Help With What To Eat For Lunches

[runnerjen]

Hi everyone,

I've been gluten-free for about 3 weeks now. I think things are going well, except I'm having some issues with what I can bring for lunch when I'm at work. I started out bringing Amy's frozen meals, but they aren't the most healthy things, and I want to try and stay away from them. So the last 2 weeks I've been eating salads. But I swear, if I see another salad, I'm going to be sick!

Any ideas on what to bring? I'm really bad about eating leftovers, unless they don't contain any meats. We do have a fridge and a microwave at work, so I can cook stuff.

Thanks!!

jen

[kbtoyssni]

There was a thread in the kids section about what to take for school lunches that had tons of good ideas: Open Original Shared Link

Having access to a microwave makes things much easier. What types of things did you used to bring for lunch (or used to buy for lunch)? Maybe we can give you some suggestions for modifying your old lunches to make them gluten-free.

[Corkdarrr]

Thai Kitchen has some good gluten-free stuff that just needs water and a microwave. Also not the healthiest stuff, but it's nice for adding variety. You can even order it online in bulk (I like the Mushroom Noodle Bowls!)

I also hate leftovers, but I've found spaghetti, chili and soups reheat really well. (Make sure the pasta and sauce are mixed before you refrigerate it). I've recently been making a big pot of soup or chili and then just eating the leftovers for the next few days. Those are pretty much the only things I will eat reheated...I think I had too many leftovers when I was a kid!

Courtney

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

This week, I bought a big package of Delimex Chicken Tacos and some Pace Picante salsa.

Next week, I will make homemade chicken salad.

The next week, will be Thai Kitchen Noodle Bowls and Turkey gluten-free sandwiches.

[dionnek]

today - Trader Joe's frozen black bean enchilada and an apple; tomorrow - smoked salmon with cream cheese and capers on gluten-free crackers; Friday - stuffed sweet potato that I made a few weekends ago and froze.

I eat a lot of corn tortillas with various fillings - hummus and tuna; avocado and other veggies; black beans/refried beans and cheese and salsa; turkey with whatever; salmon and cream cheese and capers (again).

[Looking for answers]

I always make a lot at dinner so I have a few days of leftovers to take to work, soemthing like goulash that I make with ground turkey, kidney beans, spaghetti sauce and a cup of gluten-free noodles or rice. It's yummy and reheats easily. We also make 13 bean soup and will eat it for lunch for a few days. You could also make sandwhiches out of gluten-free bread (I like mine open face because gluten-free seems to be too dense). Lentils and rice is another option. I do eat a lot of salads but I create variety with different salad dressings and toppings.

[runnerjen]

Thanks for all of the suggestions!! I do have some of the Thai Kitchen noodle bowls, so I guess I could take those with me.

I used to eat a lot of burritos, which I suppose I could make just rice, beans, cheese, avocados and leave out the tortilla (or at a corn one). I also used to eat a lot of the frozen Lean Cuisines because of the convenience.

We also ordered a toaster oven at work, so that should help too, though it will be shared with people who are not gluten free.

jen

[Phyllis28]

Below is my list of standby lunches when I don't have any leftovers:

Tuna, Cheese, heated in the microwave on corn tortillas, rice cake or gluten free bread

Pacific Foods soup or chili, add rice cakes, chips or rice (www.pacificfoods.com), check their website for gluten free products,

Peanutbutter and jelly on rice cake or gluten free bread

Ian's Gluten Free frozen fish sticks (these are hard to find). Ian's also makes a gluten-free frozen chicken nuggets, but I don't like them.

Any gluten free deli lunch meat on rice cake or gluten free bread, cheese and tomato. Cold or heated.

Add a drink, raw vegetables, fruit and/or a gluten free dessert (I like yogurt or kozy shack pudding)

I try to keep the fixings for these meals in the house. They also make a quick and easy meal at anytime of the day.

[Guest cassidy]

I make a big batch of something over the weekend and freeze it in individual portions. I have made veggie lasagna and a mexican lasagna with corn tortillas, rice & beans. I have also done mac & cheese.

Another good idea is making a bunch of veggies in the crock pot. I've made those with v8 or pacific beef broth. I put those in little baggies so I can have them as a side dish. This way I can have my mac & cheese and still get some veggies.

