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Lazy Mans guide for better lunches...help.
Mostlyjoe13
Evil, Evil, Jump for joy!Registered User regular
Evil, Evil, Jump for joy!Registered User regular
I have to stop eating out. Full stop.
My current self-lunch making skills are sandwiches. I'm bloody tired of them. So to you H/A I turn for advice. What are some healthy (but reasonable) easy to make lunches I can create the night before work? I'm seeking something that can be whipped up in 15 minutes or less and holds up in a cooler for a few hours during the day.
I'm trying to amend my diet, but if I don't eat enough I get low blood sugar related shakes. ie. Family history of hypogycemia. I'm pretty good at coasting, but I'm looking for something that I can eat maybe twice in a day? Early/late mini-lunches. Are there preprepared options? I have SuperTarget/Walmart/Publix in reach. I'm looking for meals, snacks, and liquid refreshment options.
This is both for my health and my pocketbook. Thank you for any advice.
My current self-lunch making skills are sandwiches. I'm bloody tired of them. So to you H/A I turn for advice. What are some healthy (but reasonable) easy to make lunches I can create the night before work? I'm seeking something that can be whipped up in 15 minutes or less and holds up in a cooler for a few hours during the day.
I'm trying to amend my diet, but if I don't eat enough I get low blood sugar related shakes. ie. Family history of hypogycemia. I'm pretty good at coasting, but I'm looking for something that I can eat maybe twice in a day? Early/late mini-lunches. Are there preprepared options? I have SuperTarget/Walmart/Publix in reach. I'm looking for meals, snacks, and liquid refreshment options.
This is both for my health and my pocketbook. Thank you for any advice.
PSN ID - Mostlyjoe Steam ID -TheNotoriusRNG
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add a can of tuna
add a can of rinsed black beans
BAM
Season as desired, but it's pretty good unseasoned, too.
Do you have the use of something to heat up food at work? Like a microwave?
Serve with whatever is nearby.
That sounds good, and it's probably something like two portions, right?
If you are truly looking to cook your own, rather than buy cans of soup or frozen lunches, try googling "15 minute dinners" or "30 minute dinners" and follow some of the excellent recipes. Add in the word "easy" to your google search if your cooking fu is not high.
From personal experience, I choose one main dish - be it cans of soup, frozen lunches (the healthy variety) - and "accessorize" by adding fruit/veggies (apples, oranges, grapes, cherries, carrots, strawberries - takes half a sec to throw stuff into a ziploc) and a snack-size bag of chips. The end result is a VERY healthy meal. Also it's a meal that I can snack out throughout the day if I feel like it.
5 oz Romaine Lettuce
3-4 oz of chicken breast grilled in a foreman grill for about 5 minutes (make sure to cut out the fat before hand)
1 tablespoon of shredded lowfat/fat free mozzarella cheese
Couple of croutons.
Kraft Lite Catalina dressing
You can make 2 of these in under 10 minutes, and one keeps me full for hours. If you're on WeightWatchers, it is only 5 or 6 points, too.
Currently painting: Slowly [flickr]
Mildly Lactose Intolerance, and hardwood nut oils go through me like Drain-O.
I can drink Lactaid though.
My favorite wraps:
Get a Frozen bag of buffalo chicken strips.
Wrap up: Two strips of cooked buffalo chicken, onion, lettuce cheddar cheese, avacado, small bit of diced tomato. Add blue cheese dressing or ranch, should be toasted
Caesar:
Cook a few chicken breast on a flat iron with black pepper and salt.
Wrap up: chopped chicken breast, a bit of bacon bits, lettuce, Parmesan cheese, creamy Caesar salad dressing, I'll occasionally throw a few crutons in if Im going to eat it right away (if not they'll get soggy)
Delicious ham:
Percutio, peppered ham, basil, provolone cheese, avacado, tomato, horseradish mustard.
Other things I'll do is buffalo or ground turkey chili over brown rice; chicken stir fry over brown rice; miso marinated pork with snow peas over brown rice; etc.
The biggest time-saver I find is making big batches of brown rice/bulghur wheat/quinoa over the weekend and then freezing them (while they're still warm!) into portions. Defrost one the night before, or use it as an edible icepack in your lunch and almost all of the texture is preserved for lunch.
