Help! Lunch Ideas Needed.

[ArcticChicken]

I go to school all day, three days a week, and since 1. I don't have any money and,2. it's heathier, I've been packing my lunches.

I am officially out of ideas. So I'm turning to the good people of CS for help.

I'm sick of sandwiches, and salads take up too much room in my bag, but other than that I'm open to just about anything. I have access to a microwave, so I can heat it up, but I only have about 20 minutes to eat, so it can't be anything too....fiddly.

Actually, I'm open to interesting sandwich and salad ideas too. If it sounds good enough I'll figure out a way to wedge it in there.

[Jester]

Chef Salad. For when you can't decide between a sandwich or a salad!
Iranian Salad. A simple lettuce-less salad made of onion, cucumber, tomato, olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper. (The original recipe calls for parsley, but I never bother with it.)
Tuna Salad. Goes great in a large tomato, on a salad, on a sandwich, on a bagel, etc., etc.
Bagel Sandwiches! Rather than just throwing stuff between two pieces of bread. (I love my tuna salad on an onion bagel, for example.)
Pasta Salad. Have a great recipe for it.
Chili. Canned or homemade, good cold or hot.
Soup. See chili.
Stew. See chili.
Roasted Chicken. Most stores sell whole roasted chickens of various flavors. Depending on your appetite, you can bring the whole thing, half of it, or even less. Add a little barbecue sauce (or other sauce you like with chicken), and you have a tasty meal. Hell, if you want, you can roast your own damn chicken.
Caprese Salad. Fresh tomatoes, thickly cut mozzarella cheese, and some balsamic glaze or dressing. Tasty as hell. You can always add stuff to it, too, such as bacon, chicken, etc.
Cottage cheese and fruit. I love cantaloupe with cottage cheese myself.
Granola, fruit, and yogurt cup.
BLT. Great sandwich a lot of people forget about. Plus, you don't have to do it standard. Get a funky bacon. Use spinach instead of lettuce, or perhaps a non-standard lettuce like arugula or endive. Play with different tomatoes. Add stuff to it. Bell peppers? Avocado? Chicken? Use different breads. Croissant? Kaiser? Bagel? Try flavored mayos or aiolis instead of the standard boring normal mayonnaise.
Try different luncheon meats you might not normally eat. I'm a big fan of beef tongue, for example. And while I would never eat it, you might want to try olive loaf. There's also liverwurst, capicola, salami, mortadella, etc. Also try different cheeses. Who says you have to use Swiss, American, or provolone? What about soft goat cheese? Bleu cheese? Gouda?

The possibilities are endless, my friend. Everything above just came off the top of my head....and I wasn't really trying that hard. Good luck!

[Food Lady]

If you have a microwave available, you can pretty much bring anything you'd have for dinner. I highly recommend those covered Pyrex dishes, as I think microwaving in plastic is a bad idea. My usual suspects are enchiladas (sour cream and green onions in a container on the side), chili, cottage pie, pot pies (microwave the filling and keep a prebaked crust wrapped until serving time), soup (usually take a thermos), ravioli, or PB & J (because I really like it). I round it out with yogurt or fruit and cheese, or cookies or some other dessert. I find those Ziploc containers indispensible for cold sides.

[jnd4rusty]

Burritos would be really tasty and portable. You don't have to eat the store bought kind but make your own and freeze. Just make your own taco meat and fill your burrito with that and cheese and just freeze. On the days you decide to take some with you then bring along a little side dish of tomatoes, black olives, sour cream, lettuce or what ever you fancy and put that inside your burrito after you have warmed it up. You could also purchase cans of refried beans (or make your own) if you don't want to eat meat. This could also work with shredded chicken or pork. One pound of hamburger would make a few decent sized burritos. I would recommend using the 10 inch or larger shells.

[hinakiba777]

Croissant wrapped hotdogs with cheese. Make them the night before, or the morning before you leave. They are delicious, and you can choose how many you heat up depending how hungry you are.

I'm a huge fan of cooking something up the night before and then just taking it in Fresh Ware to school and heating it up.

Skillets are really great. Lasagna. Caserole. If you make it ahead and pack it up in single servings, I mean.

You could also get cup-o-soups. Or microwavable pasta.

That's all I can think of right now.

[fireheart]

You could also get cup-o-soups. Or microwavable pasta.

Cup-o-soup is only good if you make it right. The Continental Vegifull are EXCELLENT.

If you don't mind something spicy-I'm not sure if you get it in the US, but Indomie do Mi Goereng in a cup now. Basically it's made like a Maggi Noodle Cup/Bowl, but you can add as much or as little chili and soy sauce as you like.

