Packable foods?

jillybean0123

Hi everyone!

I work a 12 hour night shift followed immediately by a 48 hour shift at another job. I need to come up with meals I can pack with me so I don't have to eat out or eat pb&j and canned soup for every meal. Both jobs have a refrigerator available but the 48 hour job just has a dorm sized fridge that is shared by 3 other people and there is usually enough room for me to add a can of soda and nothing more so anything that doesn't require freezing would be best. I have a lunchbox that I can keep adding ice to to give me some kind of refrigeration. I'm just tired of sandwiches and cans of soup (and I HATE canned pasta). I usually keep a box of instant oatmeal in my car and make that for breakfast so I really just need lunch and dinner. I have a microwave, water sources and ice available to me but not much else (ah, life in a hospital). Anybody have ideas for things I could cook in advance that would reheat well and could work being kept in a lunchbox?

raylenebrooks

most casserole dishes heat up well maybe if put in a good non leaking container. I love babybell or string cheese, laughing cow on crackers. I am in love with luna bars (peppermint, smores, pretzel honey are my fav so far). I am curious to see more ideas. Oh no sugar added apple sauce 50 cal and stays good. .

lisapisa1

this is where i rant about how i love my crockpot you can pretty much make anything in it and then pack it into tupperware and just microwave when needed. this past weekend we did turkey chili in the crockpot and i divided it into 6 tupperware bowls and had quick and easy meals. I loathe canned soup but homemade chili is just hearty awesomeness.

lisapisa1

I can talk about food all day long lol. you can also cook up scrambled eggs ahead of time and re-heat later. I like using the southwestern egg beaters and adding veggies to it. don't forget fruits and veggies. with a little prep time on grocery day, you can have them prepped and ready to eat all week long.

Kalynx

You could also try freezing leftovers in microwave containers for the second haul of your very long work schedule - so they could act as part of the 'refrigeration' in whatever you keep your food. You might want to consider getting a larger thermal type tote that could hold at least three or four glad containers stored with left over/made yourself meals you prepared on your days off and froze ahead of time to bring to work the following week.

Ange_

I think i pretty much have the same facilities at work as you.
I usually just eat dinner leftovers for lunch. I also don'' really like eating sandwiches and plain salads i get tired of (with one exception below).

If i ate something for dinner that doesn't have left overs my options usually are:

- salad with a microwaved sweet potato cut open with a dollop of natural yoghurt sprinkled with paprika

- grab some veggies out of the fridge (or in my case the garden) and a couple of raw eggs (wrap these with paper towel before putting it all in a plastic container to take to work). Then when it is lunch time chop up the veggies (or if you like you can do this at home before hand), crack the eggs over it and microwave in the container you brought it all in. You'll then have a tasty omlette which looks super gormet but really requires very little preparation before hand, less than a sandwich! It can be pimped up by adding herbs to the veggie mix, grated cheese and or some chopped up salami or chorizo. Very delicious.

- roasted veggie salads. So much more filling than a regular garden salad. At home roast up some cubed roast veggies. Such as sweet potato, carrot, parsnip etc. Radishes roasted are also great. Roast with some garlic and olive oil. Then when they are cold mix through with some baby spinach leaves, some low fat fetta cheese, maybe some fresh cherry tomatoes and something like some pumpkin seeds to give it a bit of crunch. Use the garlic oil from the roast veggie pan as the salad dressing. SO, SO Good.