Let's Bring Meals to Work!!

This is a thread dedicated to writing down and/or taking pictures of lunches/meals we bring to work, both for accountability and to encourage ourselves. Brown bags and bento welcome.

No shame in humble meals! Practicality and feeding ourselves is most important!!

Reasons to pack

• Cheaper than eating out
• Easier to make sure you eat fruits and vegetables
• No waiting for food; food is already with you
• More colorful food=more fun to look at
• Can eat food exactly how you like/want/need it
• Lunch boxes are pretty
• Can put googly eyes on food

Let's pack!

 

Today, 12/31/18, I brought

• A ham and cheese sandwich
• A pear
• An apple
• Skyr

To work today in my lunch box.

 

Today, 1/2/19, I brought

• A veggie wrap
• Peanuts
• A clementine

In my bento box.

Spoiler

 

Today, 1/3/19, I brought to work

• A veggie bagel sandwich (everything bagel, veggie cream cheese, red bell pepper, cucumber, sprouts)
• Two clementines

 

I wont be able to tell what lunch is until tomorrow because i dont work today, but things i keep in my box regularly (because routine) are:

• Gingersnaps
• A banana (morning shift only)
• Orange juice (morning shift only, unless in a bad mood)
• A couple of hard candies, specifically werthers if available
• A granola bar or two, varying chewy kind with crunchy kind

Other things ive had in the past:

• Grapes, green and seedless
• Yogurt cups, specifically yoplait whips or a flavored Greek kind
• Honey and chicken sliders
• Very specifically made and cut sandwiches
• Banana chips (not a favorite but will do in a pinch)

I of course dont eat everything in one sitting, its just for variation. But yeah.

I used to have banana oat bars instead of the oat and honey ones i have now but i cant for the life of me find any more of them :(

 

I'm gonna watch this thread because I am notorious for bringing either nothing or really low-effort stuff to work. It is not satisfying, and I end up getting overpriced crap from the vending machines. Ideas, Man. I need ideas. :D

 

I have to eat slowly but can't manage to make myself get up early enough to accommodate that, so I can only really manage to get down a banana and glass of milk on days I have workshop. This is... not optimal, especially when lunch is still three and a half hours away. After some thinking, I decided to try bringing a muffin with me to have with coffee when I get there, and so far it's worked out well.

My first batch has been coconut with chocolate chunks (no that's not very breakfasty but shhh). I used half coconut flour and half my usual rice/buckwheat blend, and added quite a lot (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup) of whey protein powder. For these I went with ground psyllium rather than xanthan gum to give them the stick-togetherness they need, since psyllium works well for me in food that needs to last me after I eat it. I filled the muffin tin cups up to the top so they'd rise up high and used a trick I saw on a recipe blog of starting them out on high heat (225 C) for five minutes, then dropping the heat (175 C) for the rest of the cook time, which gives them a great rise but doesn't overcook them.

Once they were cool I stuck them all in the freezer, and the night before a workshop day I take one out and put it in a little plastic container that is just the right size for one muffin. By the time I get there the next day, it's completely thawed but still soft and moist.

The next batch I'm making will be dried cranberry and toasted pecans, which I am *really* looking forward to.

 

Today, 1/5/19, I brought to work

• A turkey sandwich (potato roll, mayo, turkey, cranberry sauce)
• Blueberries
• Baby carrots
• A clementine

@Deresto
Do you feel hungry after eating your meal before you go home? It might be a good idea to bring protein. You show some stuff you brought in the past (chicken, yogurt, sandwiches potentially), but you don't appear to take much now.

I don't know what time constraints you have, your tastes, nor your budget, so I won't reccomend anything new, but I think it would be easy and helpful to take the greek yogurt again.

@Mercury
Freezing baked goods is a fantastic plan! I hope you share how your cranberry pecan muffins turn out.

 

I hadn't considered that! I don't really have a set lunch time because I'm the only cashier for a popular section of the jellystone I'm at.

Would some kind of nuts be a good protien? Or avacados?

 

@Deresto
Yes, nuts, whether almonds, peanuts, etc., would be another good choice for protein or fat.

Avocado is a good source of fats, which will also keep you full. Cheese is good too, although it has a lot of sodium.

If you like hard boiled eggs, those are good too. (I don't like them so no judgement if don't like them either.)

 

Today, 1/6/19, I brought to work

• A veggie wrap
• Cranberry sauce
• A clementine
• Coconut skyr
• Two chocolate chip cookies

Spoiler

I tried to make the wrap into pinwheels but there was too much stuff in it. Thank goodness for toothpicks.

 

Today, 1/7/19, I made a lunch for someone in my family and a meal for me.

