Sick of Sandwiches

[ArcticChicken]

I'm back at school, and between my diet and my budget, I've decided I need to pack my lunches.

Every day I've taken a sandwich. I now hate sandwiches, can anyone make an alternative suggestion for me?

[lupo pazzesco]

Pasta salads, tuna salads on beds of lettuce. Hard boiled eggs with fresh fruits and veggies. Left over stir fry is one I do a lot. I can eat that hot or cold.

You have access to microwaves at school, or not?

[ArcticChicken]

You have access to microwaves at school, or not?

I do, if I want to give up chatting with some of my classmates before class. Which I will do on occasion, but am not willing to do frequently.

[iradney]

You can try pitas, wraps or tramezzinis as well. Stuffed baked potatoes are yummy too

[lupo pazzesco]

I asked because sometimes I'll just bring leftovers from dinner for lunch the next day. Easy, fast, and very little thought required. Also, cans of soup. Nice change from sandwiches, and ready in 2 minutes. Add a salad or couple pieces of fruit and voila. Lunch. I like to cook for the week ahead of time, so I'm not stuck with sandwiches. Just some suggestions.

[ArcticChicken]

Just some suggestions.

I like suggestions. I've decided I'm going to make meatloaf for dinner tomorrow so I can bring leftovers on Tuesday.

When I was looking for ideas online, someone suggested cooking hot dogs and taking them in a thermos full of hot water, packing buns and condiments separately, of course. I'm going to keep an eye out for a good thermos, 'cause a) that sounds tasty and 2) with winter coming I may well want a hot drink some days.

[Food Lady]

I do, if I want to give up chatting with some of my classmates before class. Which I will do on occasion, but am not willing to do frequently.

Microwave it before you go to school. I have a plastic thermos that can be filled and put in the microwave. The whole thing goes in there. Then you put the lid on and the food stays warm for 4 hours. I do this when I have a short shift with only a 15-min break. ETA: My suggestions are soups, pasta, casserole (so it's no longer a neat square in a thermos, but whatever), or pot pie filling with a crust on the side.

[MaggieTheCat]

I second soups, stews, and casseroles on days when you wanna use the microwave.

When my husband and I went to an anime convention this summer, we packed all the food we ate for the weekend so we didn't buy a single thing. Stuff we brought with us included: Homemade jerky, homemade fruit leather (like fruit rollups), fresh fruit, individually wrapped prepared fruit, applesauce (yeah yeah, we eat a lot of fruit), granola bars, hard boiled eggs, chips/crackers and dip (mostly salsa), trail mix, string cheese, yogurt...that's all I can think of right off the top of my head. All of it was either non-perishable or able to stay in a cooler for 12+ hours. You can get a pretty balanced meal out of snack-y type stuff; jerky or hard boiled eggs (protein), chips and salsa (grain and veggie), applesauce or fruit leather (fruit), and yogurt or string cheese or those little cheese cubes you can get near the string cheese (dairy.) I made my own jerky and fruit leather so I was able to control how much salt, sugar, etc. went in them.

[Magpie]

If your only vacuum flask is metal (and therefore can't be microwaved), pre-heat it before you put the food in, by pouring hot water in and letting it heat up the container. I recommend the wide-mouthed ones, both Thermos and Aladdin make them, or else the ones that come with a little spoon that snaps into the lid.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

quesadillas are delicious cold, imo. I don't think hummus has to be refrigerated?
Everyone else has really good ideas...
Eh!

[AccountingDrone]

I get hummus in individual serving pucks at BJs, and the portion size is perfect for a handful of carrot and celery sticks [my absolute favorite snack] and if you add in a piece of fruit, and a bag of pita chips it is a fairly complete minimeal [oddly enough, a very common meal for me =)] I find that these mini pucks of hummus dont really get the chance to go bad between morning and lunch - no mayonnaise, no real ingredients that can go bad in that short a time, and since it is still factory sealed, no chance for microbes to get in. I would have to get my diet log, but it is about 300 calories [mainly because of the hummus and the piece of fruit] If you want more protein, add a hardboiled egg, which also wont go bad if you do not peel it.

Another meal idea would be to make a nice fruit salad, and pack a greek yogurt cup [the ones I like are not fruity or sweetened, and are perfect as dressing poured over the fruit] with a quarter cup of good granola/muslix for crunchies, and some pickles on the side. If you want to get really weird, toss in an umeboshi plum as a digestif/dessert =)

[Magpie]

If you want more protein, add a hardboiled egg, which also wont go bad if you do not peel it.

Another good way to up the protein for that is to have some grain. You use the protein from the hummus much more efficiently. (And as far as I know, it's total protein that you need to be careful of. So if you can complete the proteins you eat you ought to, because if you have enough low quality protein to satisfy your protein requirements, you might already be eating enough protein to start giving your digestive system trouble.)

[AccountingDrone]

Another good way to up the protein for that is to have some grain. You use the protein from the hummus much more efficiently. (And as far as I know, it's total protein that you need to be careful of. So if you can complete the proteins you eat you ought to, because if you have enough low quality protein to satisfy your protein requirements, you might already be eating enough protein to start giving your digestive system trouble.)

Pita chips are the grain in the combo =)
Although my co-op carries Humbles, which are chips made out of hummus, the garlic and olive oil ones are crack in a package. i wish hey would come out with a 100 cal pack of them because I could seriously sit and eat the whole bag

[blas]

I can't offer much for advice because I don't cook or pack anything due to lack of free time, but I can offer my sympathy. While I'm a sucker for Jimmy Johns subs, I'm sick and tired of sandwiches at work. It's all you can really have, save for junk food. It gets so old.

[Solumina]

Fruit and cheese help me get through most days, then again I don't really have time to sit down for lunch at work, I eat at the rec desk and have to be able to put down my food and help guests.