Shish kufta, preferrably made with ground lamb, but ground beef is an ok substitute (ground turkey tastes like grilled ass in this recipe)
Kao Soi (Thai curry noodles) is good too, I make some at night, put it in a tupperware container and reheat at the office.
Dum Aloo (Indian curry potatoes) and naan is pretty good for lunch too.
http://www.cloverleaf.ca/en/recipes/tag/take5/
Origin: theRealElMucho
also, fruit, such as bananas, apples, pears, grapes, etc. are great snacks at work and add great variety throughout the day... i would suggest nuts but apparently they're not great for you
Campbells "soup at hand" (diff flavours) + mini flavoured tuna can (i use cloverleaf, lemon pepper is my fav)
Mini can of mini ravioli's.
same mini tuna can but i bring a whole wheat wrap in and make a tuna wrap on the spot. bring extra fixings to taste (small bit of shredded cheese, bit of lettuce.. whatever...)
some frozen meals these days are actually pretty descent and some have healthy choices. They honestly are not that bad and i suggest taking a look down the frozen aisle at the grocery store. Everything from pastas to mini pizza type things are available.
for accessories i mix it up but sometimes i buy puddings, fruit cups, and the like. my latest fav is Dole pear chunks in a light syrup.
I also will most times buy like one box of Triscuits or "cracker" of some kind, then when i get home ill divide said box up into a few different amounts in zip lock bags, ready to grab the morning i head out.
Another tip is buy a box of cereal bars / fruit bars. they come in 6-8 per box, perfect for a "weeks worth" of breakfast items... ill eat those at like 9amish.
Idk, im constantly looking for new things to take as well, I also will make big batches of spaghetti / random pasta with a simple meat / red sauce, can get 3 days of lunches and suppers outa that baby!
Good luck, while the grocery bill goes up, i found i saved hella money not going out to eat all the time, and the extra awareness of what you are eating just by proxy of doing this will help with health related choices as well (it did me anyway).
Rich Cook.
PSN ID - WildSpoon
3 or 4, depending on how much you eat at a sitting.
(I'm eating some right now)
The food I fix is usually MUCH healthier on top of cheaper. If I make the food I spend about 8-15 dollars a week, whereas when I eat out it's 30-50 dollars a week. Saving a minimum of 20 dollars a week doesn't seem like much but that 1k can go a long ways.
I'm trying to lighten up my diet a bit but still remain healthy. I'm fairly thin (5'10 / 165) but I've developed the beginnings of a spare tire I'd like to get rid of. Honestly, I could eat all that in one sitting easy, but I'm trying to tone it down a little.
you can seriously cut out a huge portion of salt and even save some money by making your own bread
and it has the plus side of being so goddamn delicious
so good
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/11/04/homemade-bread-cheap-delicious-healthy-and-easier-than-you-think/
This sounds absolutely abysmal both in taste and effort.
it's actually pretty good for a basic meal
and what is "abysmal effort"?
like...1) it's too much effort for what you get?
2) or is it not enough effort?
because 1) no it's not
2) that's the point
Here's a recipe I threw together
1 cup pinto beans (dry)
1 cup red beans (dry)
1 cup pearled barley
1 cup rice
1/2 - 1 cup dried currants
chicken broth
creole seasoning
Soak the beans overnight then boil them for an hour (as directed on the back of the package). Cook the rice and barley together (I used a rice cooker - one cooking cycle is enough). Mix the beans and rice together with a splash of chicken broth and creole seasoning to taste. Mix in currants.
Divide into containers and store in the freezer. Can be warmed up or eaten cold.
A bag of pearled barley is $.50 for a 1 lb bag. The rice and means are similarly priced. Barley and pinto beans measure to about 2 cups per pound, red beans are around 2.5 cups per pound. Currants are ... $3-5 per box, and you'll probably use about half a box.
So... the price for the dry ingredients for the above recipe works out to approximately $3. The amounts of broth and spice are negligible, in relation to the amounts in which you have to purchase them, but we'll be generous and say that they add $.50 to the cost of the recipe.
A reasonable serving size for this dish is around 1 cup. The recipe makes around 7-10 servings. 7 servings at $3.50 is $.50 per serving.
