Lunch... for Teachers?

samrockrocks

WOW, guys!! Thank you for all the awesome responses!! THANK YOU for all the congratulations! I'm very excited to finally have a full time job in my OWN classroom! The substitute teaching was wearing on me..

Where to begin...

I've been subbing for a year, so I know that teachers don't get much of a lunch. Actually, I figured that out during student teaching! It's those experiences that have showed me I do NOT want to eat crap for lunch all the time.. that's what I did before and it was not satisfying.

I should have clarified... when I said "frozen meals" I meant Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choice meals... those kind of frozen meals. I would be totally content with preparing a few meals ahead of time, storing them, and taking them out as I want them. However **I don't know how to do that**. That sounds ridiculous saying it out loud, but it's true. Can I freeze anything? How long will it keep just in the refrigerator? How long do I reheat it for?

I'm fairly positive I have a microwave and fridge available to me. If not, I'll bring my own. I have an extra microwave at the house from college and a mini-fridge can be found.

Also, I don't like some of the foods you guys (so kindly) suggested. I hate tuna! You guys love your tuna! Haha. I hate cherry tomatoes and even slices tomatoes on sandwiches. Cottage cheese? Ewwww. I'm not a big lunch meat eater either. I hate ham and bacon (I KNOW I'm so un-American!). I don't even like hamburgers. It's a sacrilege!

Someone mentioned not having money to go out to eat... I definitely do not plan on doing that. My school is at least 10 minutes away from any type of restaurant. I simply wouldn't have the time for it (nor would I want to spend the money!)

I am interested to see what the cafeteria provides for meals. My guess is that I will avoid it. I'm too picky of an eater to deal with any of it except maybe pizza day

Whoever suggested the mason jars... great idea!

I see a lot of homemade hummus with raw veggies, fruit, CLIF bars, yogurt, and homemade salads in my future. I also have this yummy recipe with penne pasta, zucchini, tomatoes (i like them if they're cooked), scallions, and garlic that I know I'll be eating at least once a month for the whole week! Haha.

So, perhaps some more specific questions:

- What are your favorite sandwiches besides tuna/chicken salad and deli meat?
- I really like the idea of wraps... I've never made my own though. Suggestions? Website? I'll have to do a search..

Thank you, again, for all the suggestions so far!

jessIcalynn63

This has been something that I also have been thinking about. I have been teaching for 5 years now. Lunch and being sure to drink lots of water are so hard. Teachers don't have the luxury of bathroom whenever. This past year I have been taking leftovers from my dinner the night before. It seems to work for me. Now my goal is snacking. I want to keep my schedule of eating every three hours. Any one have suggestions for that?

samntha14

Our food service company also services the local county prison. I wouldn't feed it to my dog. I do frozen meals about 2 or three days a week but I'm really picky and stock up when my favorites are on sale. Otherwise, I use cooked chicken breast in a homemade salad, make tuna sandwiches, I also make egg sandwiches I can heat up, I'm boring and redundant . I do take lots of food to work though. I take breakfast, lunch and tons of snacks to work. I take my greek yogurt, my protein bars, quakes, I make ants on a log, crackers or red peppers with hummus, fresh cut fruit etc. I've had my food stolen from the fridge too many times, so I use a cooler bag.

CMB1979

I'm a teacher in South Korea. We eat with the students typically. I'm the only teacher (or student) I've seen who has ever brought a lunch. Of course, we don't have a microwave or fridge so that makes it harder.

On a good note, our lunches are far healthier than American ones I used to eat as a student.

