5 Top Tips on How to be Vegan at University

1. Meal plan

Having a meal plan is very important, especially if you’re now cooking for yourself regularly for the first time. Make a list for the next few days of food you want to cook, and buy fresh ingredients that will last you for those meals.

2. Batch cook and freeze meals

Cooking can take a lot of time, and it can be really easy to be lazy and buy something on the go that isn’t vegan. Whilst shops are always improving in terms of vegan options, having batch cooked meals you can take out of the fridge or freezer and have ready in minutes rather than having to cook from scratch all the time can be very helpful.

3. Treat yourself!

Veganism often comes with the stigma of only eating salads. But this (obviously) isn’t the case! There are lots of great vegan restaurants in Cardiff, so why not order a takeaway from one of those!

4. Get creative with your cooking

One of the worst things you can do with regards to cooking is get bored of the same rota of meals, especially with a restricted list of ingredients. Chances are, especially if you’re going into student accommodation, you won’t be living with people who are all also vegan, which can make eating dairy or meat more tempting if you’re bored of what you cook for yourself. So think outside the box! Watching YouTube videos, looking on websites like BBC Food or checking out Instagram are all good ideas for cooking inspiration.

5. Don’t worry if you can’t be vegan all the time

Perhaps the most important of all these tips. Being vegan is the single best thing you can do for climate change. Every decision you make that is vegan or plant-based is a step in the right direction, so if you break it one day and have dairy (or even meat!), don’t worry! Don’t feel like you’re going back to square one, just keep persevering.