Hi EFers
I'm on the lookout for lunch ideas.
Requirements:
1. low carb (this includes: no bread, flour, rice, noodles, potatoes, other things with grains/sugar/fruits),
2. can stay out of fridge for 4 hours,
3. easy to prepare with a basic knife/fork/spoon and doesn't require complicated assembly/multiple bowls,
4. portable,
5. as filling as possible.
Ideas so far:
- Salads with single servings of dressing (since dressings need to be refrigerated as well)
- Single packets of meat ("Bacon" (not Speck!) from Coop, turkey/ham/salami slices)
- Hunks of cheese
- Individually packed portions of cream cheese (Philadelphia mini packets)
- Olives
- Yogurt with or without veg to dip
Any other ideas? Thanks.
Buy a fridge.
(electric assisted coolbox)
Can't put that anywhere. No, no refrigeration possible.
Find a new job. One with a decent restaurant.
Not even a coolbox, with electric cooling fan in the lid?
What about an insulated cool bag with frozen blocks in them? If the food is cold when you put it in and the bag is sealed with enough blocks in surely it would stay cool enough for a couple of hours at least?
I will state the obvious; boiled eggs?
Coop also do cooked chicken, and they sell portions. For less calories throw away chicken skin. Portability I would have extra paper towels for any fat leakings.
Not sure what you mean without a fridge. If you have a fridge at home during other hours, then things like pickled vegetables to add to the salad to add variety, though I have no idea of the calories/carbs.
To keep things either hot or cold, provided they are separated, i.e. Hot & Cold, wrap them well. Insulation could be towel, tea towel, newspapers.
There are restaurants around - but spending every lunch hour eating salad because the menu of the day is always something carb-y and I'm not willing to toss half the cost for the menu out the window because I don't want a mound of noodles/rice/bread, but rather just the veggies/meat/cheese, gets boring.
Haven't heard of those yet - only know the ones with cooling pads inside. Space really is an issue unfortunately, no matter the kind of coolbox
Possibly. Coop insulated bags are open at the top on either side of the handle, while the Migros ones have this weird wooden rod in the plastic handle part. Which one would you think is better to use as a cooler - knowing that cold air doesn't rise, I'm wondering which might be better (I have both)?
Not my cup of tea unfortunately, but thanks for the suggestion.
Will check out Coop's chicken - don't mind the skin at all
I mean that I don't have an opportunity to refrigerate my stuff when not at home, so that I'll have to either keep my stuff taken from home cold until eaten at lunch time or buy it fresh and assemble on the spot.
I will state the next obvious - hard boiled eggs every lunchtime = 'Billy-no-mates'
I was thinking of something more like this
http://www.tesco.com/direct/polar-ge...skuId=709-3435 ( I've seen similar things in Interdiscount, manor and coop) but if you already have the store ones why not try them on consecutive days and see which one works best for you? I prefer the Migros ones personally but only use them for bringing cold stuff home from the store.
Can you prepare / cook things at home before you leave for work?
How about grilled or roasted veggies in a marinade of oil, lemon juice, garlic, herbs. And a sauce / dip made of yoghurt, crushed garlic, chopped mint, salt and pepper.
Tuna fish salad.
Greek salad.
If you tell us the reason for your proposed diet we can maybe give more hints.
If that is too bulky & you have access to freezer overnight, how about a gel bottle cooler, that you put in the freezer overnight. Denner had Fackelmann,
Gel-flaschen-kühler with 50% off sticker a few days back, i.e. down from 4 to 2 francs. I doubt it would last 4 hours in this heat, but could help keep food chilled particularly if you are able to find a dark place to keep it.
carrot sticks any veggie sticks, really shredded carrot, beetroot, and/or celeriac salad with herbs & vinaigrette tomato wedges fruits - apple, banana, pear, peach* hummus falafel lentil salad dried meats, e.g. Bündnerfleish, salami chickpea salad with tomatoes, peppers and vinaigrette canned tuna/salmon nut and/or seed mix (peanut, walnut, cashew, almond, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed) nut butters (peanut, almond)
Of course some of this would require a bit of prep at home, but you could buy a few food storage containers with compartments to make transport easier. Also if you had a small coolbox and could put in a frozen bottle of water (we do that instead of those blocks that just take up space) then your options expand greatly.
Your list includes chunks of cheese, cream cheese, and yogurt. I suppose those are fine without 4 hours of refrigeration but I wouldn't care for any of those warm.
* fruits contain carbs, but they are full of vitamins and minerals and the sugars are naturally occurring as opposed to added. Unless you have a medical reason for excluding ALL carbs, there's no reason to abandon healthy things like fruit entirely. If you eat the whole fruit, such as an apple with peel, you also get a lot of fiber. Plus adding things like apples and walnuts to salad can make it much more enjoyable.
That purple bag looks like it could work! Going to google. I also think that the Migros/Coop ones are just for 1-2 hour cooling but not for 4-6 hours, like I need it.
Reason is that I am very low carb at the moment, and I want it to stay that way (at least for a while) because there is nothing worse than being "knocked out" by a serving of carby food in the early afternoon, and shortly after starving again, knowing that the next opportunity to get something to eat is hours away.
On low carb, I eat stuff that is filling at lunch time, and which keeps me going until evening.
Grilled veggies sound good - oven or pan? Fat content does not matter in the slightest.
Greek salad is tasty as heck - but there is the "how fast do veggies dry out if prepared the night before" question.
Migros used to sell a plastic container with an ice pack on the bottom - perfect for cold lunches - but when I wanted to get my hands on one a couple weeks ago I found out that they have been discontinued .
Also, the small ice pack in that container wouldn't last an hour in this heat.
Thank you very much!
hummus - make your own. Dead easy. Buy a can of chickpeas. Drain. Chuck it in the blender with some olive oil, garlic, tahini paste, salt and pepper. Job done.
falafel - we eat ours without the pita (sometimes), and serve it with either hummus or homemade tzatziki dip
canned tuna/salmon - I don't eat canned salmon (prefer fresh) so I've never even looked for it here... but you can certainly get canned tuna at any Migros/Coop
nut butters (peanut, almond) - If you have the time, just make your own. In the U.S. you can buy nut butters without added sugar. Not sure where you'd find them here though.
Canned salmon can be found along with the canned tuna in all the major supermarkets. There is a brand called Rio ( I think) which do nice salmon filets in cans which are a pretty good substitute for fresh if you can't cook your own to take with you although fresh is obviously much nicer.
Found some in the cupboard:
Buy a Kelloggs Variety Pack of cereals - warm milk is optional.
Half a bottle of red, and some sausage, cheese, and crackers or bread.
However, I normally don't bother with lunch.
Tom
Cereal = grains and a sugar binge, so no.
Warm milk
FTFY re: grains/starch - see above for reason.
Good suggestions though. Make me hungry for a nice Salsiz too
Perhaps Coop stocks them - must check.