how do you cope at university/college?

[razmatazz]

So i'm starting university in october, and am living in student accomodation for the first year....just got my accomodation info yesterday, and i'm stuck with a twin room (loads of other people did too, even though we all said we wanted singles in our 'preferences' when applying)...so yeah, not only do i not have the luxury of preparing my food alone in the kitchen but i will have no privacy in my bedroom either!
I don't want to compromise and eat alot of cooked food/non-meat stuff because i feel too great eating the way i do, and even though I know my body can handle other non-rawpaleo food I'd rather not eat it

I was wondering if anyone else lives in student accomodation and how you go about eating in such an unconventional way?

I was thinking of maybe eating dried beef (jerky) a couple of days a week (maybe grind it and mix it with raw ground suet to make a raw pemmican, which obv won't last as long but that isn;t a problem), as well as marinating steaks in lime/lemon juice so it has the illusion it's cooked, etc...I know i'll find a way, if I'm determined to do something I always find a way...but it doesn't hurt to be prepared and to hear some other ideas!

I  guess I can only hope I have a nice, friendly open-minded roomie, who likes to spend their evenings away 




(PS i'll be living in london - south kensington to be precise, if there's any other RAFers around the area..?)

[Raw Kyle]

Can you get a freezer? A lot of college students have mini-fridges, which might work for you if you can get meat once a week or two weeks. Also jerky/pemmican is a much better option than campus food.

[razmatazz]

i don't think i can get a mini fridge...they said you can if you're a diabetic, but i don;t want to lie esp as they'll probs need a doc's note!
I'll look into getting my own mini fridge and pluggin it in but am not sure if thats gonna be possible..

[TylerDurden]

Ah, yes, those days at UK university! Campus food is always bad in Uk universities.

A mini-fridge would be the perfect solution, IMO(even better, a large fridge if you  can squeeze it in somewhere.

Pity about the room-mate. I too opted for a single room when applying for a UK University ages ago but, as usual they only gave the single rooms to foreign students who, of course, were going to pay more in tuition fees etc. to the University, anyway. Unfortunately, it's all too common for room-mates to hate each other's guts - fortunately, I got accomodation outside the University in  the 2nd year and didn't have your issue at the time re a raw food diet.

There are some raw animal foods which would not be looked on as too strange, such as raw oysters(but very messy unless you have some sort of large, deep tray to keep the bits of shell in. The pemmican and jerky sounds like a fine choice but a hassle to prepare. Since you clearly are zero-carb, you could still go in for raw eggs(organic/free-range) to some extent - ok, they're not meat, but still count as zc, I think.

Last option:- Buy a good(expensive) food-blender, store your raw meats in the fridge and just blend the raw meats together along with raw sauces or whatever in the relevant container and eat (with a spoon)only when you're sure the room-mate is away. That way, if you hear the room-mate returning you can quickly store the container somewhere in your mini-fridge.

[razmatazz]

lol, thanks for the advice tyler...the pemmican and jerky i can make in big batches at the weekend, when i go home (luckily i live within a train ride of home) and bring enough for the week (well 5 days)
good tip about the oysters, and the blended meats idea is not bad, though i'm not sure i'd be able to stomach it! I suppose i could chop my meat and fat into a container and do the same (eat when roomie is not around)..i'm quite good at quickly hiding my food, as i've had practice (mum/dad randomly coming into my room without knocking   )

i'm not totally zero carb, as in i'm not militant about it...raw egg yolks would be fine (though i'm wary about the soy that is in the feed of most chicken - though in feb i can get goose eggs - no soy )
Also, i can make raw coconut cream at home with the champion juicer which i can make into a sauce or something...

ah, it's gonna be a challenge..but i;ll (hopefully) be able to do it!

[yon yonson]

you know, another option is just to be honest with the roomate. tell them how good you feel on the diet and tell them what ills you get when you go off of it. i used to care a lot about hiding it from people, but now i just eat raw meat around my close friends and no one cares anymore. they're used to it (still think it's weird but that's about it). i dont know. i totally understand though why you'd want to hide it. it's just not socially acceptable. but i've found if you tell people how you feel and the basic logic behind it, they don't seem to mind.

that's gonna be tough though without a fridge. unless you can buy meat everyday, but that would get kinda annoying. oh, another idea. my friend has this cooler (like the ones you can take camping/put ice in) but it's electric and plugs into the wall. you could try and find one of those and store a few days worth of food in it safely.

