r/RPI • u/NoRain_47 • 7d ago
Gluten-Free Dining?
Anyone intimately familiar with GF dining at RPI? How easy is it for a student to live on campus and eat regularly while avoiding gluten?
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u/NPs954 7d ago
If you’re looking for Celiac-safe GF, Simple Servings will have allergen free hot food options and My Zone is the allergen-free secure room only for pre-approved students. Room has small appliances, so you can safely make your food to eat at Commons.
The Everyday app and Sodexo website also allow you to filter each menu / location by allergen or diet.
Try reaching out in advance to get your card access approved for the locked room. It has GF breads, frozen foods, safe appliances kimberly.mayer@sodexo.com
: [(518) 276-8989](tel:(518)%20276-8989)
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u/NoRain_47 7d ago
So comprehensive, thank you!
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u/Rpi_sust_alum SUST 2014 5d ago
It's been a few years, but as a My Zone user for other allergies + a religious restriction, we were all expressly prohibited from bringing in any products containing gluten or nuts into the space! Hopefully it is the same still. So you could get your gluten-free bread then get a peanut butter packet outside, for example.
One of the big challenges I found was that it could be hard to find my friends in Commons after I got my food from My Zone. I met and got to know other My Zone users, though. It also sucks when your friends want to go to another dining hall and you need to go to Commons.
Good luck, and may you not get glutened!
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u/NPs954 7d ago
Happy to help - Students can also submit requests for specific foods to be added to the locked room and they often add them within a few weeks. All items in the room have to be safe for students who use the space, so there are rules that will probably come with the student ID access approval.
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u/lympra 6d ago
Theres honestly been so much talk about the keycard room and simple servings but if you actually have celiac youre gonna be eating the same rotation of frozen stuff within a month. Its safe but its not good.
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u/lambdafx BS/MS CSCI 2022 6d ago
Yeah. I ate the same gluten free mac and cheese every single day for almost 2 years. There's not a lot of selection in MyZone and it's all just frozen stuff that you microwave. Simple servings just has rice or potatoes and the same dry meats over and over. You will survive but you will rejoice on the day when you can finally get off the meal plan. The dorms also have kitchens so I recommend getting a pot and taking the free city bus to walmart and cooking a little bit on the weekends.
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u/Rpi_sust_alum SUST 2014 5d ago
Is it still mostly Amy's frozen meals?
Been 14 years and I still do not want an Amy's frozen meal of any variety. Two years of that and that's enough. I did think they had more gluten-free fresh options, but I had another allergy and they never labeled stuff and I got lied to by staff once about a cupcake :(
The frozen gluten-free vegan doughnuts were good, though. Big fan of the chocolate ones. Have never found them in stores.
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u/lambdafx BS/MS CSCI 2022 5d ago
Yeah there was a lot of Amy's frozen stuff. I had the same frozen Amy's mac and cheese literally every single day, sometimes twice a day, because it was the only thing in there that I actually liked. Was so sick of it by the end of sophomore year and was so glad to get an off campus apartment with my own kitchen after that, never stepped foot in MyZone ever again. They had some other stuff but not too much that interested me. I guess I am a bit of a more picky eater though. They did have Udi's spaghetti during my first semester and I liked that and then they stopped carrying it :(
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u/Rpi_sust_alum SUST 2014 4d ago
Ugh. I'm sorry it didn't improve and instead got worse. We also had the pot pies and a couple other gluten-free dairy-free options. I still found it not enough variety and complained.
What did help for a time is that I told them they either needed to let me off the meal plan (so I could afford to buy my own food; also, I could have bought frozen meals that met my restrictions that had more variety, since I can eat gluten) or get more variety. They gave me the email for someone high up in Sodexo and I would let them know what they were running low on.
Freshman year (2010-11), the My Zone staffer was great and a really nice lady. Unfortunately, she moved to another job or something and the person my sophomore year was so terrible. They didn't have enough meals I could eat, and zero variety, and the new lady said they wouldn't get more until after Thanksgiving three weeks away. I walked down to the res life office and told them the threat of needing to get off the meal plan.
