lunches for school?

im heading back to school on monday, and im looking forward to it but im so nervous about lunch. I hate eating infront of people and I always feel like they are watching and judging me.

Anyway usually since im working I can have hummus or something dense that is high calorie, but now i will only be working saturdays and im worried that i wont be able to get my calories in, and I need to make sure that i do. I dont want to take massive amounts of food. But usually i snack throughout the day so i dont know if i can just do three meals a day. Ugh. I hate this.

Im vegan so i dont eat any animal products or by products, and i dont really eat processed or packaged foods. Does anyone have any suggestions on how i can cope with this? THanks

Do you do PB?  There is organic PB since you appear to be opposed to the processed brands.  PB is healthy and calorie dense.  Slather 2 tbsp on bread and thats 190 cal (Jif EC data) right there...if you need to you can up how much PB you put on to increase the calories.  I like PB with sliced banana and apple butter.  It's like peanut butter and jelly but with banana in between.  Put it on WW bread and you have a nutritios potentially high calorie lunch.

Hope I helped! (I am not vegan and I do use some processed foods)

Best of luck in school! [and no one is watching you ]

what does you working have to do with being able to eat enough...i'm a wee bit confused...anyhow, if you're recovering from an ED you should SERIOUSLY consider reintroducing animal products into your diet because the vegan lifestyle is often used to continue the negative ED behaviors and at this time your health is more important, just my opinion, but for now...here are some ideas

1. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

2.. soy milk that doesn't need refrigeration, pita bread with veggie deli slices/hummus/tofutti cream cheese

3. bagel with peanut butter, nuts, fresh fruit

4. amy's/other vegetarian canned soups with ww crackers or ww bread

snacks

5. peanut butter and ww crackers

6. trail mix

7. dried fruit

8. dried cereal

9. guacamole, baked tortilla chips

**hope this helps

wow, i can relate to absolutely everything you said except the vegan part. i get a lot of calories from eggs, cottage cheese, cream cheese, and yogurt... but you can do it!

*again, nuts and nut butters!!! best option you have!!!

*use bagels and pita bread instead of regular bread when you can.

*dried fruit over fresh.

*tofutti. (a favorite recipe is this with maple syrup/honey, toasted nut pieces, and cinnamon mixed in on two slices of bread with apple inside, grilled on the stove with canola oil. it's sweet and crunchy (the nuts as well as the grilled effect), full of protein and fats, and delicious!)

*add avocado and soy mayonnaise to sandwiches. also olives and roasted bell peppers if you like the taste.

*quinoa with some olive oil and dense add-ins like edemameor dried fruit or olives/roasted peppers/tomatoes. it's a denser grain. other grains are rice and couscous, but quinoa is particularly dense and high in protein.

*pasta with olive oil, olives, and whatever else you like

*if you can get soy yogurt where you live, try this with wheat germ, nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate (you can get a healthy chocolate).

*drinks help a lot: soymilk, soda, juice, sweet tea...

*homemade french fries with white or sweet potatoes and lots of olive oil and seasonings.

*pack some granola in a large enough bowl, then take a single serving carton of soy milk, nuts, and dried fruit. cereal at school!

*protein/energy/granola bars to the rescue!!!

*homemade vegan desserts like cookies, brownies, etc.

may i ask how long you've been vegan and avoiding processed/packaged foods? some people can be healthy vegans, but it's really hard to maintain weight and i can't even imagine trying to gain significant weight as a vegan. also it's healthy to eat processed and packaged foods!!! everyone needs them on occasion, recovering anorexics need "fun" (not fun in the beginning) foods every single day to recover. they make physical recovery much easier. mental recovery is not possible without them.

also you really need to be able to eat three square meals a day, but that doesn't mean you can't snack also! bars and trail mix (nuts, fruit, chocolate) are excellent for in class or in the halls between classes.

best of luck! you can do it!

chrissy sorry i should explain.

at work they feed me for free, so usually I will have a bunch of hummus and baba ganoush which is vegan, healthy and calorie dense. I usually rely on that for my lunch to get in about 600-700 calories... and since i am going back to just saturdays I wont be getting to eat the hummus so I am concerned that I wont be able to get a good amount in to keep me healthy.

blueberry I have been vegetarian for two years, and vegan for eight months now. I have always been very sensitive to animal cruelty, and for me its an ethical choice. I eat a mainly all raw diet too (I was raw vegan for a while, but that was purely fueled by my ED and totally messed up my body). I stopped consuming processed foods back in February. I know it can be tough to get in the calories eating only clean and more healthy foods, let alone being a vegan but I hope I can do it! Im just not sure how to handle packing my lunches... Tupperware? Eh. Ill do what I have to but i dont want people to stare anymore than necessary.

I use plastic ziploc baggies for fruit pieces and sandwiches...they work fine.  You can get tupperwares specifically for packing lunches (partitioned dishes) or just use small individual ones.  No one around you will care how your lunch is packed.  Just make sure it's contained and kept fresh until consumption.

Fizzle: I'm a new vegan as well and think its fine for a weight gain diet. The way i tell whether or not its an ethical choice or not is when ill think about eating something and be concerned about the caloric amount rather than whether its vegan or not. Once i get thoughts like these its time to re-evaluate and kick it old school. As per olding on to some fod here and there tupperware is always a good thing and so is a good old protein bar. Whole foods makes a couple active green bars (closest thing to unprocessed food bars) also lara's and clifs. Not to mention the clif builder bars and you could also make a bit tray of brownies or something and cut/wrap each one up. Make sure to bring a couple extra though because you know people are gonna want to share with you.

I am not in school but what I have found in the past is yes at first people may make comments on you eating but it is because they are not used to it. Once it becomes an every day thing the comments will lessen. In any regards people are or should be happy you are taking care. If you saw an underweight person eating wouldn't you be? You are the same. Some people will make stupid comments in general but focus on what you need to do and remind yourself they have issues. I know this is hard. I am not vegan or veg and have mixed feelings towards this in general. My step sister is but has always been healthy. The raw thing is to me too extreme for anyone. This is your choice and I hope it is a healthy one like you stated and not another obsession. I would possibly look at area where you feel you can comprimise a little for your physical health such as the packaged food or raw. Don't forget to get an insulated lunch bag so it can keep things cool. Good luck to all those going back to school. The summer sure did fly by.