Are you headed to college? Or are you starting to go on college tours? Here are some important questions to ask when you get there.
1. Do you have a separate kitchen? Sometimes a college may have gluten free options, but they are not educated on the cross contamination portion of the gluten free lifestyle. It is important to ask how they prepare the GF food and more preferably see it. I went to meet the kitchen staff before moving on campus. My undergraduate school told me they had a system where the utensils and pots and pans were color coordinated so things did not get contaminated. They had a designated section where the GF food was located, but they could not guarantee others did not use it. I later found this to be a major issue and experienced issues with cross contamination, so it is important to ask these sort of questions. 2. What do your options look like on a normal day? I wish I had asked or seen this before committing to a meal plan. If you can, ask regular students as well. My options were limited and I ended up barely eating at the dining hall my first semester. Do not be scared though, I have other friends who have experienced the opposite! 3. Can I opt out of a meal plan and if yes how so? Are there any dorms with kitchens I could get? My school asked me to get a note from my doctor saying I have celiac disease and can opt out of the campus meal plan. I believe if you do not have celiac you can also get a note from your doctor saying you are gluten intolerant or something of that sort. When I opted out of a meal plan though, it was important I had a kitchen to myself so it was clean and I was able to cook at any time. See if your campus has anything like this available, or a private kitchen for you (unless you do not mind sharing your kitchen). 4. What dining halls have gluten free options? Some schools have multiple dining halls, find out which ones do and do not have GF options, and what their hours are. This will be important for you to know when you're on specific parts of campus and need to eat. 5. Are there a lot of students that eat gluten free? This question is not vital, but sometimes it is nice to be able to see other GF people and talk to each other. I met several GF people and we would exchange snacks, make suggestions to our dining halls, and just vent about the food.
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AuthorSabrina DeVos, 22 Archives
August 2019
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