This isn't really a full meal though, so I usually have it with yogurt ($.50 per serving) and chicken breast cooked in olive oil and spices, or italian dressing (also very cheap to prepare - maybe $1 per serving).
So, I'm spending about $2 per meal.
The best part is, all I have to do is cook once on each weekend, put the food in portion-sized containers, and just pull them out of the fridge or freezer right before I leave for work.
If you're too lazy for that much of a time commitment, I recommend slow-cooker stuff. I make amazing pulled pork sandwiches and it only takes like 10 minutes of prep time total. Then you have 8 pulled pork sandwiches that reheat well. Chili might take 20 min prep time but again, makes tons of chili.
If you hate food, then sure, you could eat this. There is no effort to actually making something that is delicious and nutritious here.
feel free to give advice on something better and objectively tastier
stew is easy as hell, will last forever, and you can mass-produce it with like 0 effort
tomato soup, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, some meat, white/red cooking wine, a little water in a big pot
season with whatever you like and cook on low for like 10 hours
amazing
(make sure you sear the meat a little before putting it in the stew for some texture)
1. Half a stick cream cheese, Half round of smoked mozz grated, 1/2 cup crumbled feta, 3 chopped green onions, splash of milk into food processor. pulse till well mixed then salt and pepper to taste. this is a spread/dip you can use for a multitude of things. You'll have enough for a week.
2. Get thin sliced peppered turkey from your local deli
3. Cut a tomato into thin slices
4. Get a pack of burrito size tortillas
5. Package of sprouts
Spread Green Onion Feta spread on one side of tortilla. Put the tomato slices, then the sprouts, then peppered turkey. Roll the tortilla and use a little spread to hold it together, then cut into fourths.
Sure, it's a type sandwich but it's tastier than a sandwich and more nutritious and it takes less time to make than rice.
A food processor is a lunch's best friend.
Mushy carrots and disintegrated potatoes...okay...so this is really about putting the least amount of effort into preparing food as possible and not caring about results.
My fiancee said that isn't stew, it's a travesty.
Just go there.
Here is something objectively better with similar ingredients.
* 1 cup of chopped red onions or shallots
* The zest and juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes (can sub a tablespoon or two of cider vinegar)
* 2 five to six ounce cans of tuna packed in olive oil
* 2 15-ounce cans of cannellini or Great Northern white beans, rinsed and drained
* 1/2 cup of chopped mint, parsley, or arugula
* A few splashes of Tabasco sauce, or 1 minced Serrano chile or 1 teaspoon red chile flakes
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* Salt and olive oil to taste
1 Sprinkle some of the lemon juice over the chopped onions while you prepare the other ingredients. This will take some of the oniony edge off the onions.
2 Drain the oil from the tuna and put the tuna into a large bowl. Add the beans to the tuna and gently stir to combine. Add the onions, herbs, black pepper, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix to combine. Add Tabasco or chile to taste. If the salad needs more acid, add a little more lemon juice. If the salad seems a little dry, add a little bit of olive oil. Add salt to taste.
3 Chill before serving. This salad will last several days in the fridge, tightly covered.
Serves 4.
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/white_bean_and_tuna_salad/
This is one of the most amazing revelations you can have in your mid 20s along with brewing a pot of coffee at home and buying a thermos can save you so much money over the course of a month.
Most the time, we only eat out after cooking for 5-6 days straight, or if it's something we're genuinely ill equipped or unable to do well. Leftovers are a primary staple of our lunch diet.
Another great column.
no?
@ OP: I'm seconding Raneados' stew advice, but i'd advocate using small new potatoes, with skins, which helps keep them as discrete entities, rather than breaking down into mush during cooking, and tradeoff of chunk size versus cooking time will ensure that you have a stew containing carrots, onions etc. as opposed to a paste. After a couple of tries, you will be able to get the right combination, so that all the components are well-flavoured, AND still maintain their shape/ integrity.
because the skin is the best part!
I'd also suggest purchasing a blender so you can make smoothies for breakfast. A little bit of fat free yogurt, fat free milk or juice (I prefer mango or peach), and a few frozen fruits like strawberries or blueberries is not only chock full of vitamins and antioxidants, but also fat free and tasty. Surprisingly filling too.