[Squeaksmyalias]

I hear ya Patiokitty, I'm awful about packing lunches too, so normally what ever day of the week I was in the mood for cooking or thinking a lot is when I would prepack lunch for the rest of the week, even if it was just gathering the lunch meat together and putting it somewhere in the fridge where I would notice it the night before. Otherwise I would forget or go meh I don't want to.

Procrastinators of the world unite! Maybe sometime next week, we can order a pizza, we can decide what kind later, or do we want subs? We will figure that out sometime during the meeting...

[iradney]

Savoury muffins? Those are rather delish.
You could also try mini pitas stuffed with mince, or chicken mayo...or even wraps instead of sandwiches.

[taxguykarl]

If you have a microwave available, you can pretty much bring anything you'd have for dinner.

I bring dinner leftovers for lunch, myself. Yes there is a microwave here. In fact, I cook dinner batches with just that in mind.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yeah, I always make more supper than we will eat so we have leftovers for lunches.

I eat a lot of hard boiled eggs. They travel well, and you can make egg salad with them (which I just had for lunch) Two eggs, Duke's Mayo, and some green olives.

Canned chicken with the same ingredients are good, too.

[ArcticChicken]

Savoury muffins? Those are rather delish.

Savory....muffins? I literally had no idea these existed. Do tell.

ETA: Now I'm imagining bacon, cheddar, onion muffins. Or bacon, cheddar, apple.

[Amusement Gal]

Hummus and veggies are good as a little snack! It's super cheap to make it on your own, too. You can pair it with some whole wheat crackers to fill you up some. Another fun and interesting dish is...I forgot the name, but it's basically a chickpea patty which is then fried. It's not healthy, but it heats up well and it's omnomnom good. I think it's called Fallafa? Something similar to that.

I like chickpeas. Can't you tell?

[iradney]

Savory....muffins? I literally had no idea these existed. Do tell.

ETA: Now I'm imagining bacon, cheddar, onion muffins. Or bacon, cheddar, apple.

They're awesome Spinach and feta make a lovely combo...or you could make a three cheese and bacon muffin. Similar concept as scones, except these rise a little more and keep a little better.

Here is a recipe for a basic savoury muffin. Bacon makes EVERYTHING better. And here's a list. Do with it what you will

[trailerparkmedic]

Put anything you'd put on a sandwich on a tortilla. Put anything you'd put in a salad on a tortilla. Put breakfast food on a tortilla. Put leftover meat on a tortilla. Tortillas are awesome because they are fast and yummy and different than bread. If you get some of the healthier ones, they aren't too terrible for you either.

AmusementGal, you're talking about Falafel. If you make some homemade falafel and bake it, it's actually pretty healthy. Just broil it for a few minutes at the end and it gets crispy.

You can also put falafel on a tortilla.

[Jester]

Hummus and veggies are good as a little snack!

I have been trying a bunch of different store-bought hummuses lately, and a couple of them really stand out. First of all, I despise the brand Athenos. Their hummus was so wretched that when neither of my roommates wanted the rest of it, I pitched it rather than eat any more of it.

Sabra, however, has some yummy varieties that I love, with my two favorites being lemon (amazing!) and jalapeno (rather spicy--you've been warned), though other flavors are really nice too. Hell, experiment--it's fun!

I normally eat my hummus with various pitas (the whole wheat ones are rather tasty, which surprised me), but I think I am going to start doing more veggies. Carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, the list goes on. Some others that you may like but I probably wouldn't: broccoli (like it cooked, or raw in salads, but not as a dipper), cauliflower, radishes, squash, celery (it's an occasional thing for me).

And by the way, how much room do you need for hummus and veggies? The hummus container (or a tupperware container if you make your own) and a ziploc baggie for the veggies. No muss, no fuss!

I like chickpeas. Can't you tell?

Oddly enough, while I like a good hummus, chick peas are not among my favorites. I don't hate them, like, say, olives, but I'm not huge on them either. They come in one of the new salads at work, and frankly, I think the salad's better without them. But hell, the less chick peas I eat, the more for you, right?

Put anything you'd put on a sandwich on a tortilla. Put anything you'd put in a salad on a tortilla.

I like tortillas. But of course, I'm from Arizona, so DUH! But in addition to tortillas, there's pita, flat bread, and several other kinds of bread type stuffs that you can put sandwiches on. (I think I already mentioned bagels and croissants.) Hell, even if you stick with normal breads, try different types. Rye, pumpernickel, wheat, nut berry, Amoroso rolls (where available), kaiser rolls, Cuban bread (where available), onion rolls, etc., etc. Myself, I'm a huge fan of many of these, but especially of Arnold's Jewish Rye. Been eating it since before I remember!