Lunches at Work

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CommMajor101

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
18
Hi everyone,
Ok, so I'm cheap and pack my lunch for work everyday. But I'm getting bored with same old thing. Plus, I usually eat soup, which is high in sodium. So I'm trying to think up easy, not too salty lunch ideas. Any ideas? Thanks in advance for your help! :chef:

Warmest wishes,
CommMajor101
 
In the modern world of the Thermos and thermal lunch bags, microwave ovens in just about every office and usually a refrigerator .... you can take and heat just about anything for lunch, or keep it cold!

What restrictions (problems) are you having?
 
I would kind of have to agree with Michael, at least from my limited cooking experience. I made some burritos/wraps that I froze and I bring those to work ocassionally. I made lasagna a while ago & brought slices of that to work. Pasta salad. Soup. double chocolate extra thick fanstastically fudgolicious brownies.

Are you talking about commercially made soup? or do you just load your soup up with salt?

Hot dishes (no casseroles around here :-p) are always good warmed up.

brad
 
Everyone here seems to like food stories. I, in my mid 20s, moved to Hawaii with my military man. I happened to get a job working for Air Force recruiting in downtown Honolulu. It was one of those kind of jobs where you were either busting your buns or bored stiff. In the bored stiff times, I'd stroll the old neighborhoods of Honolulu. In those days, many places were called "delicatessins", but were, in fact, Asian cafeterias. For under $5 you could get 3 to 5 scoops of food, and your choice of noodles or rice. Most places were Chinese, but Japanese and Korean dishes abounded, and a favorite was pork and cabbage, Hawaiian style. I felt like a novice, and enjoyed every minute of it. The locals loved me because I could eat very well with chopsticks (another story entirely). I had wonderful lunches then.
 
The restrictions I have are that I don't have a refrigerator (sp?) at work nor do I have a lot of time! lol

The suggestions in the link were semi helpful. A lot of seafood stuff and I hate seafood.

What kind of wraps, burrios, fajitas do you make? I love pasta salad, anyone have a good recipe?

Also, the soup that I eat is commercial soup. Very high in sodium! Hope that answers the question about that.

You guys have been really helpful, I appreciate it!:ROFLMAO:
 
Sorry CommMajor have no idea what you like to eat, are medically able to eat, or whether you like to cook.

But let me try one idea.

Go to the supermarket and look at the salad bar, the rotisserie chicken, the deli counter.

Is there stuff you like to eat? Many salad bars have a lot more than just bunny food.

Soup, like you I love soup for lunch. Look, or ask, and see if there are any low salt soups in the store.

As Michael said there are a number of ways to keep, or get, things cold, or warm.

Things have changed a lot since the lunch boxes of my day.

Just an idea.
 
I often carry lunch and those soft padded coolers hold an ice brick and do keep foods cold.

wraps can have cheese and meat from the deli or leftovers, be filled with lettuce of your choice etc. Mayo or other perishables can be bought in take along pouches or put in small serving cups to be added later (so you can keep it near the ice brick. Roast or grill veggies, add to sliced chicken in a wrap and dip into fave dressing from a little cup. There are all kinds of possibilities.
 
What's the best kind of bread to use for wraps? What are the best combinations of foods? Do you suggest deli meat or chicken breast? I need like, "Cooking for Dummies" sometimes because I just don't think of those little details.

Salads are out. But wraps are a great idea.

What about a burrito recipe?
 
pita bread or tortillas (mexican) make good pocket sandwiches or wraps. Whole rotisserie chicken is more economical than sliced deli meats, but only if you eat al lthe parts on a chicken. Salad bars and delis have many prepared foods that are easy to carry.

When you say salads are out you mean vegetables or things like tuna salad pasta salad etc?

One of your difficulties is limited likes. Do you have cooking (microwave use) facilities? Then many frozen items can be taken like hot pockets etc. Chili.
 
Here's my favorite pasta salad recipe. It makes 16 servings so you might want to scale it down.

Pizza Pasta Salad
1 pound spiral macaroni cooked and drained
3 medium tomatoes diced & seeded
1 pound cheddar cheese diced
1 bunch green onions (to 2 bunches) sliced
3 ounces pepperoni slices
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
croutons optional

Instructions: In large bowl, combine macaroni, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, green onions & pepperoni.

In small bowl, combine oil, Parmesan cheese, vinegar & seasonings; pour over macaroni mixture.

Cover & refrigerate for several hours.

Top with croutons just before serving if desired.
 
simple burrito is refried beans (canned) ground meat browned, cooked together with onion and garlic (or onion and garlic powder or flakes or whatever), add mexican spice packet sold in spice aisles at stores, maybe a little tomato sauce maybe not...rolled up in a tortilla ...greens, sour cream cheese any can be added or used as sides. Make as hot or mild as you like with red pepper or chilis etc.
 
Good question about the salads. Sorry, I just meant regular veggie salads are out. But then tuna salad is out too cause I hate seafood. lol But I am looking for a good pasta salad recipe, like I mentioned earlier. Thanks for the meat and pita tips!
 
It seems like a lot of these suggestions require refridgeration...which doesn't seem to be an option here.

The only thing I can think of is easy mac, ramen and fresh fruit for non-refridgeration.

If you want to semi-chef it up at work you could probably just cook pasta in a container like easy mac does then just bring vegetables and that sort of thing to cut up at work and add to it. You could also bring canned items to put in your pasta. I think that would work anyway, never done it.

Not too sure what to tell ya though other than that...

All the things I suggested required refidgeration. If you're interested I got my wrap & pasta salad recipes from allrecipes.com. The wrap is sort of a burrito/wrap with canned black beans, canned pinto beans, canned tomatoes, rice & pepperjack cheese, wrapped in tortillas. Pasta salad was just rotini, diced tomatoes, sliced cucumber, red onion with italian dressing.

brad
 
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