I’ve got a contract job at a workplace that has a nice, but somewhat expensive, cafeteria. I’d like to bring lunches from home, but I do NOT want sandwiches, having spent years eating nothing but sandwiches and chips, or sandwiches and veggies, or sandwiches and fruit, or sandwiches and soup, for lunch EVERY. SINGLE. FREAKING. DAY.
If I so much as see another sandwich in my lunch bag, I will go berserk. So can someone spare my coworkers the agony and suggest something good, and preferably relatively cheap? Thanks!
The ever reliable salad. Preferably with chicken or steak.
A slice of good, crusty french or sourdough bread, and assorted cheeses. (If you don’t put them together, they’re not a sandwich!).
Assuming you have access to a microwave, I second the rice dishes, and will add pasta dishes–a bit more temperamental in the re-heating, but do-able.
My sister took salami, cheese and crackers to school almost every day, so that’s a possibility. As is meatloaf. Cold or heated, yummy-good! (Again, you can make a meatloaf sandwich, but you don’t have to in order to eat the meatloaf. Ditto with slices of last night’s roast beef or turkey, or a cold pork chop–just the meat, ma’am).
And, in that same vein–the breadless sandwich (an Atkins favorite, I’m told). Everything you’d put on a sandwich–lettuce, tomato, avacado, cheese, onions, mayo, mustard, yadda, yadda, yadda–between two slices of meat, or rolled in thinly sliced pieces of meat. The person I saw eat this way used the condiments as a dipping sauce, otherwise, she said, it was a bit messy.
I hate sandwiches too. For lunches at the office, I usually prepare pasta or cook up a stir fry the night before. I pop individual portions into sealable containers and microwave them at work.
Pasta baked with tuna and white sauce and topped with breadcrumbs and cheese is easy to make, but not exactly a low-fat meal. A healthier alternative is chopped chicken breasts, fresh spinach, field mushrooms and a tomato-based sauce. Substitute for your meat of choice, or add more vegetables.
Stir fried egg noodles with pork or chicken and Chinese vegetables (my favourite is gai lan (sometimes “kai lan/lon”)) is ridiculously easy to make. Fried rice with plenty of egg, peas and carrot is another healthy, easy-to-make meal.
If you have access to more elaborate kitchen facilities at work, it’s not too difficult to make mini pizzas at home and grill them at lunch time.
If you really want to put some effort into your lunches, you could invest in a sushi rolling mat (possibly available in a kit where you live). Sushi rolls aren’t terribly difficult to make, once you get that hang of it. They provide a good energy-packed meal (especially if you add some protein in the form of chicken or whatever), that’s also very easy to transport and eat on the run.
Individual pot pies or “hot pocket” type things. They’re a bit on the sandwich-y side I suppose but that’s what I’ve been doing recently.
If you have time to cook at home, check online or at the book store for some quick one- or two-person entrees and fix them the night before, or make up several over the weekend and freeze/refrigerate.
My husband buys those Michelina’s frozen entrees. (Hey, Michelina’s!) They are about $1-$1.20 each, and (perhaps more importantly) they reheat quickly in the microwave. He also likes Swanson’s pot pies, which are even cheaper (don’t get Banquet pot pies–they come in metal tins, and are not microwavable.) He takes these if no leftovers are available.
There are also a lot of those “just add hot water” soup cups around. There’s the classic Cup Noodle ramen, but I’ve seen a lot of other kinds of soup lately. I haven’t tried them (except for Cup Noodle, which was very good study food in college), so YMMV.
I hear you. I like a fresh sandwich, but they certainly lose something after being wrapped up for hours.
I like sandwiches but hate the time it takes to prepare a good one. On the other hand, one benefit of the sandwich is you can eat it right away. Another is that there’s no cleanup required. Wadding up paper towels to wipe off your dishes, because the office kitchen has no garbage disposer, gets pretty old pretty fast.
Couscous dishes–I buy the Near East boxed kind, add whatever seems appropriate (spinach, tomatoes, etc.). Makes a good 2 1/2 meals.
Ravioli–cook up a bag of the frozen kind, add sauce, veggies, etc.
Beans & rice with whatever–again, the partially pre-manufactured kind. Start with one of those Lipton side dishes and cook it up with veggies (I’m vegetarian–I suppose much of the above would work with meat things as well).
I’ll second this. Chicken tandoori is good, and the rice bowls are all pretty nice. I find them a little small, but that plus a piece of fruit or something is a nice meal.
Throw oil, garlic, crushed chili peppers, some oriental sauce, and maybe some chopped green onions or bok choi in a frying pan.
Mix the noodles and the frying pan concoction, and you’ve got classic stir-fry in less than ten minutes. (Just make sure you brush your teeth before heading back to work.)
Well, Kallessa- I prefer my “atkins sandwichs” with the cheese on the outside, and meat next, with pickles & olives seperate, and dipped in dressing. But it IS a nice change.
Then, try taking a walk and eating one of those "food bars’ like a Power Bar.
okay, i’ve been having a similar problem since my work place is in the middle of a warehouse district. There are no places to eat at, and ordering out is $10-12 minimum for lunch. However, i am also a vegetarian, and a lazy young male. Yesterday i bought some “falafel kits” that were premade and that worked pretty well. But most of the frozen dinners and things either have meat or else it’s macaroni and cheese. Any easy options that require little prep time, that a non cook could make/buy?
Nooo! Stop trying to convince me to eat sandwiches! NO SANDWICHES! If you make me eat sandwiches, I’ll stuff 'em into every one of your bodily orifices I can find!
Aaaaaaaaaa! runs around screaming
Oh, and thanks for the tips so far, everyone. Keep 'em coming!
