Advice needed: packed dinners

[ms_bloom]

Hi everyone ... I would love some tips for decent dinners I can eat during breaks between evening classes. Uni starts back in at the end of February and as I'm a postgraduate student again, all my classes are late (6-9pm). I did night classes a few years back and lost quite a bit of weight due to lectures and tutorials being on during dinner time and I'm not too keen to have that happen again - I'm pretty small, 47-49kgs and can't afford to drop even a few (I was down to 41kgs at one particularly busy stage - it took ages to put back on and my GP was not happy). I don't live very close to campus so having dinner before 5 was too early and having dinner after 10 was too late! I'm hoping to be organised enough to have a packed dinner to eat during breaks or hey, even during class. Does anyone have any ideas on dinners I can take to uni that don't need to be heated up? I'm not too keen on sandwiches and vending machine food three nights a week.

I hate evening classes on so many levels *sigh*

 

[Kimberleigh]

I don't know if they have these in Australia, but I don't like to "cook" lunch when I'm at work. I'm into these starkist tuna lunch kits (assuming you'll eat tuna fish). It comes with all the things one would need to create a tuna fish sandwhich (except for bread, it comes with crackers). I typically only eat the packet of tuna and save the crackers for a snack. I throw away the relish and the mayo (ick!).

Just a thought...

 

[micky_mouse]

gosh i cant wait to see what everyone has to say i to have night classes and i work sometimes til 11pm and eat when i get hope and i dont wanna eat that late at night

 

[caffn8me]

I'm guessing that you're not vegetarian nor a vampire and you don't have access to a microwave to heat things up so all these suggestions are cold. Please feel free to shoot me down in flames (or bite me in the neck) if I'm wrong.

Quiche with coleslaw and salad is one of my favourite "picnic" choices and if you buy the quiche and coleslaw takes almost zero preparation time. Alternatively a pork pie or cold game pie works as well. These may be difficult to find in Australia though.

You could also try Cornish pasty, the original meal away from home. Pasties (nooo! not that kind) can be eaten cold and if you bake your own (although it sounds like you don't have time) you can have one end sweet and the other savoury. Buying the pastry ready made saves a lot of time. Recipe and details here.

Scotch Eggs are good for snacks too (details and recipe) and they're wonderfully 1970s British.

Chicken breasts are a good starter for a salad, you could do a salad with couscous quite easily (recipe). Bacon and ham can also be used to spice up a salad as can sun dried tomatoes.

For something crunchy, try a selection of vegetables - carrot sticks, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes (all raw) with a dip such as blue cheese (one recipe here and another). Of course you could also use guacamole, aioli, mayonnaise , taramasalata, hummous or any other stiff dip.

Fresh fruit is always a good choice, I love fresh pineapple chunks as a quick snack. You could also have mixed nuts and dried fruit to nibble on. A good solid, dark fruit cake goes well with a slice of mature cheddar as an alternative dessert.

You can always chop fresh fruit up and put in in a yogurt (I love Greek yogurt).

If I think of anything more later I'll let you know.

 

[ms_bloom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by caffn8me I'm guessing that you're not vegetarian nor a vampire and you don't have access to a microwave to heat things up so all these suggestions are cold. Please feel free to shoot me down in flames (or bite me in the neck) if I'm wrong.

Wow, thanks Sarah! Nope, I'm not a vegetarian or a vampire

. There actually is access to a microwave and even a fridge, but I won't have time to use them, plus I'm a slow eater. Sometimes lecturers decide not to give us the mid-lecture break and therefore I'd have more time before the tutorial to eat, but I won't know this until uni starts and I suss out each class individually. We, of course, have extensive food services on campus but these cater to the day crowd *sniffle* They're quite good, we have a great pub, a noodle bar with fresh sushi, a bakery, coffee place, and a lolly shop. Yep, nothing but junk!

We do have the tuna lunch packs in Australia! I'm going to look into Sarah's many ideas (thanks again!) but keep the ideas coming please.

 

[caffn8me]

If you have any access to a microwave at all that opens up the possibility of thnigs like soups.

Just thought - you can take hot soup in a flask

If it's a wide necked flask then you could even take a stew. Perhaps you can find a flask like this which has separate compartments for different foods.

 

[ms_bloom]

Sarah, you're a legend

I really like hot food for dinner. Cold meals just feel like lunch to me.

 

[caffn8me]

always happy to help

 

[ms_bloom]

MIcky - this thread has great ideas for packed meals too: http://specktra.net/showthread.php?t=46720. Someone last year asked about ideas for packed lunches but lots of the ideas would work for dinner too.