Eating in college can often be difficult, especially for those who are used to meal prepping or snacking on produce at home. Adjusting to what is available in the dining halls or campus markets can be a frustrating process.
Walmart and Kroger, two options that regularly have fresh produce, are each about a seven-minute drive from campus. For students who do not have a car, the ability to get there is limited.
Consuming healthy foods is still important, so skipping out on produce is not a good idea, said Christine Zachrich, an associate clinical professor in food and nutrition sciences.
“Fresh produce has a lot of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin A, that can help to promote and establish a healthy immune system while students are in college and away from home,” Zachrich said.
Ohio University has three campus markets, each with a different selection of items: Nelson Market, located inside Nelson Dining Hall, Boyd Market, located inside Boyd Dining Hall and Jefferson Marketplace, located in Jefferson Hall.
Each of these provides varying amounts of fresh produce for students who cannot make it to off-campus grocery stores. However, according to a previous Post report, the price of groceries in campus markets is much higher than in surrounding stores.
Hannah Moore, a senior studying applied nutrition, said while produce may be available in campus markets, it is not necessarily accessible.
“The prices of much of the produce, specifically the berries and things that are not just apples or bananas, are very high compared to local grocery prices,” Moore said. “Yes, they are technically there. But, when a particular thing of strawberries is $9, that's not truly accessible for most people, especially college students who are on a budget.”
Moore also noted students are more likely to choose cheaper but less healthy shelf-stable foods over expensive produce. Shelf-stable foods are items in sealed containers that can be safely stored at room temperature; popular choices like canned soup, peanut butter and Rice-A-Roni all fall into the category of shelf-stable.
“I think it's more of that quality of life,” Moore said. “I want to eat healthier, and I struggled to do that because it's cheaper to eat the shelf-stable foods and cheaper and more cost-efficient, and I am going to be able to be full by buying this $3 shelf stable than paying $9 for the strawberries that aren’t even a full meal.”
Ellie Moleske, a freshman studying applied nutrition, said she had concerns about the quality of the produce in the markets. Moleske, who is an employee in the campus markets, described experiences that made her question purchasing foods that aren’t shelf-stable from the markets.
“I definitely think there's options, though they can be questionable,” Moleske said. “There was a time where they had … us take moldy strawberries out and then put the other strawberries back. I don't know how much I really trust the produce.”
Kent Scott, director of Auxiliaries Operations, wants to assure students that OU’s culinary and grocery staff offer a variety of clean food for students. He also said all markets also have produce stations where a trained culinary member checks the quality of the produce in the markets.
Despite this, Scott said there can still be issues with market food.
“However, like any major grocery chain or food distributor that offers natural food products, Ohio’s markets can sometimes experience quality issues, particularly when a specific form of produce is not in season and/or widely available,” Scott said in a statement.
There are a number of important developmental factors to eating produce in college as well. Zachrich said bone mass for students, in particular, is still developing in college, and won’t reach its peak until people are between 18 and 20 years old.
“Eating foods that are going to provide vitamin D and calcium, such as those dairy products, like milk, cheese and yogurt, but also leafy greens contain calcium such as you know, kale, romaine lettuce, spinach, those are going to be a couple of specific foods that could assist with the proper consumption of vitamin D and calcium,” she said.
Zachrich also added although there may not be as much produce availability in campus markets, dining halls do provide a variety of opportunities to make healthy decisions and create balanced meals.
“Let's just say for instance, if we're like in an Asian fusion type of concept and selecting a stir fry; that's going to have rice, veggies and a protein like steak or chicken, or even if you're a non-meat eater, you could do tofu or even scrambled eggs,“ she said. "So that would be a three-star meal and would provide you with a lot of different varieties of vitamins and minerals."
Despite the availability of produce in dining halls, the markets still dictate many dietary choices for students. Moore shared her own anecdotes from her freshman year and her experience with a lack of good produce.
“I was used to eating fruit and berries and all those things, and I didn't really have access to that anymore,” Moore said. “I don't think anyone is going to get crazy sick or immediately develop health issues because they can't buy those blueberries, but I think it just contributes to lower quality of life.”
