College food

[noisy doll☆]

I would suggest a small rice cooker. You have a fridge and microwave in your room, right? Things like rice-balls can really get you through a day, and there are tons of ways to give them flavor. Nori, furikake, sesame seeds, salt, a touch of soy sauce and whatever other sauce you like can make nigiri taste great. If you like chicken, you can even put a small piece of chicken in the middle.

As for the dining hall, at ours we usually have 5 different "stations" giving out particular kinds of food, like the salad bar, pasta bar, entree bar, sandwich bar. I like to make a salad with the chicken we get from the entree bar (they almost always have the same chicken breast with some different sauce on it), or take a piece of cheese from the sandwich bar and make a sandwich. Get creative. If there's any kind of choice at your cafeteria, you should be able to put together something you like.

[Arkaaito]

Most of what I can contribute has already been mentioned (along with several versions of "Ramen!" and "Microwave!", ick), but here goes nothing:

Fruit is good. If you have a ready means of transportation or a nearby store (even a Wal-Mart or something will do), fresh fruit is very healthy, though expensive. If not, stock up on dried fruit, which is also expensive but keeps FOREVER.

Juices are also good. Orange is nice. Pineapple is nice, though may be difficult to find depending on where you live. Apple tastes good but does less to sustain you as a food. Again, these things are unfortunately more expensive than soda - if they're financially infeasible to buy off-the-shelf, you may wish to consider mixing them from concentrate.

Get crackers and learn to eat them with peanut butter/cheese/other sandwich foods. They keep longer than bread, which is very useful when you're transportation-limited (the impression I somehow get).

I share the collective love for yogurt (both regular and thin/drinkable varieties).

Avoid caffeine. I don't know how it affects you personally in terms of energy (it gives me more energy than I want or know how to deal with), but it will draw fluid out of your system and make you feel dehydrated/thirsty.

Finally, you can buy various nutritious canned soups which will really help round out your diet and don't need to be heated (though cold soup is an acquired taste).

What exactly are your major nutritional issues without the cafeteria food? Is it getting hungry? Losing weight? Losing energy? Appropriate recommendations will vary based on this. If you're trying to avoid weight loss, for instance, high-fat milks can be very nice. But if you're just concerned with avoiding that fatigued feeling, carry around a thermos of juice (or other moderately high-sugar substance) through the day and drink it frequently - you'd be amazed how much that will do.

If you're trying to make less food go farther, exercise right before you eat. This seems counterintuitive but it limits your appetite for some reason. (This was my bane when I first started trying to pack on the weight...)

[Nomi]

I've taken a few things to heart from here. Finally found wheat bread (it's not the kind I wanted, because it's low-calorie and not as healthy) but it'll do. Chunky peanut butter for the win, as well as Juicy Juice (Watermelon!). These are now all available at the further-away but still on campus convenience store. I've become addicted to Propel and some of the Vitamin/Life Water flavors as well so I'm pretty well set for my vitamins C and B-varities.

My one worry is iron and protein. Peanut butter and what bread once a day aren't giving me all that I need. I hate hate hate beef for the most part, and I'm incredibly not fond of lunchmeats so I'm having a hard time getting those into my diet in any normal way. I don't want to resort to protein bars because it's just not the same for a body. I'm going to be brave and hope my stomach holds up and try the chicken line at the cafeteria, see if I can live through that twice a week or so.

And yeah, the microwave they had in the laundry room (three rooms down from me) broke, so I guess I'm gonna bring my own one up so I can enjoy lots of apple cinnamon oatmeal.

[illusory_light]

I had the same issue when I was in school. The cafeteria food always made me very ill, and even though I had the best plan, I just couldn't eat there anymore. So I simply shopped at the grocery store up the way. Ramen noodles were my best friend, as you can basically pair it with anything. Also, you might need to drink a lot of water, because that can calm your stomach quite a bit (it helped me). I don't know if you are interested in it, but ginger ale is really good for settling stomachs. I know someone said no caffeine, but ginger ale has never let me down yet when it comes to settling my stomach. I swear by it.

It could be that the foods are too rich and too fattening, and that's why you might be getting sick (and maybe in danger of getting the infamous Freshman 15). If the school has a salad bar and you like that sort of thing, you should consider eating a salad or so. It can be surprisingly filling, and it helped me out when I was feeling a little queasy.

I won't get redundant and rehash what others have said. Good luck to you.

[xybur]

Man, nomi you are so fragile. Shoot, if a meal doesn't leave you with massive diarrhea afterwards, then by golly, it isn't a meal.

Maybe you aren't cut out for campus life.

On a serious note, peanuts are good, with salt. Crackers and breads are excellent. Cheese and lunch meats that are CUT from a deli are LOADS better than the packaged stuff, and taste so much better as well.

Get stuff like frozen french bread pizza (like I get) that is able to be microwaved, but is probably better toasted.

Aaaand, fruits and stuff work wonders.

In any case, you are just going to have to suck it up and buy things you can cook. Its either that or be constantly sick. You're going to have to get out of your comfort zone if you want live. Adapt and survive. I used to have a kitchen on my floor, but now I have to go down 2 flights of stairs if I want to cook or even clean my dishes, and I'm perfectly fine. You should do the same.

[Nomi]

I don't have a freezer, so there's no way for me to keep frozen/microwaveable meals around. And hey, I'm fine with being out of my comfort zone. I still try to eat things that I would normally turn down at the cafeteria; but yeah, constantly having a really fucked up stomach is a bit too extreme for me, sorry. I'm not a pussy about trying new foods, I simply can't digest most of the shit on campus.

[familyrestaurantbomber]

Originally Posted by Nomi

I don't have a freezer, so there's no way for me to keep frozen/microwaveable meals around. And hey, I'm fine with being out of my comfort zone. I still try to eat things that I would normally turn down at the cafeteria; but yeah, constantly having a really fucked up stomach is a bit too extreme for me, sorry. I'm not a pussy about trying new foods, I simply can't digest most of the shit on campus.

Have you tried talking to the manager of the dining hall on campus? I'm sure they would be interested in your story. Who knows, maybe you're not the only one with a problem of digesting their food. Maybe they'll give you a free meal plan in exchange for helping them find out what the hell is wrong with their food.

[noisy doll☆]

Rutgers has a nutrition department that publishes awareness flyers left in the dining halls, and also has a website and allows you to look up the nutritional info for pretty much all the food on campus. Maybe your school has something similar, with some kind of page about allergies? There may be some additive that's making you sick, like MSG or whatever.

[gasm]

I mostly go for anything that is easy to clean up. So far all I have eaten is sandwiches, pop tarts and pizza pockets. Anything that I can just run the dishes under hot water to clean after. Yes I know I could just get paper plates and plastic utensils, but then I would have to take out more garbage. I know I'm incredibly lazy. Usually I'm a big eater, but while at college there is just so much else on my mind.