Question for foodies + injokes + awesomness

[trinityofone]

The only cheap place to eat near my new job is McDonald's, and having eaten there today, I can now say with certainty that I NEVER WANT TO DO SO AGAIN. So I turn to you, wise flist: can you give me suggestions for cheap, easy lunches I can make and/or bring? The office has a small fridge and a microwave, and nothing else, and I lack both time and culinary skill. But there has to be something besides bad turkey sandwiches (minus the "bad," my dad's suggestion) or yogurt (my mom's). Help?

And now, for a random PSA/in joke:


By the magnificent dar_jeeling

*winks at of_evangeline*

(Go here if you want to read the whole sorry story. *g*)

Finally, some links of awesome (most of which you have probably seen, but hey, I want a record):

+By charlidos: Joe Flanigan's Hair Picspam.

+By _inbetween_: David Hewlett Picspam (Scanners II and Desire and Hell at the Sunset Motel, including some of her trademark fabulous animations).

+And the glorious, glorious promo ads featuring Rodney in an elevator and John giving a lesson at pool: go here, then click the links on the right.

ETA: Even better, isiscolo pointed out that you can download both promos here. Yays!

My love, it is vast. Oh yes.

Comments

[setissma.livejournal.com]

I have a secret addiction to frozen bean and cheese burritoes, but I suspect that is totally not what you're after, so, um, what about buying some prepackaged salad mix and a tupperware container and making yourself up some cool salads the night before? You could probably get some little packets of salad dressing, or keep a bottle at work.

If you are not a salad person, I reccomend these little thai ramen thingies that can be found in the asian fusion section. They're 89 cents and oh my god, amazing.

[setissma.livejournal.com]

http://www.thaikitchen.com/ I found the website!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

It does exist! Thank you!

[setissma.livejournal.com]

It's some sort of miracle. I feel this ramen might be the second coming of Christ.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

The salad thing is a good idea as I love salads; I just worry about not getting enough protein. Maybe I should stock up on some Trader Joe's Just Chicken?

And wait...there's ramen that actually tastes good? OMG! Did the devil just go buy ice skates or what?

[setissma.livejournal.com]

You could definitely put some beans in! Or tofu! Or little chicken bits! Or bacon! Or jesus, whatever the hell you want.

IT IS AMAZING. It's not like - they're like clear, amazing ramen noodles!

[30toseoul.livejournal.com]

If you like spicy? Korean brand called Nong Shim is my favoritest spicy rameon in the world, and it's usually stocked in any decent-sized Asian food store in the States.

[enname.livejournal.com]

AHahahahh... guess what I just had for dinner. Nong Shim is the bestest ever, anywhere.

[of-evangeline.livejournal.com]

SHE WILL FOREVER LIVE ON IN MY HEART.

*weeps with glee*

Of course she's purple.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I should add a note to my userinfo: MOSTLY THIS JOURNAL IS ABOUT LESBIAN HORSES.

[of-evangeline.livejournal.com]

Underneath that banner. And don't have an explanation anywhere near it. Purple lesbian horses and the pictorial evidence is all they need.

{I can't think of anything useful, foodwise - ahaha, as if I'm useful at this hour in any other way - because I rarely eat at work. And my shifts are until 11:30pm. I sometimes bring fruit? But omg I've been craving lunchables lately because I am TEN and you should totally do it so I can live vicariously through you. ♥}

[bluebrocade.livejournal.com]

There's always frozen dinners, but I can't stand those. So, I have a food drawer at work full of Campbell's Select soups and chilis, the lunch style that you can pop in the microwave. The Italian Style Wedding Soup flavor is so *so* good. I also have packages of Del Monte fruit cups and applesauce. It's good for when I don't want to or can't go out.

[bluebrocade.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Trader Joe's has some great frozen stuff. I *love* their enchiladas.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Trader Joe's is one of the best things ever, isn't it? I was just contemplating their Just Chicken--yummy protein! (I especially like the teriyaki flavor.) I'll give the enchiladas a try!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

*nods* I think it'd be really smart to stock up on that sort of thing. Especially when I actually get my own office (I'm borrowing at the moment) so I can really store them.

Thanks for the recs!

[amireal.livejournal.com]

Salads are good. Esp if you can find a way to add chicken.

Check out the frozen and/prefab foods in yoyur local grocery. See if there's something cheap. Like veggie burgers. Boccca sells stuff that's pretty good.

Then there's sammiches.

I've got a great pumpkin muffin recipie that's healthy and YUMMY dessert. Stuff like that is good where you can make a whole large batch and freeze it and then snag one a day to add a yummy dessert/or snack. Next time we speak I can give more suggestions.

[cynicatlantis.livejournal.com]

Fried rice is good - it freezes, and depending on the recipe can even taste pretty good cold.

