I had previously made 6 extra veggie black bean burgers for quick lunch/dinner grab & nuke meals sitting nicely in the freezer waiting to be used. This worked out really well for a Veggie Taco Salad.
- 1 homemade black bean burger frozen took 2 mins to nuke
- 1.5 cups of shredded lettuce
- 1/4 cup of chow mein noodles in place of chips
- 1/4 cup of croutons
- Green onions
- Red peppers
- 1/4 cup of shredded cheese
- Catalina dressing from home taken to work in a small mason jar
Price for this meal: $6.86 however lots of leftover products to use in other meals
1 black bean burger free from the freezer
$1.00 Chow mein noodles (product leftover)
$1.47 Catalina Salad Dressing (product leftover)
39 cents for green onions (product leftover)
50 cents for red pepper (product leftover)
$1.50 bag of shredded cheese (product leftover)
$1.00 for Head of lettuce (product leftover)
$1.00 for crouton (product leftover)
I created on the fly took less then 30mins to make from start to finish. Just add what you like... but this was mostly to use what was on hand in the house to create a great tasting meal. SO Wing it!!! You'll be FINE!!- 1/2 cup of orzo
- 5 pieces of broccoli diced
- 1 large carrot cleaned/peeled
- 2 Green Onions, diced
- 2 big handfuls of fresh spinach leaves
- 1/4 c. shredded chicken
- 2 tbsp of Asian Garlic Chili Sauce
In a pan of boiling water cook orzo until done 8-10 mins drop in broccoli around 5 mins cook until done. Drain the mixture into strainer, pour back into pan turn heat down to very low, Add in the Asian sauce heat for 1 min to release the flavor of the sauce along w/ all the other ingredients. Serve warm or cold.
Recipe is as follows: This was a quick late evening snack at work.
- 2 good size handfuls of fresh spinach
- 1/4 cup of shredded chicken
- 1/4 cup of chow mein noodles
- 1/4 cup of Asian sesame dressing
- Shredded Cheese
Cost of meals: $2.29 not including sauce price as it was open.
- 1/2 a bag of egg noodles $1.00 per bag so 50 cents
- 1 pound ground turkey on clearance $1.79
- 1 jar open sauce from another meal $1.00 for jar
- 1 loaf of Pillsbury french bread free ($.99 w/$1.00 off coupon)
Yielded 3 meals (1meal to freeze /1 cup of sauce to freeze)
Quick spaghetti sauce w/ ground turkey mixed w/egg noodles and a piece of bread.
Got up at 0830 fried up thawed ground turkey add that to a jar of sauce dd opened the other day dropped that in the crock-pot. Popped Pillsbury french bread into the toaster oven for 30 mins cut the loaf in half for DD & me. Boiled noodles made up then stored food to go..With dinner in hand :O) it was that quick...Less then 1 hour had I been home & did it on the stove top.
This week by really fast & I forgot to post last Sunday lunch/dinner at work.. I made the meatloaf before going to work and pulled the ready made rice out of the freezer. Peas from a can and the BBQ Macaroni came from the store... It just takes a little bit of planning the meat parts..
I woke up this morning a 9 am going crap I forgot to pull meat out of the freezer last night before I went to work for me to cook this morning for dinner tonight. Well I knew I had the ranch & peppers in my frig and I can get 2 slices of pizza a local pizza place down the street from my house for $4.00 including a drink. So on the way out the house I stopped and got 2 slices for the road. Next time I have pizza for lunch it will be homemade on these pita bread :O) I can bake it at 9 am allow it to cool/slice/pack it to go for less $$.. I guess as of late I have been slacking on getting in the mood for food.Must be this damn hot weather here..
Spend 30 mins & cook up 2 pounds of ground turkey and taco seasoning. Then divide it into portions you would use per meal each time you eat tacos. This allowed me to create 10 (1/4 cup portions) for quick grab & go lunches/dinners. Extra prep work also includes bagging shredded cheese & 2 tortillas but for me I have these items on hand it take me less then 5 mins to pour shredded cheese/green onions in a to go cup & drop 2 taco shells in ziploc baggie into my lunch they go. I prefer to use containers over (Ziploc baggies ) as much as possible it costs me ZERO to wash them so I have lots of different sizes & jars containers I use to tote my lunch in.