I sometimes take pics of my school lunches:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201080691445213.1073741826.1406292706&type=1&l=185d7662ed

wrightfit2013

I have been teaching for over 20 years. Eat breakfast before you go to work. Don't skip lunch-eat something ( carrot sticks, fruit etc.). Your first year is going to be very stressful. Remember to take time out for yourself-your students will survive.

simply_meggie

Hello Fellow Teacher,
I try to bring leftovers myself as often as I can as I will make large dinners with enough for packable leftovers. You might try preparing a set of homemade meals and freezing them during the weekend. It certainly can help you save time during the week. Sandwiches and finger foods are sometimes your best option as the first year can often be super busy. When that fails, try seeing what options you have in the cafeteria. I typically will not get the most healthy things, I love the mac and cheese and cheese burgers, but I have been able to lose weight while eating the food, so it just depends on how you budget the rest of your calories. Just don't skip lunch though, I learned that the hard way when my metabolism slowed and I gained 30lbs in a month when I could eat normally again. It was terrifying. After starting at a new district the following year, I began to get my weight under control by actually taking the time to eat and hydrate.
I don't snack during class usually, but I find if you come up with a rewarding treat for your students, they don't seem to mind if you snack on something healthy.

cchardy82

I am a picky eater as well so I understand! My post will be choppy because my three year old is "helping" me type LOL.

I will cook chicken and keep it in the fridge for a week. I will store it in a large tupperware container and then in the mornings put it in a smaller container. I put my lettuce (I buy organic romaine, spinach, and arugula) in another container, and also separate my other veggies and dressing. You can find awesome containers for salads and those are worth the purchase. I always lose mine in all of my kid's lunch containers or my husband steals mine LOL. If you have a fridge it will be easy to keep things cold.

If you would rather not have a salad every day, use the chicken on a tortilla or bun as a wrap or sandwich. I also cook lean steak and pork chops as another meat option.

I love peanut butter and treat myself to a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich once or twice a week . They are filling if you add fresh cut up veggies and fruit as a side.

The worst part of Lean Cuisines and other "healthy" frozen meals is the sodium content. They are not good for you and can hurt your weight loss efforts. An occasional one is not going to hurt you but I wouldn't recommend eating them often.

You can play with the pasta and other veggies and meats. You can add any meat to that pasta dish you like and that is a good, filling lunch! You can also add other veggies to change it up.

2013sk

Make your own healthy salads and take them in

Chicken wraps with salad

Whole meal sandwiches etc

sshintaku

I know you asked about lunch, but I remember my first year teaching, I was EXHAUSTED by the time I got home and wouldn't want to cook myself dinner (which of course leads to microwave food, take out, etc). Now, I'll throw something in the crock pot in the morning before I leave (chicken breasts, chili, etc) and I make sure to make a lot of it. I especially like it for cooking proteins, which usually take the longest. Sometimes I buy a whole chicken, throw it in there on a Monday, and have chicken meat for other dishes the rest of the week.

Then, when I get home, dinner takes like 5 minutes to put together, and I usually have something for left overs for lunch the next day.

mrk1185

Hey everyone,

I'm starting my first year of teaching in a month! I don't yet know when my lunch hour will be or how long it will be... but I know I don't want to eat frozen meals every day! I would love to hear all your suggestions. I also plan to look through other posts on the message boards, but I thought I'd start a new thread, too. (The search function on here really stinks.)

I eat a quick snack (banana, apple, almonds, whatever) in passing time between classes, and then do a salad at lunch with some fresh fruit and a hummus/tabouleh wrap. Sometimes I bring leftovers if the school I'm at has a microwave in the teacher's lounge.

I would second the recommendations to do crock pot meals for dinner too! If you make them in large enough batches you can take the left overs for lunch!

samrockrocks

The worst part of Lean Cuisines and other "healthy" frozen meals is the sodium content. They are not good for you and can hurt your weight loss efforts. An occasional one is not going to hurt you but I wouldn't recommend eating them often.

Exactly!! I can handle the mac and cheese Lean Cuisine, but all the rest leave me feeling terrible after lunch! I stopped eating them months ago because if it.

I have to make sure, like everyone has said, to keep HEALTHY snacks around and not candy! When I was subbing, I always managed to find the candy stash and couldn't pass it up. I won't eat it if it isn't around.

