pasta salad

Primrose

I find the problem with pasta mixed with other ingredients for packed lunch is that the pasta can tend to go soggy and rather unpalatable and have found that beans seem to combine with lots of other things without this problem. Chopped white coleslaw cabbage, grated carrot, sultanas, nuts, cherry tomatoes as well as tuna or cold chiken mixed in with butter beans, red kidney beans or mixed beans goes very well and adds a little moisture without making the beans go soggy.

Psykicpup

We chop salady bits (not lettuce) like cucumber, cherry tomatoes, apple, spring onion even beetroot & mix with lots of salad cream or mayonaise - into a big bowl of cold pasta - we can then add cheese, tuna, chicken,ham etc depending on what we fancy that day - a big bowl in the fridge will last a week as long as everything was nice & fresh to start with.
I would say tho that it needs a lot more salad cream or whatever than you think it might or it can dry out

debbiedebt

I use wholemeal pasta and stir in some tesco value red pesto while it is still warm. It seems to retain the flavour and then in the morning chop up some cherry tomatoes and add a bit of grated cheese.

My DD takes hot pasta with baked beans and cheese in a food container that I bought in Wilkinsons. You put cooked pasta and beans in it and microwave the container for 2 minutes and it keeps it all warm until lunchtime.

Sometimes we have rice or couscous instead of the pasta. Like you I get really fed up with bread everyday.

mamamia

My DC have pasta in their lunch box. I cook the pasta and make a tuna sauce to go on it.

To make the tuna sauce, heat 20mls of olive oil, add a small size chopped onions, add 150g of chopped tomatoes, leave it to sizzle, then finally add tinned tuna steaks. I always make this fresh in the morning and it takes less than 20 minutes to cook the pasta and make this sauce. My DC are always asking me if they can have this in their lunch box every time.

Bongedone

Mushroom, bacon and pesto go well together with pasta.

Pink.

Hi Jo,

This is a favourite lunch that my children take to school:

Fry chopped onion, garlic and green or red pepper in a little olive oil. Then add baby tomatoes and tinned sweetcorn. Finally add black pepper and your choice of herbs for extra flavour.

Cook the pasta - I usually use fusilli (the twisty one)

Drain pasta and mix in other ingredients and some tinned tuna or cooked chicken.

Serve either hot or cold....if having it cold you can add mayonaise too.

There are lots more ideas on this older thread:

Pasta Salad

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep all the suggestions together.


Pink

spaghetti_monster

Hi there!
Good to read ideas for packed lunches without bread...
I sometimes take a box packed with left-overs, or make up a salad to take.

One thing that seems to work to prevent sogginess -if the box is quite tightly packed with food, then I put things in chunks (ie.don't mix before)

The other day I had leftover rice (don't worry, only from night before!), grated carrot, HM veg curry - packed tightly in without mixing - and they stayed pretty separate (until I ate them! ha!)

Another thing I do is make a salad (current fave is baby spinach, blue cheese, walnuts, chopped peppers) and take the dressing in a separate small jar. This is really no extra trouble and tastes much better (less soggy!)

thriftmonster

If I make pasta salad I dress it with vinaigrette whilst it is still hot. Add onion at the same time if using. Then when cool, add any other ingredients. My kids and dh like tuna and sweetcorn or apple and grated cheese. The kids also like a Marie Rose dressing of reduced fat mayo, yoghurt and ketchup with chicken, peas and cucumber.

They also take hot pasta in a flask - whilst the pasta is cooking in the morning, fill thge flask with boiling water to preheat. They love pesto or tomato sauce on this and I give them some grated cheese separately for it.

sammiboo

When I take pasta in to work I use wholewheat pasta, Chop up some onion, add it to a pan then add pasta sauce and cherry toms, let it cool and then put into tupperware box. It doesnt go stodgy and is really nice.

Also as something different i make cous cous and add juice off a lemon. thats really tasty too

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

When I take pasta to work I cook it as normal then tip it into a dish a give it a spray of that one cal low fat cooking spray. This seems to stop it lumping together and keeps it from going hard.

I then layer the pasta with whatever I have in the house starting with salad leaves, chopped cucumber and tomato, onion, sweetcorn etc, then I put the pasta on top, followed by the protein. I sometimes use prawns mixed with seafood sauce, chopped boiled egg mixed with mayo, or chicken mixed with mayo. Layering it seems to stop everything getting sloppy, and it stays fresh.