Alright, so I’ve gotten cheap. I’m brown-bagging at work nowadays. Problem is, we don’t have a microwave at work. Our boss took it away after one of the maintenance crew burned popcorn in it and stunk up the whole building.
Therefore, I’m looking for some stuff that tastes good cold. It could be your special tuna salad recipe, or something so elaborate that I can only make it right after I get paid. Whatever it is, I need it. I can’t keep eating sandwiches, or I’ll go NUTS!
Thanks in advance!
I eat a half cup each of kidney beans and garbanzo beans and also one large apple. Sometimes I’ll also eat a granola bar or two.
One of the delis near me sells smoked chicken legs. They’re good cold and you can pretend to be a movie version of Henry VIII of Merrie Olde Englande. Sorry, I don’t have a recipie.
Is telling the boss “Excuse me, but one person did one thing wrong. We all have mothers of our own, and don’t need you as a surrogate. Quit being an ass about this.” out of the question?
Oh, and I like a salad with diced up cold chicken. Yum!
Cold chicken is good, and so are leftover (homemade) burgers. I also like cold mac & cheese.
Rice and bean salad: Combine
1 cup of cooked beans
2 cups of cooked rice*
Pick and choose a total of a cup’s worth of:
Minced onion (red or white)
Chopped bell pepper.
Halved cherry tomatoes.
Sliced celery.
Olives (sliced or small whole)
Etc.
Make a dressing from :
2 Tbsp olive oil (or any other oil you like)
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
Chopped fresh or dried herbs, and spices (definitely some ground black pepper, and I also love ground cumin in this.)
Toss all ingredients and refrigerate and allow the flavors to mingle for a few hours. Either keep it in the fridge at work and eat it chilled, or leave it on your desk so it warms to room temperature.
Rice and beans are a complete protein, so this can be a nice break from cold cuts and tuna salad.
You can also do a sweet variation, with lentils, chopped apples and raisins or currants or craisins. Make the dressing with cider vinegar and canola oil and (if you like) a teaspon of honey, and season with cinnamon, cardamon and even a pinch of curry, if you’re feeling adventurous.
On lazy days, cold cereal is good for lunch.
To expand Hal’s idea, can you put a microwave in your cube? Or talk bossman into a toaster oven?
If you get one of those little immersion heaters, you could make cup-o-noodles or heat up soup right in your cubicle.
Pasta salad! The night before, cook up either pasta twists (the tricolor ones are great) or gemelli, and dice up red onions, bell peppers, celery, grape tomatoes, and maybe even something like broccoli or fresh baby spinach. Drain the pasta and toss it all together in a dressing made of balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and plenty of herbs and spices. Add parmesan cheese and give it plenty of time to chill. This will be awesome.
Chicken salad is always a good one cause you can mix it up to great effect. Try the chicken with a little mayo, curry powder and some raisins. Or with mayo, chopped apple, celery and grapes. Or spicy with mayo, diced jalapenos and cubed chihuahua cheese. You could probably do endless variations on this.
As a university student, I feel obliged to say–pizza. Garlic fingers are pretty good cold too.
Pizza.
Left over Chinese take-out (can’t vouch for anything then vegetarian-friendly dishes, though).
Sometimes, yogurt with granola sprinkled in can be really, really good.
Cold cereal. Pop-Tarts. Cheese and crackers.
I asked this same thing a few months ago in my LJ and I had to slap myself in the head when someone mentioned regular hot food IN A THERMOS! D’oh!
Is there a toaster? If so waffles like eggo’s or whatever generic brand are superb.
what about vienna sausages? i know some folks don’t like em, but I do especially with crackers.
Otherwise, there are some good suggestions in this thread. Or do a google search for cold recipes or some such.
Ooo, ooo! Ants on a log!
Y’know, raisins on peanut butter on celery…
Okay, it’s kind of a kidergarten thing, but it’s one of my favorite comfort snacks, and it’s something you could take every once in a while.
English cold pork pies.
I love those things. I suspect they are heart attack material though, but theyŕe bloody nice.
Have your own antipasto salad!
Lettuce/mixed greens
Tomato, preferably Roma
Diced bell pepper, any color you like
Diced or sliced onion (I don’t eat raw onion, but others would probably like it in this salad)
Sliced mushrooms
Artichoke hearts, if you like and they’re available
Olives, any sort you like
Pepperoni slices
Shredded mozzarella and/or provolone cheese
Grated Parmesan
Oil and red wine vinegar Italian dressing
You can also substitute sliced ham for the pepperoni and it’s still very good.
I’m sure I’m going to butcher the spelling on this, but Dan-Dan Minh. Take peanut butter and microwave it. Stir in soy sauce. Pour over rice noodles (normal pasta will work, I suggest fetticini). Refridgerate. Eat.
Lima bean cassarole is also good. Lima beans plus tomato sauce (not spagetti sauce, but the type in the can) plus olives and bread crumbs. Add cheese. Bake it in the oven.
Pizza! Yeah!
Cold pizza is what pizza is for.
There are any number of salad things you could make; even an ordinary one made from chopped iceberg lettuce, cucumber and tomato will offer quite a variety of eating if you add cubes of feta cheese one day, slices of grilled chicken breast the next, broken walnuts and some kind of beans the day after that, pieces of crispy bacon and chunks of avocado and so on. Varying the salad components too will result in almost limitless variety.
Of course you won’t want salad every day, which is where the cold pizza comes in handy. Did I mention that cold pizza is also nice?
Wow - take my lunch. A sammitch and Yoplait yogurt. The sammitch is just made from cold cuts, with lettuce and tomato if I’m feeling fancy. Sometimes I’ll have a tuna sammitch - mayo and tuna from the pouch. You can also make chicken salad easy - buy one of those small tins of canned chicken, combine with mayo, and slop on the bread. Good stuff, really!
To be healthy, buy or assemble a fruit salad. Take some bread, and Bob’s your uncle. Go cosmopolitan - grab a pear, some camembert, and good bread. It’s yummers.
Lessee…they have those cup o’ soup things that you can just pour hot water into, but I can’t vouch for their yumminess.