This was a nice quick meal w/ a packet of BBQ Sauce from a recent outing at work. I saved it just for uses like this :O) The shredded cheese & onions went on my burger.
The other night we had homemade soup I froze 3 containers for quick meals/lunches but what I also found out it keeps those noodles fro expanding in the soup as well sucking up all that nice broth so when I make soups w/ noodles even if I am going to eat it the next day I freeze it to stop the noodles for getting out of control
This should have been posted on Monday but I forgot due to life I even forgot to make dinner this day. My dd was not to happy :O) As usual I got up at 9 am and mixed this recipe up and popped it in the toaster oven & dropped the carrots in my rice cooker/streamer w/ little bit of water then drizzled them w/ honey & butter spray.
This dinner was good even if I only had 10 mins to eat it. I nuked it ate lol only 5 bites & where I work had a emergency issue & I had to take off & return later to eat it was still warm :O) so this container is great.
Before work I fried up 2 Turkey burgers and diced up 8 small potatoes into some herb mix with a little bit of oil to keep it from stick. Baked those in the toaster oven for 1.5 hours in 8 x 8 pan. Split the meal between myself for work and my dd for dinner. I picked up the condiments at a local convenience store in the area of my job where we stop several times a night :O) I keep these little packets on hand for my lunches. Took less then 5 mins to heat the food in the microwave at work and assembly the sandwich.
This was one of my 8 hour shift nights so I decided for a quick meal. I had the lentil chili in the freezer already the size that fits well in this container I just popped in frozen and grabbed some oyster crackers to nibble. I really love the quickness of getting this ready before work this morning maybe 10 mins.
Dang it!! I forgot my camera at home...:O( so no picture of last nights lunch at work but I guess I will have to WOW! you with my description instead. It was a Cheesy Jalapeno Bagel Sandwich w/ Green Onion Cream cheese/slices of cheese and Turkey. Diced into 4 pieces as the bagel bread as very big these are those grocery store bin bagels. I had this with yogurt covered pretzels.
This was dinner Sunday Night I had previously on Saturday made the food all I had to do w/ plate it up before going to work.
This picture was not one of my better ones I was in the main crew room w/ lots of people around trying to take a pic w/ out being noticed :O)First issue I had was my plate get tipped and the beans ended up in the chicken since I forgot my dipping sauce I was kewl w/ BBQ flavored Chicken this was a great dinner.
At 8 am in the morning on Saturday I got up seasoned 4 chicken breasts popped them in my toaster oven for both my lunches and my daughter's dinners since I would yet again be at work during dinner time (I work nights on the weekends) I also grabbed a bag of carrots diced/cooked them up adding brown sugar along w/ some butter before dropping this mix into my food processor. I was able to get 3 containers from the carrots ( which meant I would have enough for 3 meals approx 1 cup each) I will throw one in the freezer for quick meal prep for next weekend... I had the Soy mashed potatoes in the freezer so I just broke a few pieces out of the Ziploc baggie and added that to the tray as well. DD also during this time cooked up 2 ears of fresh corn on the cob so it would be easy to just nuke for lunch/dinner. However I wasn't hungry enough for that so I saved it for tomorrow nights dinner.
I had this last night.. I had weeks ago cooked 6 lbs of chicken breasts and shredded all the meat for quick use meals this was a little I had leftover from a meal I made the other day so I grabbed it from the freezer frozen along w/ the other ingredients I had around the house I had to buy pre-made lettuce in a bag due to all the lettuce here at the local store being nice a brown mushy. I have several Knott's jelly containers & small mason jars I picked up at a Estate sale just for this use. I use what I have on hand and not go shopping for what everyone says should be in a Asian Salad. It was great and quick.
"Whatz 4 Lunch" that is for most people the issue of the day and week. I find at times it can be a challenge for me but I have recently found these creative ways to take my lunch to work With out spending Lots of extra $$ on containers. I use the above containers along with a few other ones which I will be posting along the way.
I have been surfing the net and hitting up that Japanese craze Bento Box Lunches however for me that is TOO much extra work but I loved the ideas of the lunches so this is what I use to transport my homemade meals into work.
