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Sep. 18th, 2006 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ewtPart of my PLN for successful academic successfulness this year is that I will be spending a lot more time at Trinity. I will go there every day, Monday-Thursday. I will practise. I will do things in the library. I will sit in the caf and plan my time. I will not come home for lunch, because this takes an hour and a half by the time I get around to it, and also once I'm home the temptation to just stay home is very strong.
This means I need to start packing lunches. Eating the cafeteria food every day will make me skint and crazy very fast - the food isn't bad but it isn't good, and it isn't expensive but it isn't cheap, and the service is extraordinarily slow - to the point that there are days when I don't have time to eat there anyway because I have classes either side of lunch. It's difficult/impossible to get things like wholewheat bread or wholewheat pasta or brown rice there, and the salads are always insipid things full of mostly lettuce.
There is no microwave for student use at Trinty; nor is there a kettle for boiling water for tea. I can keep some things (homemade flapjacks, some fruit if I remember to clear it out at the end of each week, some rice cakes, oatcakes or Ryvita) in my locker - but I don't want to stock an entire pantry in there, I need to use most of the space for my horn and music (and in winter, my coat). And really I need to be eating some fresh things each day, not just dried stuff that I can store easily.
There is also no refrigerator, although this is less distressing as I can always use a frozen water bottle as an ice pack for a morning.
I ate packed lunches for, oh, thirteen years, give or take a few when I had enough time to come home for lunch. The vast majority of those lunches consisted of a sandwich (peanut butter and jam or similar on whole wheat bread), a piece of fruit, a juice box, and some sort of 'healthy' pre-packaged snack food (raisins, granola bars) or maybe some home-made cookies (yum!). Toward highschool I made my own lunches a bit more and tried to get some more protein in them, maybe a cheese sandwich instead of jam, some nuts to go with the fruit... but the basic formula was the same. Every thermos I ever owned went manky, through my own fault I might add, so things like hot soups were intermittent at best. I'm very grateful that I always had packed lunches and wasn't subject to the whims of the school cafeteria, but I really don't wnat this format for a lunch. I mean, I still mostly don't like sandwiches. If I fall into a routine of eating a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a juice box for lunch, I will be most unhappy with it in a very short time.
I'm also trying to stick to fairly low-to-moderate-GI, which means lots of whole foods and fresh veg. I won't be eating commercial snack bars. I won't be taking a juice box because there's as much sugar in one of those as in about three apples. And I'm learning, time and time again, that I do need protein in my lunches if I don't want to fall asleep in the afternoon - and a cheese sarnie is not going to cut it.
And I don't have much money, and I have a milky kitchen at home, so meaty lunches that require much pre-preparation are pretty well out.
I want interesting lunches, lunches I will look forward to eating, otherwise they'll moulder in my bag and instead I'll buy chips from the caf and feel crappity. I want lunches that are easy to prepare, otherwise I won't prepare them, and I'll end up eating chips from the caf and feeling crappity. I want healthy lunches, otherwise I may as well eat chips from the caf and feel crappity.
I'm sure I can eventually figure out what will work for me, eventually. In the meantime will be the adjustment and experiementation period.
What is your favourite packed lunch?
ADDENDUM: I want a one of these. In pink, naturally.
This means I need to start packing lunches. Eating the cafeteria food every day will make me skint and crazy very fast - the food isn't bad but it isn't good, and it isn't expensive but it isn't cheap, and the service is extraordinarily slow - to the point that there are days when I don't have time to eat there anyway because I have classes either side of lunch. It's difficult/impossible to get things like wholewheat bread or wholewheat pasta or brown rice there, and the salads are always insipid things full of mostly lettuce.
There is no microwave for student use at Trinty; nor is there a kettle for boiling water for tea. I can keep some things (homemade flapjacks, some fruit if I remember to clear it out at the end of each week, some rice cakes, oatcakes or Ryvita) in my locker - but I don't want to stock an entire pantry in there, I need to use most of the space for my horn and music (and in winter, my coat). And really I need to be eating some fresh things each day, not just dried stuff that I can store easily.
There is also no refrigerator, although this is less distressing as I can always use a frozen water bottle as an ice pack for a morning.
I ate packed lunches for, oh, thirteen years, give or take a few when I had enough time to come home for lunch. The vast majority of those lunches consisted of a sandwich (peanut butter and jam or similar on whole wheat bread), a piece of fruit, a juice box, and some sort of 'healthy' pre-packaged snack food (raisins, granola bars) or maybe some home-made cookies (yum!). Toward highschool I made my own lunches a bit more and tried to get some more protein in them, maybe a cheese sandwich instead of jam, some nuts to go with the fruit... but the basic formula was the same. Every thermos I ever owned went manky, through my own fault I might add, so things like hot soups were intermittent at best. I'm very grateful that I always had packed lunches and wasn't subject to the whims of the school cafeteria, but I really don't wnat this format for a lunch. I mean, I still mostly don't like sandwiches. If I fall into a routine of eating a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a juice box for lunch, I will be most unhappy with it in a very short time.
I'm also trying to stick to fairly low-to-moderate-GI, which means lots of whole foods and fresh veg. I won't be eating commercial snack bars. I won't be taking a juice box because there's as much sugar in one of those as in about three apples. And I'm learning, time and time again, that I do need protein in my lunches if I don't want to fall asleep in the afternoon - and a cheese sarnie is not going to cut it.
And I don't have much money, and I have a milky kitchen at home, so meaty lunches that require much pre-preparation are pretty well out.
I want interesting lunches, lunches I will look forward to eating, otherwise they'll moulder in my bag and instead I'll buy chips from the caf and feel crappity. I want lunches that are easy to prepare, otherwise I won't prepare them, and I'll end up eating chips from the caf and feeling crappity. I want healthy lunches, otherwise I may as well eat chips from the caf and feel crappity.
I'm sure I can eventually figure out what will work for me, eventually. In the meantime will be the adjustment and experiementation period.
What is your favourite packed lunch?
ADDENDUM: I want a one of these. In pink, naturally.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-18 11:55 pm (UTC)- Hummus + wheat pita with raw veggies is a fantastic lunch -- have you made your own hummus before? Also, excellent sandwich: multi-grain bread spread with hummus, add alfalfa sprouts/tomato/shredded carrot/pickles/what you will.
- peanut butter with apple slices? Protein + fruit. I also like peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
If you're relying on nuts for breakfast protein, maybe concentrate on beans or eggs for lunch protein. I don't know if/what kosher rules are about eggs, so I don't know if that's feasible.