There's always soup, and if you pass by a bakery on the way to work and pick up a bread roll, it's even better.

Man, I'm lousy when it comes to coming up with pack lunches, that's all I got.

[ferret-kitty.livejournal.com]

My lunch of choice is plain and simple: Peanut butter and jelly (on wheat), a couple of carrot sticks, an apple if I have one, and a beverage. I usually go with lemon water, but everyone has their preferences. ^_^ Sometimes I add a yogurt, or one of those organic smoothie things, 'cause they're good and full of protein. It doesn't sound like much, but it fills me up pretty nicely. And if you're worried about the bread getting soggy from the jam, I butter the jam side of the sandwich and never have any problems. Of course, I have an unhealthy love of butter, so... ::shrugs::

If you're looking for something warm, I sometimes take a tortilla with refried beans (mmm... protein!), (brown) rice (very easy to cook, if you want a suggestion, let me konw. Rice packages lie to you about cooking times), and cheese with me and heat it up in the microwave when I get there. Everything can be cold when you put it together (I usually do it the night before) and it becomes warm and wonderful in the microwave. Sometimes I find that hot food fills me up better than cold. I don't know why.

And if you can find fruit leather at Trader Joe's, and don't already know what it is, for the love of little green apples, buy some and try it, for it is amazing. It makes a perfect desert, and doesn't cost *much* when bought in boxes.

The videos and other links were incredible. Thank you for that.

I hope this helped!

[fic-kitty.livejournal.com]

Spaghetti has always been my leftover of choice. Boil some pasta, get the cheap-ass premade sauce, and you're good for a week of lunches. Another good one is cooking up a whole bunch of chicken breasts, just buy 'em wholesale at sam's club or something, and then you can use them for all *sorts* of shit. Put 'em in the pasta, salads, on a sandwich, with rice pilaf... the possibilities are endless :P Buy in bulk and cook in advance, that's about the whole of my advice, I suppose ^_^

[abbylee]

I'm just dittoing the cook in advance advice. It takes about the same amount of time to make a week's worth of lunch as it does to make a day's, especially if it's all the same main course.

I used to cut up the whole bag of carrots and celery when I got home, because then it was easy to grab and assemble into a lunch. I'd just put all the cut veggies into a container with cold water and grab from there.

If you spend one day a week, especially if you can double it up with dinner prep, you can easily throw together a yummy and filling lunch in about 1 minute from foods you already have in the fridge/freezer.

[abbylee]

Off the top of my head....

I like salads without the lettuce. (Or with spinach.) Like veggies and dip (except I don't like dip.) This week I just brough a bag of raddish and a cucumber to work and I've been cutting them up.

Cheese and crackers. My favourite is cheese and melba toast with salsa. On days when I'm craving something salty, I like rice crackers.

Tofu To Go. Flavoured tofu with sauce packages. I usually freeze them and they're defrostedish by lunch.

(Canned) veggie chili, some cheese, and some tortilla shells - make your own burritos. (Freeze them and grab as necessary.)

Pasta, (drained canned) black beans, salsa - your own awesome cold pasta salad. Better than it sounds, if you can figure out the right salsa brand.

I actually do like yogurt, but I find it best if I freeze it, and at lunch time I add fruit and/or something crunchy. Granola is probably your best bet, but I actually like bran buds.

Rice and beans. Or rice and beans with vegetables. Or rice with vegetables. Or leftover chicken or other meat. Make two cups of rice, add your other ingredients, and then divvy it up into a bunch of containers to keep in the freezer.

In case you haven't noticed that I like things partly frozen (part of it is left over from when I didn't have a fridge to put things in) another favourite is freezing chocolate milk. If you make up a bottle the night before, then it's usually defrosted to perfect slushy consistency by midmorning.

Pita pizza. Pita bread, tomato sauce, toppings, cheese. For the least mess, assemble at work. Alternatively, pizza burrito - same thing but with a tortilla shell, then roll it up to eat it without too much mess.

I don't like it, but hummus is filling and easy.

I keep peanut butter at work - I personally like the 100& natural stuff that's peanuts and nothing else, it doesn't spread as well but it tastes the best. If you like pb, keep it and some crackers for an afternoon snack instead of hitting the vending machine or whatever.

[shoemaster.livejournal.com]

My mom likes to get frozen enchiladas at Trader Joe's and bring them into work and nuke them for lunch. And little Stouffers Lasagnas.

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

do you like rice? because it's almost too easy to cook rice using a microwave (takes about 15-20 minutes depending on its power, though cooking it with vegetable broth instead of salt water makes it tastier imo), and you can add vegetables all you like for the last five minutes so they'll still be crunchy and, you know, contain at least a few vitamins. and then just spice the whole thing up with some ready-mix herbs. or add a little butter or something. :)

[kiezh.livejournal.com]

Do you like cheese? You can get bags of individually wrapped cheese sticks/slices, which make excellent portable protein. (Or slice up some cheese yourself, if you're not lazy like me.) Eat with crackers, or apples, or whatever you think goes well with cheese.

