Recipes and meal prep

georgie10195

I work long shifts and sometimes only have a spare 5-10 mins to pop to the staff room, inhale a snack and return back to work.

Looking for food/meal ideas. Something that can be prepared the night before and can preferably be eaten cold.

Current meal choice is a sandwich but I'm trying to reduce carb intake and increase proteins.

nossmf

By "cold" are you referring only to not heating it, or do you have access to a refrigerator? Does your staff room at least have a microwave?

Without a microwave, I'm picturing a variety of salads you can cycle between. Protein can come from grated cheese, hard boiled eggs, canned tuna/chicken, baked chicken cut into thin strips, tofu (if you're into that), seeds and nuts. Not all at once; change up your protein choice each day, maybe with different dressings.

You can also prep chicken wings, and of course protein shakes offer an enormous variety of flavor options.

You can keep doing sandwiches but swap out the normal bread for low-carb pitas, or use large lettuce leaves as the "bread" to hold the contents inside.

And of course, ye old standby for "cold" meals...pizza!

gtegirl2003

My go to when I worked was progresso veg beef soup, sf choc pudding, baggie with 45 goldfish.

mtaratoot

Hummus and sliced vegetables.

Nut butter sandwiches or nut butter and crackers.

Fresh fruit.

Thermos full of hearty soup or grains with vegetables.

Tabbouleh with cucumbers.

Seven-layer-dip in a small container with tortilla chips (make several in advance; they should keep several days)

Veggies in pita -- This was one of my go-to lunches when I worked landscaping, and it would always be my boss who was hungry for lunch before me, and they always stopped at fast-food for sausage biscuit on the way to the worksite. It takes some prep. Thinly sliced cabbage (green, purple, and/or Napa), shredded carrot, cubed cucumber (remove the seeds or use a seedless one if you want to do it in advance), and maybe even some thin sliced onion, radish, and tomato. You can use so many other veggies, and that way it's different each week. Make a healthy tahini dressing. Bring a pita. Open it and fill it with veggies and put the dressing on. It's good. Really good. I miss it.

Your favorite cheese and crackers.

Quick pickle vegetables. My ex would julienne some celery, carrot, radish and cornichon. The vinegar from the cornichon would give a nice spicy flavor to the other vegetables.

Baked marinated tempeh. Pro-tip: steam the tempeh for five minutes or so before marinading. It will soak it up and be delicious. Lemon and garlic are super.

Dolmas.

"Fake meat" sandwiches. My least favorite, but some people love 'em.

Falafel. Just be aware they are better when they are fresh and hot and kind of blah after they're cold in your lunch bag.

BRB. That's bean and rice burrito. Make in advance if you want, but don't put too much liquid in there or you'll be a mess. If you can make some black beans with a lot of flavor and keep 'em in the fridge with some cooked brown rice, you're set. In the morning, mix some beans and rice (and cheese and veggies....) and take that plus a tortilla or two and take 'em to lunch. Then before you get ready to eat, say, "Roll 'em if you got 'em."

Ants on a log. I was never a fan of this. Celery stuffed with peanut butter and raisins on top.

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