Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Oct 27, 2014 18:29:54 GMT -5
I started my new job last week. Everything is going fine so far, but as it turns out, the place I'm working at is kind of secluded and the nearest place to buy lunch is about 10 minutes away. Kind of hard to make it there, eat, and get back before the 30 minute lunch time expires. So I have to bring my lunch.
Before, I always went out to eat to lunch. I know, it's YM heresy but in my defense, it was a place where I worked where the prices were pretty reasonable. I figured the extra $20 or so I spent a week was worth not having to make lunches every day.
But now, that's not the case.
Anyway, I need ideas on lunches. I can't eat sandwiches every day without going crazy.
But a few constraints:
1. I'm single and live alone. I can't make massive amounts of food.
2. I'm a neophyte when it comes to cooking. I can do things like brown hamburger, cook spaghetti, follow the directions on the back of a box, cut up veggies and fruit and the like, but nothing crazy.
3. I'm going to be working 9 hour shifts, I don't want something that takes a lot of time.
The only immediate ideas that came to mind was to make spaghetti on weekends and cool it until I want to take it for lunch. Same with hamburger helper or maybe sloppy joes.
Any other ideas? I'm just looking for variety.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2014 18:36:20 GMT -5
frozen lunches.....lasagna....
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Jake 48
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Post by Jake 48 on Oct 27, 2014 18:36:53 GMT -5
pasta,chicken stir fry or salads w/ chicken, I'm pretty much in the same boat
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Green Eyed Lady
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Post by Green Eyed Lady on Oct 27, 2014 18:39:04 GMT -5
I just make double whatever I make for supper and take the 2nd portion to work the next day. I'm not a huge foodie (most of the time). I eat for sustenance, so it doesn't make a huge difference to me that I have the same thing two days in a row. If this is an issue for you, skip a day in between. I also take a lot of salads and hard boiled eggs to work. If you get good containers, they stay pretty fresh as long as you have a frige available.
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Peace Of Mind
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Post by Peace Of Mind on Oct 27, 2014 18:39:09 GMT -5
Get your food the night before from any place you want it. Or whatever you do for dinner do extra for lunch the next day.
Do they have a microwave there on site in a lunch area? Tons of foods to buy in the frozen food section at the grocery stores. Some TV dinners are very good like Amy organic ones and I love stouffers. Don't judge me!
And don't forget chef salads or salads with fried chicken strips, etc. Lots of meats and cheeses added to veggies along with eggs should be good for lunch.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Oct 27, 2014 18:41:33 GMT -5
Yes, they do have a microwave and fridge on site.
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dannylion
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Post by dannylion on Oct 27, 2014 18:43:09 GMT -5
Do you like salads at all? I used to make pasta or wheatberry salads to take to work. I would cook the pasta or wheatberries on Sunday, enough for several days of salads, then steam a big bag of mixed vegetables, open and drain cans of chickpeas and/or black beans or other beans, chop up onions and whatever else I wanted to put in the salads, and put them all in separate containers in the refrigerator. I would also sometimes get packages of cooked chicken strips (I think Perdue makes some, I get the Costco brand) or that imitation crabmeat (surimi) to add to the salads. Also jars of artichoke hearts and hearts of palm and things like that. Then each evening I would mix the various items with the pasta or wheatberries in various proportions depending on how I felt at the time. For the wheatberry salads, I would just add the salad dressing when I made the salad and put it in the container to take to work. For the pasta salad, I would put the dressing on the bottom, then layer everything that was not pasta on top of that and put the pasta in the container last so it didn't get too squishy before I ate it. I would use a different dressing every day so it didn't get too monotonous or boring.
If you like hummus, you can take a small container of hummus with cut up veggies and crackers or naan bread or tortillas or whatever you like.
If you have a microwave in your office, you can get some fairly decent frozen meals and heat them up for lunch. If you don't have a freezer to keep them in at work, they will thaw somewhat before lunch, but they will be fine.
Look up brown-bag or bento box lunches on the internet. There are some interesting ideas there.
How's the job going? And how was the move? Did everything go smoothly?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2014 18:43:31 GMT -5
salads - grill up chicken, portion out veggies, hardboiled eggs, cheese, nuts, buy individual packets of dressing or keep a bottle at work
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Oct 27, 2014 18:43:55 GMT -5
Can you order in?
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Oct 27, 2014 18:44:48 GMT -5
I guess I could do that, try getting some lettuce, cook a chicken breast, put the chicken in the salad along with some other stuff, put it in a container and eat it that way.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Oct 27, 2014 18:46:29 GMT -5
Buy some prepared lunch/dinner foods from the grocery store and microwave them. Wegmans has a great selection of prepared foods.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Oct 27, 2014 18:46:58 GMT -5
I don't think so. It's a military base, and they don't let anyone who doesn't have a military ID on post.
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Green Eyed Lady
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Post by Green Eyed Lady on Oct 27, 2014 18:47:57 GMT -5
If your issue is that you simply don't want to put the stuff together (which I totally get - I hate it), perhaps some of the frozen things that you nuke might be your answer. I'd probably do it for the sake of convenience, but I hate them. I usually pack what I'm taking the night before as I'm not very "with it" in the morning.
