College Strategies

Lesson 2: The Search for Food and Comfort: Making Friends

In search of food

Make sure you locate all cafeterias on campus. Equally important be aware that the same company is the provider for all facilities, so there should be no quality difference in any given venue. However, there can be price differences. Your best bet is to go for student run places (they are students too, and generally place quality over profits). If you are on a downtown campus you are lucky! Going over the college border for food can not only safe you an incredible amount of money, there is a big chance at getting something better/bigger in the mean time. Sometimes it just means crossing the road to the same pizza chain as you have on campus but you get a bigger slice for a smaller price. It’s funny, because in general students are relatively poor and on a budget most of the time; however they are ripped off in on-campus stores and diners.

Get to know the grocery stores and convenience stores in the area. In general try to stay away from convenience stores as much as possible because they are just as keen on taking your money as colleges are. Grocery stores often have ready made meals or salads for less than you pay at the next fast food chain. If they have a deli that cuts meat buy that instead of the precut-prepackaged kind in the coolers. It actually saves money and you can say how much you want. If you forget to make lunch or are on a particularly tight budget you can actually just go and get a bun for a few cents and some luncheon meat/cheese/spread and slam it on your bun. You’ll have lunch for less than $1. Throwing in a can of pop will actually not cost you the same an entire bottle does if you get it from a pop machine.

Try and eat a bit healthy, if you are having something ‘bad’ for dinner instead of a real meal, at least cut back on snacking. Do you like to eat fruit flavored candy? How about getting some grapes or apples to snack on? They are actually better tasting and if in season cheaper than the candy. Another plus is you can eat as much of them as you want. Snack on crackers and nuts, anything that is not terribly processed or contains too much fat and sugars is a safe bet. You don’t have to be on a diet and swear of the potato chips, but you also need to feed your brain. As a student it is too easy to fall in the cycle of repetitive fast-food consumption, and in the end that will be all you eat. The moment you have pizza, fast food, chips or candy for breakfast you have to get very worried.

Even if you did not have any problems with your weight now, most freshmen gain weight. Those are simply statistical facts. If you are not one of those, lucky you, but for most people going all out on high calorie foods leads to weight gain. Eventually it will be very hard to get rid of the extra ‘poundage’ you acquired together with your degree and you are at risk for heart disease and diabetes. North American students taking this course should be especially careful; obesity is on the rise in the States and Canada and it might not be only a problem with food choices. Personally I find food availability in this part of the world one of the bigger problems; this doesn’t mean there is too little of it, rather too much of the wrong stuff.

You can’t go for a mile without seeing a few fast food restaurants, but it takes a lot of searching to find a bakery or an independent fruit store. In regions like Europe and South America those independent small suppliers are very common, or at least more common than in North America. Make sure you are never hungry; if you are hungry you are most likely to dig into something that is actually bad for you. So make sure you have healthy alternatives with you; take whole wheat sandwiches with you and fruit. If you are not so big on pop anyways use a water fountain when you are thirsty or take your own bottle of water or fruit juice. Be careful with the latter one; most juices say they are made of real fruit but all they contain are sugars and synthetic flavors.

Eat your fast-food, but not if you are not absolutely in the mood for it! If your (new) friends are going out for a burger and you just don’t feel like it, either suggest somewhere else to go or have a drink with them. Most fast food places are offering ‘healthy alternatives’, but again just go for them if you feel like it.

Eating in college is a balancing act of the good with the bad to make sure you do get convenience but also some nutrients. Just wait and see how much you’ll crave a real nice home-made meal!!

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