lunch and dinner ideas for work please,-no fridge or Microwave!

cooking-mama

Hi guys,I work 3 shifts a week from 12.midday to 10pm at night,therefore im having my lunch and dinner at work..at the moment its not a problem as we still have a microwave and fridge,but over the next month or so these are being removed and staff are being expected to use the large but expensive staff canteen,where even a cup of tea costs over £1.and their idea of "healthy options" is consistently baked potatoes and beans...ok now and again but not 3 nights a week.(and not at over £2 a portion)
At the moment i take either leftovers from the day before,,family dinner that ive made that morning in pressure cooker,or if unorganised a low fat type ready meal(usualy a £1 one from Tesco healthy living range),I probably spend around £1.50 a day,but the new proposals would see me spending £5 or £6 a day.:mad:
Trying in advance to get ideas of what i can take that wont need refrigerated or heated up...soup in a flask will be OK for lunch,and ive bought a food flask from Lakeland(£6.99 reduced from £11.99)not tried it yet,hoping it will keep mince etc hot for at least 6hrs.
we will still have free access to very hot(but not boiling water).I think.
PS,Can anyone recommend a realy efficient lightweight cool bag for pasta n mayo...sandwiches etc,(my workplace is very warm...needs to be good quality cool bag)

suseb_99

Hi,

What about couscous? you could cook some veg etc add some dries couscous and keep it in a tupperware container, then when you add the hot water it would cook the couscous and reheat the veg etc at the same time!
You could make lots of variations on this.
Just wondering, do you have access to a toaster? because it's amazing what you can cook in a toaster pocket!!
stuffed pitta, fish fingers and of course toasted sandwiches!

carriebradshaw

if you're going to use a cool bag make sure to get some of those blue re-usable ice packs to go with it, freeze them up and put them in with your sandwiches. I've got a cheapie small cool bag I bought from Woolies years ago & I would use one icepack underneath and one over the top of my lunch and that was good enough to keep it cold and fresh. How many you need will depend on what size bag and how much you're putting in it really, If it's very warm, your coolbag is larger and you've got room, you could add more packs around the sides to be sure

sunfleur

Yes I seem to have a plethora of small cool bags which I do use quite a lot when I go out with my DD. The ones we have have two sections - one that zips underneath (about two thirds of the way down the bag) which you could put small flat icepads from the freezer in and put in a yogurt/choc bar/health bar or something like that and the bigger bit above zips separately from the top and is deeper so you can put in a cool drink and sandwiches/anything else to stay cool and again I put in the small icepacks. Keeps everything cool for a long time. You could also take a cold salad with chicken or meat already cooked and the icepacks really do keep these cold with one above and one on top of the container you put into the little coolbags. They are only the size of a small handbag but you could use two if you want separate lunch/dinner meals in each. With salad DH likes to take the chicken and salad in one container (or you could have cold rice/pasta salads) and he likes to take the dressing in a separate little bottle and add it when he eats the meal otherwise it all goes soggy!

If you have one of the wide-neck flasks you can put virtually anything in them from hot beans (for beans on toast/bread) to stew, soup, spag bol, anything you can make in a slow cooker - I have one of those Stanley ones - also reduced from Lakeland!! Great flasks.

Other things you could make with water are noodles, pasta'n'sauce things, cup-a-soup (if you had something else in your flask).

cooking-mama

Thanks guys,some realy helpfull tips there.
Yes i think we are being allowed to keep the toaster(only getting to keep that because patients have toast too),never thought of toasterbags,our local poundland has them,im gonna get a couple of packs,brilliant idea thanks,I like the cous cous and noodles idea too.
some girls at work have discovered "chill n fill",cool bags,they have a freezable gel lining,the full bag goes in the freezer overnight,then the bag gets filled as normal,im gonna do a search for these later..i think Morrisons were selling them.
thanks again everyone.x

gailey_2

Thats awful how work force you. you dont work for nhs by any chnace as my mates just had water cooler taken away and they dont have hot water have to go to large canteen.

Sounds odd but does taffroom have spare plug as could keep mini travel kettle in work for those pot noodles or pasta pots where you just add noodles.
Even dried couscous in tub with hot water ontop takes 5-10mins then stir in roasted vegetables in small tupperware box.

salad in tub.with quiche or frittatta

flask fab for soups.
take 2 so nice tea and coffee in other.
You can get thermnous cups and tubs that keep food warm worth looking around.hubby loves his pizza cold so maybe leftovers
hard boiled eggs.
pasta or rice salad.

sandwiches
cakes
biscuits
crisps
cereal just take bowl and 1pint milk in.
toasted sandwiches cold

London_Welshcake

Arkonite Babe has a great idea on this thread - all you need at work is a kettle to make a delicious thai style soup with noodles https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/241293#Comment_241293

I tried this when I first found it and it was a revelation!

Apart from all the great ideas for actual meals (cous cous/salad/quiche/soup/pasta etc etc) I can't recommend a good supply of snacks - just in case.