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Oct 27, 2014 18:48:06 GMT -5
POM has a good idea about buying it the night before.
Anything like spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes, taco meat, etc you could freeze a couple portions for later. When I make burritos I have tons of leftovers. I assermble the burritos and freeze for later. I freeze calzones too.
Grill some chicken or pork chops and get the veggie microwave steamer bags. Soups are good for freezing some for later. I also do baked potato (cooked the night before) and salad.
When I first started cooking I liked The Pioneer Woman because she has step by step pictures. Her recipes are usually big but I cut in half or freeze.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Oct 27, 2014 18:51:17 GMT -5
What do you usually do for dinner? If you cook for dinner, make an extra portion and bring it for lunch next day. If you do takeout, get two order (probably two different items) and bring it with you. It sounds as if there isn't enough time for you to go out and get lunch, and you have a fridge and microwave available. So you have to bring something with you.
Congratulations on the new job!
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 27, 2014 18:52:17 GMT -5
I used to keep a couple of frozen meals in my freezer for lunches - I liked either the Stouffers or Marie Callendars and they go on sale fairly regularly. When I didn't have leftovers, I'd throw a meal, along with a piece of fruit and a drink into my lunch bag. Other things I used to do is take a can of soup (usually Progresso) and heat it up, have crackers, yogurt and fruit.
Pasta does pretty well to batch cook, as does anything with rice. When I'd cook either pasta or stir fries, I'd make extra and divvy it out into Rubbermaid containers. Some I'd throw in the fridge, the rest freezer so I wouldn't have to eat pasta all week. A lb of spaghetti and sauce made with either sausage or hamburger was usually good for 4-5 servings.
I know that the supermarkets here make complete meals that they package up that you can microwave. Some of them look pretty good. They're normally found around the deli case and if I was looking for something to take for lunch, I might try some of those out.
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Malarky
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Post by Malarky on Oct 27, 2014 18:53:19 GMT -5
I work in a bakery with a bunch of foodies so lunch is an event everyday. We work hard to out do each other in what we can make and share. And I'm a batch cooker. So I cook with an eye towards the long term. Do you have a freezer in your apartment/house? You only need the one attached to the fridge, used wisely. Yes, you can do spaghetti. Never buy a Lean Cuisine pasta meal, you can cook your own pasta and sauce for pennies. And freeze the leftovers in single serve containers. Same stuff, much cheaper, the packaging isn't as pretty. Beef stew in the crockpot. Brown the beef, toss in the rest. Follow one of the hundreds of recipes. The simpler, the better. (Refirgerate overnight, put it on in the morning, eat it for dinner, again for lunch, freeze the rest in single serve containers. Chili, the same. Shredded chicken. One family pack chicken, one box of stock. Crock pot on low all day-shred. Can be chicken soup/stew, chicken pot pie, chicken and gravy with rice or noodles. Eat once or twice for dinner. Take the same thing for lunch. Spend a couple of hours on Saturday or Sunday figuring out what you're going to eat this week and chopping stuff and batch cooking. It sucks at first until you get the hang of it, but then you stop wasting food and have good stuff to eat. I just did a personal 30 days 30 dinners challenge. For the most part, I was able to feed the family, take some for lunch and freeze some for next month when I'll be lucky to have time to breathe. PM if you're interested in more specifics. Because I could go on all day...
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Oct 27, 2014 18:57:47 GMT -5
I eat the Amy's frozen lunches - a few of them are decent. I really like the Cheddar bowl. I take leftovers one day, I eat a tuna fish sandwich one day and I have raman one day. Am I up to 5 days? www.amys.com/products/product-detail/bowls/000162
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Oct 27, 2014 19:00:15 GMT -5
You could also look at those horrible frozen snack foods - like Bagel Bites or whatever. If you can stand them microwaved, you could do that. My son used to eat the Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Oct 27, 2014 19:06:54 GMT -5
You can batch cook for yourself and fridge/freeze what you won't eat in a week.
Although there's only two of us, DH will often cook 4 or more portions. And yes, we do shop at Costco.
We'll BBQ a whole chicken on Sunday and use the left over meat in salads or stir-fry later in the week. I'll throw almost any left-over vegetable into a salad. DH will make a stir-fry or curry for 4 and I'll eat the two left-overs for lunch during the week.
The stir-fry or curry is really easy; you just throw in your favorite vegetables in a microwave to defrost them, then add to a sauté type pan, add a pre-mix sauce, toss in left over meat or tofu pursuant to the instructions. Do you have a rice cooker? While you can cook rice in a sauce pan, rice cookers are pretty cheap at $20 and you'll make perfect rice every time.
You can either make soup yourself or buy a big container, divide up and freeze in smaller batches.
When you go out to dinner purposely order a larger meal and set aside a portion of your meal or components to have for lunch.
Do you own a cookbook? If not, go to your local bookstore and get a basic-all purpose cookbook. When we got married we were given a "Good Housekeeping" cookbook which I still have and use 26 years later.
