Food on the Go - Portable Dinner Ideas

Sorry if this kind of topic has been covered, but I'm really at my wits end here!

So atleast 3 days out of the week, I'm at school/work (I work at school :P) from 8:30 am till 7 or 8 ish pm. On those days, I diligently plan out my meals - being sure I hit my calories and get a balanced diet.

I'm starting to run out of ideas! I'm not a pro cook by any means (long story short - my family never cooked and thus, never taught me to cook). I'm self taught (mostly this past summer) and here's what I've been taking the past 2-3 weeks (for dinner):

1. Cooked chicken strips, buckwheat, and cooked vegetables (usually some combination of carrot, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, green pepper and/or radish).

2. Stirfried tofuand cooked vegetables (usually some combination of carrot, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, green pepper and/or radish).

3. Tinned tuna with hummus and celery and radish with buckwheat.

Aaaand, that's about all I've got! Again, I don't have fancy cooking tools OR skillage OR  a lot of time! Easy recipes that CAN be easily transported and warmed up in a microwave (or not warmed up!) would be greatly appreciated (:

Beans travel well.  Here is my vegetarian chili recipe ... it's pretty simple.  You can add some rice or quinoa for more calories and nutrients.  I also make a pretty good lentil salad that's easy (lots of chopping, though).

You can try some fried rice and heat it up on a microwave perhaps? It travels ok in a tupperware I think and you can add whatever you want to it.

I also suggest you looking into bento box type lunches. There are tons of ideas there! Rice with different side dishes everyday.

pictures of bento boxes (of course you can just use normal tupperware too)

http://www.airandangels.com/bentobox/gallery. html

ideas:

http://www.airandangels.com/bentobox/staples. html

http://lunchinabox.net/recipes/

http://www.laptoplunches.com/ideas.html#bored

You can also get those tuna on the go packs which I occasionally eat.

you can also get soup perhaps on the go?

Also some sandwiches with different stuff inside every day with cooked veggies as side dishes?Sorry I'm not much of help I just cook at home and when I can't eat, I just eat a snack and come back and eat. :)

Frozen shrimp are also a great time saver - they thaw out quickly under running water and cook in a snap.  You can steam them and have them in sandwiches/salads or add them to your stir fries.

Also, wraps of all kinds work really well as portable meals.  You can spread them with hummus, pesto, mayo or mustard, nut butters of any type, make them savory (with chicken, tuna, shrimp, beans, veggies), or sweet (peanut butter & jelly; nuts, fruit & honey; nutella & banana; caramel spread & apple).  Lots of options!

As someone else said, salads with beans/nuts/protein work really well as portable meals, too.  I usually do this with leftovers - if I have, say, some rice/quinoa/lentils/beans and chicken/tofu/shrimp leftover, I will chop up some raw veggies and lettuce/baby spinach, top it with the leftover grains/beans & protein, and toss everything together.  I will even add any leftover cooked veggies like green beans, corn, broccoli to it.  Salads like this only require that you toss everything together - I carry the dressing separately, then add it right before eating, toss and I have a nutritious and well-balanced, portable meal.

Good luck with everything!!

This is a good topic because... I am starting to work more at night so I need to bring dinners with me, or else I will spend BILLIONS on sushi every single night! (It doesn't help that next to my office there is... a SUSHI joint!! Actually it is pretty awesome - ha ha)... So yea, lately I've been bringing safety foods that carry well like sardines & mackerel (canned in olive oil) and then pour the contents over some salad fixings (the olive oil = dressing)... it's good but not too satisfying - I miss making dinner in the comfort of my home, I feel like I never get to any more :( Sad Day! ha ha!

Thanks for the ideas everyone. Salads never travel well for me (I hate em soggy...I don't even use dressing!) and I try to limit my sandwiches (I have too many carbs & sodium as it is), but I LOVE the bento box idea! I may not do it for sushi, which I wouldn't even know how to make/have time to make, but they're so cute and convenient! Nicer than my 50 tupperware containers!! Beans sound good too, just soak em for the night and carry the next morning (:

One more idea: stew. Pretty quick to make, warms up in the microwave; not as risky to carry as soup (:

Original Post by izzyy23:

Thanks for the ideas everyone. Salads never travel well for me (I hate em soggy...I don't even use dressing!) and I try to limit my sandwiches (I have too many carbs & sodium as it is), but I LOVE the bento box idea! I may not do it for sushi, which I wouldn't even know how to make/have time to make, but they're so cute and convenient! Nicer than my 50 tupperware containers!! Beans sound good too, just soak em for the night and carry the next morning (:

One more idea: stew. Pretty quick to make, warms up in the microwave; not as risky to carry as soup (:

 

I do bentos. They're stupidly easy to put together, and a lot of fun to make. My favorite bento site is Just Bento: http://justbento.com/

Some of my idiotic bentos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darweidu/3779999 032/