The Start of Something New...

I'm here packing to leave for my second year at school. I decided now would be a great time to start this blog. My dream is to make it into a book, but that will be once I've finished this blog. The blog is going to follow me through the year (maybe the last few years of school actually) and will basically be a commentary on how I'm dealing with such strong limitations on food. I'm a vegetarian. This blog will not be a vegetarian blog intentionally, but if that's how it ends up, I apologize to those who expected more meat.
Here's my personal food situation at school: We have one dining hall. It's not very big. It can barely fit the amount of people in for the dinner rush. However, we've got kitchens in most dorms. Just not mine. I'm living in one of the sophomore dorms without kitchens in the suites. But my friends have a kitchen. So this year is going to be all about me dealing with a tiny cafeteria (that only makes one special vegetarian dish a day, if at all, and only makes zucchini if you want grilled vegetables. Zucchini is easy to get bored of.) and also taking advantage of my friends' kitchen.
To start off this whole blog though, I'm going to talk about packing. Not clothes, but food. I'm going to say the easiest way to get your car too full, but some food pre-packed, is to go to Costco with your parents. Costco is the Disney World of whole-foods. Everything is delicious and cheap and packed in large quantities as if they knew that you were going to be feeding all your hungry hungry friends...all...the...time...
At Costco, me and my brother decided to stock up on a small supply of sugar-free Red Bull. This stuff is awesome. Unhealthy, yes. But awesome. Perfect for those nights/days without enough sleep and too much to do, without making you feel like you just ate sugar cubes and nothing else for 3 straight hours.
We also purchased a good amount of Arizona Iced Tea. The cans. I love the cans. Everything is better in cans. Except coke, that's best in glass bottles (we also purchased a large quantity of those at Costco). Arizona Iced Tea is my favorite iced tea. It's not too sweet, but it's not water. I hate water. Unfortunately, water is best for you, so get a Brita filtered pitcher. It's better than tap water, and no one wants to drink college-campus tap water.
I also decided it would be a good idea to get something else that's delicious and not water. And even kind of healthy. So I got a big jug of V8 Splash. It's just so good! And I'm not one of those good vegetarians that eats vegetables I just eat breads. So the vegetables in V8 Splash make me feel better.
Lastly in the drinks department: Tea and Coffee. I stocked up on every type of tea that I enjoy, and got a whole bunch of instant coffee/cappuccino mixes. Chances are, you aren't allowed to have a real coffee maker. It's awful, I know, but some instants aren't so bad. Starbucks Via is pretty decent if you make it up right, and there are some others but I'm no good with names. As for tea, my favorite that I've got for school is Sleepytime. I don't remember the company right now but it's Camomile and mint, and absolutely delicious with a little bit of soy milk. Vanilla soy milk is my choice of milk product because it is sweeter than cow milk, and I don't like adding sugar to things so the natural sweetness of it makes my tea and coffee a little more delicious and I don't have to add any artificial sweeteners or extra sugar. By the way I got a gigantic box of soy milk from Costco as well.
Stock up on snacks. Costco has boxes upon boxes of variety packs and candy and all that's good and wonderful in packaged foods. I happened to get a variety box of veggie sticks and chips. Delicious stuff. Better than potato chips. I also got Fiber One bars, because they are awesome.
My most exciting purchase at Costco happened to be this Lentil dinner thing. I don't remember what it's called or the company name (trust me, it'll come up again soon enough, I'll tell you then.) but they had samples and it's so delicious. Always take Costco samples, you find amazing things that way that you wouldn't have looked at in the aisles. This Lentil thing comes in a pack of 4 and you just have to put it in the microwave for 90 seconds. It's spicy though, so I wouldn't recommend it as a meal alone. Eat some crackers or something with it. But we'll get into that later.
Pack your favorite things! I have two boxes filled with food stuffs. That's probably why I can't fit my brother in the car after I pack it up, but whatever, the food is worth it...and all my suitcases of shoes...
I have to finish packing up my clothes and shoes actually, so I'll see you at school!