Finally, turn this into an adventure. Check out to see if there are any cooking classes at your local adult education/community college. Could be another opportunity to meet people.
ETA: DH does most of our cooking and LOVES Alton Brown who does a wonderful food programs which are all about the history and science of cooking. You may find you like cooking as much as DH does. To him, cooking is like being in his very own laboratory where he gets to eat his experiments!
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Oct 27, 2014 19:25:01 GMT -5
congrats on getting settled! lots of good advice so far. another suggestion I'd make is to buy burrito-sized tortillas and do wraps for lunches out of the leftovers from dinners. package the meats separately from the greens/veggies so that you can reheat the meat and build the wraps at the office and nothing gets soggy. combinations I like: -rotisserie chicken w/baby spinach and cheddar -pulled pork w/asian slaw* -chicken caesar wrap - use rotisserie leftovers -tuna salad w/lettuce and tomato *I think you said in another thread that you would be okay trying out a crockpot. I do up a pulled pork w/o sauce and then make a basic slaw out of a bag of coleslaw mix and extra sliced veggies w/a dressing like this one - link
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lynnerself
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Post by lynnerself on Oct 27, 2014 19:28:51 GMT -5
Traditional: deli meat sandwich, fruit , chips Left overs: soup, mac and cheese, pizza, chili, chicken and rice, pasta Easy: frozen lunches, pre made salad from grocery, pick up a sub on the way to work, heat a can of soup Other ideas: hummus and veggies, burritos,
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Oct 27, 2014 19:43:34 GMT -5
Trader Joe's salads and frozen meals. They also have tortolinni in the fresh section that can be microwaved that is good. For Bonnie's barbecued chiken -> go to Costco and just buy one. From that I make chicken sandwiches, rice/ chicken with barbecue sauce/frozen peas, chicken enchiladas,chicken salad, etc (those are big chickens).
A small rice cooker is a good thing to have for a single person. There are plenty of simmer sauces you can buy at most stores (but I love TJs variety of sauces). And don't forget the convenience of frozen veggies. I cook a lot of chicken so -> simmer chicken in sauce , cook rice, put in microwaveable container, top with frozen veggies of choice and nuke at work. Pasta would work too for many things but I just like rice better.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Oct 27, 2014 19:51:11 GMT -5
For Bonnie's barbecued chiken -> go to Costco and just buy one. From that I make chicken sandwiches, rice/ chicken with barbecue sauce/frozen peas, chicken enchiladas,chicken salad, etc (those are big chickens). DH's home-made webbered chicken tastes MUCH better than Costco's. But when I'm on the road playing landlord I do exactly what you're suggesting.
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Oct 27, 2014 19:59:56 GMT -5
No doubt your DHs webered chickens are way better Bonny, but I don't see Phoenix84 doing that so I threw in the shortcut
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Oct 27, 2014 20:02:49 GMT -5
No doubt your DHs webered chickens are way better Bonny, but I don't see Phoenix84 doing that so I threw in the shortcut I thought every guy owned a BBQ. That's manly cooking!
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cronewitch
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Post by cronewitch on Oct 27, 2014 20:06:07 GMT -5
When I worked I couldn't ever go out to lunch and hated packing everyday so kept a few items in my office. You can have breakfast for lunch if you like oatmeal or something. If you like salt and calories ramen noodles are cheap and you can take a few so you always have something. I liked to have cans of chili on hand and a bowl for heating it. You can pick up room tempature or refrigerator food like potato salad or leftover fried chicken or get a subway foot long to last two days. So plan to make home cooking some days and quick to pick up other days but have some cans and boxes at work or in your car for when you forget or are running late. You can freeze thing to grab and go to take still frozen like rice frozen in a ziplock to use under the canned chili or if you like Vienna sausage you can snack on them. If you don't care much about what you eat you can even take a raw potato to microwave and top with some cheese or something. Keep a handful of microwave popcorn in your office for emergency snacks and some frozen burritos in your work freezer also some nuts or other snack items if you forget lunch you can just snack instead.
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ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ
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Post by ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ on Oct 27, 2014 20:10:14 GMT -5
I've read (most) of the posts here, an didn't see anyone ask if your place of employment has a microwave oven (or fridge, for that matter).
Lots of good suggestions, (pre-cooked meals, frozen dinners, etc), but most of those foods need to be heated.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Oct 27, 2014 20:13:54 GMT -5
I've read (most) of the posts here, an didn't see anyone ask if your place of employment has a microwave oven (or fridge, for that matter).
Lots of good suggestions, (pre-cooked meals, frozen dinners, etc), but most of those foods need to be heated. His post #5. He has both at work.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Oct 27, 2014 20:21:50 GMT -5
Ditto what everyone else has suggested - cans of soup, leftovers, sandwiches, and frozen burritos all make their way into the lunch rotation at my house. In the winter, I like making soup in the slow cooker, and then freezing lunch sized portions for DH and I to take to work later on as there is more than we can eat before it goes bad if we don't do that.
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