[wodgina]

I can't believe you have to share a room! Crazy, doesn't happen here in Aus. I know from American movies they do it but thought it was exagerated. F..that.

I would get the hell and be poor and at least have my own space.

[carnivore]

Tyler, someone told me that organic beef in england is always grass-fed. Do you confirm ?

[TylerDurden]

Tyler, someone told me that organic beef in england is always grass-fed. Do you confirm ?

Not always true. Organic beef in England is nearly always partially grassfed but a lot of organic farmers have a dangerous urge to add grain-concentrates as well(so as to speed up the fattening, I guess). One always has to check the literature of the farm in question to make sure that they only feed their animals on 100% grass or some other herb. For example, the  farm I now deal with for some of my meats guarantees that they only feed their cattle/sheep on grass, clover and stubble turnips. Sheep in the UK  are another matter, being almost always 100% grassfed(unlike in the US).

[razmatazz]

you know, another option is just to be honest with the roomate. tell them how good you feel on the diet and tell them what ills you get when you go off of it. i used to care a lot about hiding it from people, but now i just eat raw meat around my close friends and no one cares anymore. they're used to it (still think it's weird but that's about it). i dont know. i totally understand though why you'd want to hide it. it's just not socially acceptable. but i've found if you tell people how you feel and the basic logic behind it, they don't seem to mind.

that's gonna be tough though without a fridge. unless you can buy meat everyday, but that would get kinda annoying. oh, another idea. my friend has this cooler (like the ones you can take camping/put ice in) but it's electric and plugs into the wall. you could try and find one of those and store a few days worth of food in it safely.

Actually, we have shared kitchens, so I'll have fridge/freezer space to put my meat in (the halls are self catered), it's just the question as to WHERE i can eat..
After the first year, I am definetly living at home and commuting to and from uni, i'd do it now, but then everyone always talks about how the first yr is the most important for making friends/forming new relationships, and it's harder if you'#re living at home..plus my parents want me to to have that experience and "be independant"

[carnivore]

Not always true. Organic beef in England is nearly always partially grassfed but a lot of organic farmers have a dangerous urge to add grain-concentrates as well(so as to speed up the fattening, I guess). One always has to check the literature of the farm in question to make sure that they only feed their animals on 100% grass or some other herb. For example, the  farm I now deal with for some of my meats guarantees that they only feed their cattle/sheep on grass, clover and stubble turnips. Sheep in the UK  are another matter, being almost always 100% grassfed(unlike in the US).

What about non-organic sheep in UK ? One can find in France sheep from Ireland, but I wonder if they are grass-fed ?

[yon yonson]

if your only issue is WHERE to eat, don't sweat it. you can easily just go to a park and eat. hardly anyone will notice you, much less what you're eating. i've eaten lots of places besides my house. it's kind of fun because people have no idea you're eating raw meat right next to them.

[razmatazz]

if your only issue is WHERE to eat, don't sweat it. you can easily just go to a park and eat. hardly anyone will notice you, much less what you're eating. i've eaten lots of places besides my house. it's kind of fun because people have no idea you're eating raw meat right next to them.

LOL, good point
and when it gets really cold i'll just find a nice quiet lil cafe, or go to the restaurant area of Wholefoods and find a secluded corner...that and a newspaper/good book and i'll be set 

[yon yonson]

yep, i've eaten in the whole foods eating area. i just put my backpack on top of the corner table and eat away. no problems. it's almost an adrenaline rush when people are right next to you and don't notice. another thing i did (less often though) was to bring kitchen shears with me if i had a tougher piece of meat. that way i could just cut chunks off and pop those in my mouth as opposed to gnawing on it. looks a little more normal to people passing by. also, you could just get opaque containers to put chopped up meat in.

[invisible]

and then there's grades you gotta worry about