What did you eat for lunch before going gluten-free? I have found that I do best by re-creating whatever I used to like. I never liked sandwiches so there is no way that a gluten-free sandwich would sound good to me. I have always loved pasta (Tinkyada is the best) so it was very helpful when I found good pasta.

[Saz]

A salad of grated carrot, chesse and shallots, I'm really into this at the moment.

Cornchips with cream cheese and gluten-free salsa, you could also grate cheese over it.

Fruit salad.

Chesse and some rice crackers

You could make a quiche or savoury slice, some of them actaully taste good cold.

Also, if variety is a problem try to keep things that are only for lunch at work, I don't eat a lot of salad at home as this is a good option when I'm out and therefore I don't get bored with it.

[mamatide]

Don't know if you can get President's Choice frozen meals, but their indian Butter Chicken frozen meal is gluten free. It runs around $2.99 in the frozen section of Loblaw's and SuperStores.

Just poke the plastic over the chicken sauce and microwave on high for 5min.

Otherwise leftovers are always a good idea. We also buy St. Hubert's chicken rice soup and some of the Campbells soups in a box are good.

mamatide

[kbabe1968]

What's up with Amy's? I thought they WERE healthy? NO?

I have the luxury of being a SAHM, BUT....catching lunch is hard for me now too. I used to eat whatever was left on the kids plates (don't laugh it's true!).

I've only been gluten-free for 4 days, but have been investigating longer.

Hormel Pepperoni is gluten free.

I found brown rice flour tortillas by Good for Life (?), they are good too. Since you used to do burritos a lot, make up a bunch and freeze them.

Turkey salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad.

My lunch yesterday was egg salad on a rice cake and salad. I thought it was going to be gross going into it, BUT it turned out to be REALLY yummy. I got the Lundberg Brown Rice Cakes. They're actually quite tasty for cardboard .

GOOD LUCK!

[GFinVA]

Hi Jen - I frequently eat Healthy Choice Country Vegetable soup for lunch with a half a bagel or some crackers. I believe the Chicken and Rice and Pot Roast varieties are also gluten-free but don't quote me on that. They all come in the micowaveable containers and and pretty filling. All of the Healthy Choice items are labeled with the common allergens in bold print at the end of the ingredient list so they're easy to identify as gluten-free or not.

Good luck!

[tarnalberry]

leftovers really are my favorite way of doing a healthy lunch - when combined with fruit and raw veggies, in particular. I will cook my dinners with lunch leftovers in mind, so you might consider, for a couple meals, having something without meat that you can take with you for lunch - like a quinoa pilaf, soup, or veggie chili, or the like. another thing that I'd make is non-lettuce based salads: bean salad, shrimp and avocado salad, chicken salad, etc. they store well and have all your veggies/carbs/meat/fat combined into one container.

[Susanna]

For lunch, here's what I like:

Dinty Moore Beef Stew or Chicken and Rice

Cottage cheese with cherry tomatoes on top, and a little black pepper on top too

Rice cakes with peanut butter and raisins. (also good on rice cakes: cashew butter, almond butter, tahini)

Cottage cheese with blueberry yogurt mixed in

Leftovers from last night

Zone Bar and a piece of fruit (these varieties of Zone Bars are gluten-free: Fudge Graham, Chocolate Coconut Crunch, Chocolate Almond Raisin)

gluten-free crackers, salami, cheese and a piece of fruit.

Dehydrated instant split pea soup (or lentil) in a cardboard cup from the health food store.

Salads, fruit, string cheese, trail mix, almonds

Tortilla chips dipped into cottage cheese mixed with salsa

...and a wee little piece of chocolate (duh).

Susanna

[dlp252]

I know you said you don't like leftovers with meat, but what I do on Saturday or Sundays, is cook a whole bunch of chicken or other meat, then freeze it in individual portions along with some veggies. I have one in my freezer for each work day of that week. Then the evening before I put the container into the refrigerator to defrost slightly. I used the microwave at work to heat it up.

Today I had ground beef with a "california blend" of veggies: carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.

[kbtoyssni]

Thanks for all of the suggestions!! I do have some of the Thai Kitchen noodle bowls, so I guess I could take those with me.