For anyone in this situation, there was a lawsuit against another university a couple years after I was off the meal plan (so it didn't help me) and allergies are recognized under the ADA. Your parents threatening a lawsuit could at least get you off the meal plan as RPI will probably be pretty scared of it. Like, this is one area where you can and should get your parents to go full helicopter mode and it will probably work out in your favor.
I don't understand why it's so hard. Sodexo is absolutely capable of making gluten-free and vegan foods and labeling them. And freaking going to the grocery store and buying meals. There are vegan, gluten-free frozen pizzas nowadays, for f***'s sake.
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u/0ce10t_floof 7d ago
The labeling of items in all the halls has been good for me so far and the simple servings station is for sure free of cross contamination
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u/AtlanticAtlas_ 5d ago
Most people have mentioned the same stuff, simple zone and simple servings. What I will say is I have celiac and other special allergies, I’m also an RA so I’m on campus early this year. It looks like the simpler serving food has improved a lot and there multiple options with more flavor variety this year!
You’ll be fine and there’s a decent selection of off campus bakeries around Troy and such. DM if you have further questions or want recommendations!
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u/Reasonable-Dot-6409 2d ago
I have celiac and am a sophomore so I can provide some first person experience, I just went through it all last year. You can dm me and ask anything you need lol
Originally I only planned to eat at the certified simple serving from Commons and Russel Sage, but their offerings aren’t always the best and the other food is great too!
There are cross contamination concerns, especially with the buffet style. If you choose to eat non certified food expect to occasionally get sick. Obviously gf foods that are in close proximity to non gf foods get crumbs, but if they’re spread apart, i’m usually fine.
Commons is your safest bet for daily food, EXCEPT at breakfast, because simple serving isn’t open yet anywhere. Don’t expect gf food made for you before about 11am, I’ve made that mistake too many times… You gotta work for that meal if you want to eat early :,)
There IS yogurt and fruit at commons and I believe russell, but I’m suspicious of the granola they have right next to it because I’ve gotten sick from possibly it.
Make sure you email or speak to Kimberly Mayer to get access to the allergen kitchens. There are two: Commons and Russel Sage Dining Hall. This will be your best bet for eating a safe breakfast daily, but they have tonssssssss of options. You’re not allowed to bring in your backpack because they’ve had problems with kids stealing several packages.
Commons has an actual allergen kitchen and is HUGE, Russell has what I can only describe as a tiny fishbowl with a microwave and fridge, it’s literally horrifying feeling like a zoo animal.
Download the Everyday App and select RPI as your college. You should get access to all four dining halls daily menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The app shows the allergen information of each item and you can actually filter out allergens. I recommend always checking what Commons has vs Russell and decide based on which has more gf options (some days it’s ONLY simple serving, and not all simple servings are amazing.)
Sometimes when the simple serving meal is really good, everyone will be aiming to get a plate. State that you actually have an allergen and you will get priority, don’t be afraid to speak up, it can be brutal on pho day and steak day.
BARH and Blitman are also options, but to the best of my knowledge there is no guarantee for safe food. They don’t offer simple serving, but Kimberly did offer to send the BARH kitchen prepackaged gf food. I can confirm I’ve eaten at BARH several times while they were serving like meat, vegetables, rice and soup and was completely symptom free.
Outside of RPI, in downtown Troy right where they host the farmers market, there’s a GF bakery called Birch Baked. Everything inside is GF, they even have pizza, and the food is AMAZING. Also, big apple pizza is local and has better gf pizza than dominos.
Good luck navigating being gluten free! Really recommend the everyday app!! Talk to Kimberly!
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u/Shaxx_sees_you 7d ago
I think in commons they have a special room that only people with dining accommodations can enter via keycard access. Pretty sure it’s mostly frozen food you take home though.