SunnyDuckling

You asked about freezing your own meals?

I'll bet a lot of what you cook can be frozen.

- Portion out your food into some form of freezer-safe container (plastic ware, works best). Your container also needs to be microwave safe. Make sure the food has cooled down to room temperature before putting the lid on and placing in the freezer. If you put the lid on when it is warm, you'll end up creating ice particles from the trapped steam.
- I find I like to pre-mix my food when I cam putting it into the container. If for instance, I normally have satay chicken with rice and steamed broccoli side-by-side as a dinner plate, the food freezes & reheats better when it is mixed in.
- in terms of cooking/reheating? Even if you put your frozen food into a fridge overnight, it will still be frozen when it is lunch the next day.
- I find when I am reheating frozen food I set the time for a longer time, but at a lower power. For instance, if above chicken satay would be 3-5 minutes to reheat from fridge, I would increase the time to between 8-10 minutes but at 50-70% power. I find that it heats more evenly then and you're not left with the edges piping hot and the middle still frozen. Perhaps you can start heating it before the lunch bell goes if you have the microwave in your classroom?
- When reheating, it is usually a good idea to open the lid a little or else the steam will pop it open and possibly warp it. You can take the lid off completely and cover with a paper towel.

Foods which generally don't freeze well or shouldn't be frozen?
Potatoes. I have never had any joy come from eating reheated frozen potatoes unless they are in the form of oven fries.
Rice can be tricky, just make sure it is a cold as possible before you freeze it.
Some people might suggest to not freeze foods with cream in them? I dunno, it always works for me, but that might be to do with the premixing I said above.

Whoa! Another long post reply, sorry! I'm in winter at the moment, so that's why I am thinking about meals that can be eaten warm rather than sandwiches/wraps :laugh:

In anycase I hope you find some of it useful!

I'm going to send you a friend request so I can keep up with what you decide works for you!

KidP

Agreed on the Harry Wong book mentioned above. It's great!

As boring as it is, i bring pretty much the exact same thing every day to school. Yogurt, applesauce, figs, carrots, hummus, a piece of hearty bread, and a banana sometimes. . I changed my lunches up substantially after joining this site. I find it's just easier for shopping & nutrition to bring the same junk over and over (and it doesn't bother me to do this). I almost never bring stuff i have to prep or cook in the staff room because microwaves are usually busy and there just isn't time most days to do that.

I avoid frozen entrees, fast food, etc like the plague. Since i mostly substitute, i don't know what kind of kitchen a school may have and don't really use their kitchen facilities much.

Time to go make my lunch now!

I tell the kids up front that if they are hungry & need a snack, they can get one during class time as long as they are polite about it. I explain that i often get hungry & need a snack, so they should be allowed to have one too. This goes a long way with them.

Enjoy your year & remember not to go so hard that you burn out. Make time for yourself every now & again. It's a great job, but people often forget these things.

mom2dzbnwe

I work for a small private school without food service. I take the same thing almost every day: Dannon Light & Fit Greek 2X protein, salad or raw veggies and fruit. I also bring a snack for after work, usually either fruit or a protein bar. I also bring plenty of water. Congrats on your first teaching job!

This could've been my answer! I don't teach anymore, but when I did, I brought my lunch everyday. We had 30 minutes (after dropping off kids at cafeteria, and getting back before their lunch was over it was more like 22 minutes) and I hated waiting for a free microwave.
Oh, and I love South Beach Good to Go bars!!!

bermequeen

I teach and usually the lunch period is 20-30 minutes. It's dependant upon your school or district whether it's a supervised or a free lunch period. Also if you teach younger children you may have to wait in line with them until they are all served. I normally pack my own lunch that way I can keep account of my intake. If you don't like to eat microwave meals...take left overs or do a big cook up once a week.