In the bento, there was

• A hard boiled egg
• Raspberries
• Raw carrots and green bell pepper and hummus (that he forgot to take rip)
• Roasted purple sweet potatoes
• Cut up chicken

Spoiler: I was not kidding about googly eyes

For myself I ran out of spoons and brought

• Italian wedding soup (little pork meatballs, orzo (teeny pasta), spinach, carrot, onion, chicken broth)
• Two chocolate chip cookies

I was gonna make peassnt bread rolls but lethargy and slow rising dough conspired against me. ORZ

 

Today, 1/8/19, I made two meals. The first included:

• Chicken
• Purple sweet potatoes
• Broccoli
• Clementine
• Two choclate chip cookies

For me, I packed:

• Chicken
• Raspberries
• Carrots and hummus

 

i wish 2 bring meals to work

I usually have Something but i should have more veg and protein instead of like, ramen noodles with peanut sauce, because thats fine but has zero veg and many salt

 

@Everett
Do you have access to a microwave at work? That's going to change what I tell you. In the meantime...

If you like carrots at all, I cannot overstate how useful baby carrots are. You can just grab a a few, wash them, and throw them in a baggie. Dipping sauce is good for them too; I know I've seen individual cups of ranch and hummus at the store. If you buy little plastic cups like these, you can buy a bigger container and save a little money in the long run. (Dishwasher safe)

If you have no time or energy to cook a chicken, just buy a premade rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. They usually go on sale around 4pm where I live, and stay out until 7pm. You can do a lot of stuff with cold chicken and can use the carcass to make soup. I found this recipe which is peanut ramen with chicken. It won't help with veggies, but at least you have protein.

Clementines, tangerines, and Lil' Cuties (brand name) are currently pretty good. They are also super easy to peel and don't have a loth of pith. You can just throw one or two in your lunchbox and peel them at work or peel them at home, stick the segments in a baggie and go.

Apples are alright right now. They keep for a long time if you put them in the fridge.

I don't like 'em, but damn hardboiled eggs are useful. They don't need to be cold or refrigerated to take them to work. Peel them at home to be able to just eat them at work.

 

Spoiler: Long reply

Thank you for the tips!

Microwave: yes

Fridge: yes, however my home fridge is like a bar fridge and cant hold a ton of stuff. for example if i put a whole rotisserie chicken in there, that would be about half the usable space not counting the door. It has a real freezer section tho so making some things and freezing them is doable

We also have a kettle and water cooler that make things that need hot water Very Easy

At home i have 1 infrared hot plate, various pots and pans, kettle, microwave, and a small toaster oven that i put away bc i only used it like 5 times. I also have a brand new toaster that i forgot about and dont use. i have a plastic microwave veggie steamer

my landlady has a slow cooker she has taken back because i dont use it but i could ask for it back. Not really comfy using it tho.

Carrots: i think i used to do that, its a good idea to do again

Hard boiled eggs are acceptable and a food, just have to make sure not to overcook them

Clementines are nice but im always nervous to get them because growing up the 4 of us wouldnt always finish them before they went moldy which is Big Nope for me. If i can buy like....10 at a time that would be ok.

Relevant: im diabetic but i have a scale that can tell me what i need to know to give insulin for fruit, veg etc. But fruits are still a little higher spoons bc of the need to weigh them and like put a sticker on them with their carb count

I have and can make rice, if i actually try. I spent a whole 4 week placement eating the same rice-ham-and-peas lunch, totally possible

I used to eat a lot of hummus and crackers/carrots but i fell out of it

Edit: An Idea

Scrambled eggs mixed in with rice, plus An Fruit with peanut butter (have a jar in my drawer lol), An Veggie with hummus and crackers

 

Today, 1/9/19, I brought

• A tortilla (Spanish Omelette) (eggs, potato, bell pepper)
• Blackberries
• Carrots

Spoiler

@Everett
With that small of a fridge, you are definitely playing on hard mode. Mad props for bringing anything to work.

How much space do a dozen eggs take up in your fridge?

Have you ever had soba noodles? They're made from buckwheat and have a lower glycemic index than regular pasta. They have a nutty flavor and I like making a noodle salad with them, especially in summer. They are stored at room temperature.

 

I have soba i think! Just have to actually make them. Eggs are ok, if i cut the carton in half theyre very manageable footprint wise :D

 

Does it count as bringing a meal if I don't eat it? Anyways...

Today 1/10/19, I brought to work

• Chicken
• Brussel sprouts
• Sweet potato
• Two chocolate chip cookies

 

Today's lunch, featuring my cute lunchbox from Flying Tiger!

Spoiler: Three images

The top tier has cut up apples, cut up cucumbers, chickpeas, a sliced hardboiled egg, and ostensibly heart-shaped little mozzarellas. The bottom has mixed greens and corn noodles (which unfortunately aren't very good cold, I'll have to find some alternative). I also had a packet of tzatziki dressing to go on it.

I thought the box might be too small to have a filling meal, but it turns out that it's just right so long as I fill the top tier with things to go with whatever is on the bottom.