I used to eat a lot of burritos, which I suppose I could make just rice, beans, cheese, avocados and leave out the tortilla (or at a corn one). I also used to eat a lot of the frozen Lean Cuisines because of the convenience.

We also ordered a toaster oven at work, so that should help too, though it will be shared with people who are not gluten free.

jen

You could get some of these toaster bags: Open Original Shared Link .com/The-Pampered-Chef-21...p;s=home-garden

They work great if you want to use a contaminated toaster to toast something.

[olalisa]

To add to your "easy stuff" list, try the Lean Cuisine glazed chicken with rice. I think that's the only one that's gluten free, but I do eat it sometimes when I'm in a pinch. It's pretty good. That plus a piece of fruit or a yoplait yogurt fills me up pretty well.

Enjoy!

[jazminecat]

Any ideas on what to bring? I'm really bad about eating leftovers, unless they don't contain any meats. We do have a fridge and a microwave at work, so I can cook stuff.

I bring my lunch too, and in the beginning, it was really challenging as I'm a vegetarian and can't eat dairy either. Now, I usually bring a banana, some almonds I roast at home with WF tamari, some cooked short grain brown rice, and some fresh chopped veggies in a bag to steam. I just add a little water to the bag and microwave them for a minute, and then have them over the rice. I keep a bottle of Organicville Salad dressing in the fridge here to use as a sauce - the sesame goddess and the sesame tamari both make yummy sauces and are good hot. I also roast mixed veggies and bring those to reheat - beets, carrots, garlic, and potatoes with a little olive oil and sea salt. I do celery and peanut butter for a high protein snack, or add some canned beans to my rice and veggies. It took me a few weeks to get used to the taste of brown rice, but now I crave it and it's so healthy that I can't give it up. I also found Bumble Bars to be a wonderful afternoon snack without having a lot of processed crap in them.

I also make a lot of my own soups and freeze them, and then bring that to work with a little salad on the side. I had to get creative with my salads or they would be boring. Try adding shredded beets, roasted sunflower seeds, cashews, or fresh mushrooms for something different. I try to eat what's in season, and I look for recipes on the internet for veggies that I've never tried before. Celeriac cooked with potatoes and mashed up together is amazing, and a decadent lunch the next day, althoug all that starch can make me sleepy :-)

Hope this helps!

[larry mac]

Hi Jen,

Working on my third week myself. Just found this forum last night; this is my first post. The subject is sandwiches.

I tried several store bought gluten-free breads and found them pretty awful (better than nothing, but not good). Too dense for good sandwiches, needed heating just to be edible, yet resisted toasting well. Started making my own, much better, but still needs heating and doesn't toast right. Then I discovered something completely by accident.

I tried baking a loaf of bread free-form, on a cookie sheet. I mixed the batter, poured it out onto the sheet and pressed it into an oval, rectangular shape using my fingers and some melted butter. Well, it did rise some but it also spread out quite a bit and fell back. I think what happened was I forgot to add the Zanthan Gum and so it couldn't hold it's shape. I hope I can recreate it.

At first I didn't know what to do with it. I thought this would be pretty good as Focacha bread if it had herbs in it. Almost threw it out. Then I decided to cut it into sandwich size rectangles and slice each one lenghtwise. It makes incredible toasted sandwiches. You see, each piece has crust, top & bottom, that toasts beautifully.

I just make a sandwich, and put it in the toaster oven for a couple minutes. I have a Krupps convection oven with three quartz tubes on the top and three on the bottom, so I can put it directly on the rack and toast it without turning it over. If you want the insides hot, you just toast it open faced. Otherwise don't, and the insides remain (relatively) cold, depending on how long you heat it.

I'm very happy & relieved to have found a way to make satisfying gluten-free sandwiches.

best regards, lm

(ps: You mentioned having a toaster oven at work.) pss: I'm also posting this, sans referencing you, in a new thread.

[tarnalberry]

btw, you note that you don't like meat for leftovers - my husband doesn't like meat, whole, for leftovers, but finds that in a stir fry or soup, it's fine. as a whole cut (like leftover steak), he thinks it's rather icky, however. you might find that different preparations of different foods are differently acceptable.