Hit a deli and stock up on sandwich meats, if there are sandwich meats you like.

I carry cheese sticks and granola bars everywhere I go (including work), since I get lightheaded and dizzy if I don't eat for a few hours. (Let's hear it for hypoglycemia...)

[siria]

But there has to be something besides bad turkey sandwiches

John Sheppard is kind of affronted, would like you to know that there is no such thing as a bad turkey sandwich.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

...A morally ambiguous turkey sandwich?

[siria]

I think John considers anything which can be blessed with the name of turkey sammich to be kind of sacred.

[lil-nibbler.livejournal.com]

May I suggest tuna pasta salad. It really is the easiest thing to make: boil the pasta (this can all be done the night before and will last a coupla days) and let it cool. add a can of tuna, some mayo, and anything else you want and mix it all up. I usually put in some red onion, pepers and some cubes of cheese. It's really filling and cheap to make.

[randomchris.livejournal.com]

Pasta bake! Make it the night before, take the rest of it in for lunch.

(saute onions, peppers, chicken or Quorn, GARLIC, whatever other veg you've got, add some tinned tomatoes and herbs, stir in cooked pasta, top with cheese and bake until the cheese is browned).

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

I tend to bring a lot of "left over dinner" for lunch the next day. When I make dinner, I try to make enough so that I can have it for lunch next day.

I also do a lot of sandwiches, but I dress them up a bit. For example, with turkey, I put sliced cucumber on it for crunch and fun.

[wychwood]

I have pasta salad all the time.

Risotto is also good, if you have a microwave; make a big batch, freeze portions, then zap them at lunch time. Even if it's leftovers in the fridge, risotto usually tastes good for two or three days, and you can put anything you want in it, really.

[elbomac.livejournal.com]

I have been eating grilled chicken caesar salad two meals a day for about the past 10 days. It is the only thing I feel like eating when it's this hot and humid. A couple heads of romaine lettuce, some grilled chicken (I debone and grill skinless breasts, which is heaper than buying cutlets) and a caesar salad "kit" - croutons, grated cheese and dressing. It's awesome.

[pentapus.livejournal.com]

Completely off topic, but if you found that picture of the horse (which I blinked at since it's the same one I used for a tshirt I painted several months ago) through google images the same way I did, than it amuses to me to note that it would have come from a christian website linking to that picture as part of Revelations, specifically one of the four horses of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. But maybe it came from somewhere else! Even so, I laugh.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

*snort* That's awesome! I'll have to ask dar_jeeling, make sure there's not a man coming 'round...riding Clover.

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

But maybe it came from somewhere else!
No, it didn't! It is indeed from here (http://www.eborg3.com/Graphics/Bible/66-Revelation/0-Rev06.htm).

[lordelessar.livejournal.com]

I made a big pot of penne ala vodka for Nicole last weekend and brought a microwaveable container of it for lunch twice this week. Another good thing is a can of soup + bowl + cover so it doesn't splatter over the microwave (though this isn't as good during the summer). Also, just about any dinner leftovers work.

I also do the sandwhich thing, but then I notice people around the office with "adult" food and I feel like a kid with my sandwhich, apple, some cooking, and a drink in a brown bag.

[randomeliza.livejournal.com]

Hee! I love Rodney. His little "I love me" is just too adorable. So do we all, McKay. So do we all.

And I won't even mention John's little "Now go get the girl" thing. You're not convincing anyone, Shep. Srsly.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Well, he's telling that guy to go get the girl. He's not personally interested himself. He's waiting for Rodney to come out of the elevator and then they're going to meet up and have sex.

...Oh, God. Why do I want to write that now?

[cetpar.livejournal.com]

can you give me suggestions for cheap, easy lunches I can make and/or bring?

I do lots of dinner leftovers for lunch, as well as the common ramen noodles, frozen dinners, and canned soups. But some other things I like:

Wrap sandwiches: your favorite deli meat, veggies, cheese, condiments rolled into a tortilla. Cheap, easy, and you can get pretty inventive.

My favorites are: 1) deli turkey, slices of avocado tossed with a touch of ranch dressing, chopped tomato, and lettuce or alfalfa sprouts wrapped in a tortilla. 2) leftover chicken (Or bought pre-cooked chicken strips), romaine lettuce, and ceasar salad dressing for a chicken ceasar salad wrap. 3) or store bought pesto on turkey or chicken.

Pasta salad: Bowtie pasta, chopped tomatoes, feta cheese tossed with a little vinagrette or pesto and some parmasan cheese. Sometimes I add marinated artichoke hearts. Yummy and quick.

Black beans and rice. Easy to make and doesn't spoil.