Foxxyfiercefitness

I've been teaching for 5 years now and I too agree that planning and packing is the key. I work in a small rural district that really didn't have any restaurants. We had a Dairy queen and just got a Subway and we rejoiced. I usually bring sandwich fixings for the week and place them in the fridge or bring whatever I cooked for dinner the day before. My school's cafeteria is OK and I know on Mondays and Thursdays they usually have the healthiest food, as in a baked meat, vegetable and starch ( skip the roll). I also make sure to eat all throughout the day. Last year I could eat breakfast around 7:00am usually while driving to work ( cereal and fruit, or an egg mug via. Hungry Girl recipe). My conference period was around 9:30, so I'd eat my snack then and depending on the day lunch was either at 11:00 or 11:30. Usually around 2:30pm, I was sipping on a homemade protein shake during class and sneaking eating nuts to tide me over until dinner around 5:30.

Great Tip: I started working out in my classroom after school. After all the students left afternoon tutorials, and if there were no meetings, I would cover the one window in my room, pop in a Turbo Fire DVD, and go to town. It was great because I still had the energy to do it and there were no interruptions. Usually when I get home it's full mommy mode to my 2 and 3 year old. I did this M-F the last month of school and I'm planning on doing it all next year. It was the easiest way to get my workout on!




Remember, that first year is tough and you'll be tempted to neglect yourself.. DON'T DO IT! Make sure you take care of you so that you can give your best to your students. Good Luck!!

sarajeanelles

This is my 7th year teaching, I have never had a lunch break or planning period, we simply don't get them. I eat with my kids and if someone has a tantrum or needs to leave the cafeteria (I teach Autistic children) then I don't get to eat during that time. The key is to pre pack something healthy that is ready to go and doesn't have to be heated up, perhaps a salad with a meat, and always have a protein or meal bar on hand just in case. Good luck!

lunachan2013

One of the best things I bought for winter was a mini food warmer made by crock-pot. Enabled me to bring soups and leftovers and never needed to leave the classroom.

http://www.amazon.com/Crock-Pot-SCCPLC200-R-20-Ounce-Lunch-Warmer/dp/B006H5V8US/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1372050344&sr=8-22&keywords=crockpot

I have also seen them at Target.

schaskes

Yay teachers! Good luck with your first year! I always brings own lunch. I plan ahead when I shop for the week, just I have my own children do. I take open face sandwiches, salads with turkey meat, leftovers, and Greek yogurt with go lean cereal. I also make sure to have a few Amy's light and lean meals in the freezer, just in case. I agree with the person who said stay away from the faculty lounge - almost always really high calorie treats!! I also recommend drinking a lot of water! Feel free to friend me if you want a cheerleader and supporter for being healthy AND teaching!

srm1960

I usually do salad prep (chopping veggies or making tuna salad) on Sundays and then just put two handfuls of salad mix with a cup of my pre-cut veggies and lunch meat or tuna salad in a container the night before. Add a piece of fruit and lunch is made. I also keep almonds, and south beach diet protein snack bars in my closet, and cheese sticks and diet soda in the fridge at school. Sometimes I bring a banana or yogurt to eat as a snack.

^^^^^^^^^^^i teach preschool,i eat when my kids are eating.....I switch between low-cal ...low-carb tortilla wrap with a 80 cal tuna pouch, or nonfat Greek yogurt & fruit, then pack snacks in my car on the way to the gym....protein bars...Atkins or fiber one, & 100 cal almond packs....:drinker: :drinker: I keep a case of zero vita-water in my car too....

VanCityFit

I bought a mini fridge and a microwave and put it in my classroom. I also had a bullet there and a desk full of protein powder and all natty peanut butter. I also had a coffee maker, my kids new something was wrong if they didn't smell the strong aroma of coffee in the morning. If you eat what the school has to offer then prepare to gain weight. Your best bet is to steer clear of the break room and cafeteria.