, from our experience, no, this isn’t common at all. :)</p>