To go lunch ideas

amorgenroth

I'm a college student with a wish to save money by bringing my own lunch to school. Often I find myself having a hard time concentrating during points of the day and am wondering what ideas you guys might have for lunches. I have access to a microwave but would rather spend the ten minutes doing homework than waiting in line to use it. Any ideas?

LinnPitt

if you have a small soft cooler you could always pack fresh veggies and fruit or a salad. toss in some cheese and a boiled egg and you could have a fantastic lunch.

ct1986

Salads, Simple Sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, Yogurt, granola bars, goldfish. The options are pretty much endless.

I work long days (14-15 hours or more some days) and we don't actually get lunch breaks and meals are often eaten while multi tasking. When I know I have to work I plan my food out for the next day and have it packed in a lunchbox and stick the whole thing in the fridge then just toss in a cold pack in the morning.

kcdrake

Hello, fellow college student!

I like to make my lunch the night before so I have one less thing to worry about in the morning. Invest in an insulated lunchbox and an ice-pack or two for cool lunches. My favorite is to make a sandwich on bakery-style (GOOD) multigrain bread. I spread a little bit of lite ranch (Naturally Fresh is by far my favorite), turkey slices, fresh spinach, tomatoes, yellow pepper, and cucumber. It is VERY good. You can also take all of the sandwich parts (sans bread) and dice it up to put into a pita or wrap. A point of advice, though, store the filling in a separate plastic container and the pita/wrap in a baggie and construct right before eating. Otherwise your bread gets soggy :sick:.

I'm also a huge fan of tuna on crackers... Or tuna salad, which is just tuna, noodles (I like to use whole-wheat blend pasta), pees, and enough low-fat mayo (or Greek yogurt.... I've done half mayo half yogurt before and it was really good) to hold it all together.

I try to balance out my lunches with a piece of fruit (I've recently discovered "100 calorie" fruit cans which are pretty cool... right by the canned fruits in my grocery store), a bag of veggies (like carrots or celery or something), and something dairy (cheese stick, yogurt, Happy Cow cheese wedges).

Also, if you do want something warm (soup, leftover pasta, chili, etc) get a thermos! I myself need to invest in one since its starting to cool off. You'd need enough time that morning to warm up that part of your lunch, but it would save you line-time in the afternoon when you want to do your homework.

Good luck!

dom300186

I'm taking a bag of all sorts of salad mixed together tomorrow with feta cheese and a yogurt

missslyssa

I love 1tbsp of natural peanut butter on a mutligrain sandwich round. Tomorrow I'll add a pear to that.

I second the idea of a thermos for hot food. I'm not in college anymore, but I spend most of my days on the road. I don't have access to a microwave and get tired of sandwiches and salads. I hate that I'll end up at fast food some days too. Costs way too much, and isn't really food either.
Good luck!

Melissa

amorgenroth

Thank you for all your good ideas... I'm excited to go grocerty shoping now